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Hello all, First of all, thanks for providing a platform for us amateurimagers to exhibit our skills - no matter where we are on the learning curve! I have been interested in astronomy for as long as I canremember. I grew up in India in a town that is regarded as the birthplace for India's space research and had access to some of the research laboratories that housed many astronomy related artifacts. I was also lucky to grow up at a time when, if you looked up in the night sky and assuming it was clear, you could actually plenty of stars and make out whatever arm of the Milky Way was visible at the time. Coupled with my curiosity, I was naturally drawn to astronomy. Photography was another interest of mine growing up, especially photon collection and I have retained that hobby as well. I combined the two, formally, sometime in 2004-2005 timeframe. I already owned a couple of telescopes by that time, and hooking up a DSLR to the back of the telescope and taking my first astroimage was mesmerizing. I have also been part of Astrobin for a long time (6 plus years and counting)! I use it for various purposes, many times to marvel at the images that people capture, but also to learn about what I can do with my own data. After moving to TX (from IL, no less) in 2011 - theastroimging hobby has gone up a notch - weather in TX is a lot more conducive for such pursuits. I am also very lucky to be living in the midst of some really good astrophotograhers - I truly believe the Greater Austin area in Central TX has by far more astroimagers per capita than anywhere else in the US (okay, I have no way of quantifying that, but you get the point - there are many talented astroimagers in Central Texas), from whom I have learnt a lot more about image processing than by reading any books that may be out there. I have also been part of the Austin Astronomical Society and for a briefperiod held the post of Treasurer with AAS. Of late my pursuits have taken me to explore the imageprocessing side of this hobby - I find data processing to be a lot more challenging than data collection. Data collection, for the most part can be (and is, in my case) fully automated. I just click a few buttons and my equipment, which is housed in a remote observatory in West Texas, will acquire data. However, every target is different from a data acquisition standpoint and I truly get a lot more satisfaction in understanding how to use various modules/functions in different image processing tools (mostly PixInsight for me). I welcome you to look at my images here on Astrobin, however,you will quickly realize that I am still learning the art of image processing (but I can make out what is good and what is not!). Either way, I am satisfying two things for myself - I am satisfying my curiosity of the space and Universe in which we live and having fun! Once again, many thanks for having this platform and if thereis a meaningful way for me to contribute, I will be ready to help out. Thanks and Clear Skies to all! Dhaval Brahmbhatt |