The Moon Up Close: A Captivating Journey Beyond the Horizon
An insight into my Astrophotography journey
Looking up at the stars always takes me back to my childhood, when I spent countless nights staring up at the sky from the cozy cot laid outside My house during the summer, Enjoying the act of counting the stars and trying to see the star patterns taught in school. To this day, I have the same energy when I look at the sky. However, my effort has moved from just gazing at them to capturing them; this story is about how I started my journey towards Astrophotography. I also included a small hands-on tutorial for astrophotography beginners (You don’t need fancy equipment; your mobile phone should be sufficient for this).
It was mid-2016, and it had been a few months since I took a job in Seattle. The Emerald City has an equal distribution of attractions, both nature and manmade, and it is known for its scenic views. It has always been my primary choice to live in; in my perspective:
It is a city where you will never get bored.
The city showcases stunning views of nature with a mix of manmade structures; here are some of my favorite views of the city
This city sparked my curiosity in Astrophotography; I greatly admire the views from Kerry Park, which offers scenic views of the iconic Space Needle with Mt. Ranier in the distance. Although the city is cloudy most of the time, it used to have a fair share of events encouraging watching celestial bodies—some of the events used to happen in Gas Works Park. I attended many Astronomy events back then, as my schedule used to be less complex :).
While attending the events, I slowly got attracted to capturing Night photos with the city skyline, and one day, while attending an event at Gas Works Park, it occurred to me that it would be fantastic if I could capture some of these amazing images of the celestial objects; I had no clue how to do that. Every time I looked at a photo of celestial objects, it was so intriguing to me for the effort a photographer put into capturing it.
Years passed, and My schedule became so complex that there used to be little time to explore my new hobby. After a few years, I moved from the city, but my dream of exploring my hobby remained. I tried to rekindle the flame in the new city (I moved to San Jose back then) I moved to, but it was not so fruitful.
Stars Aligned
In 2022, I made up my mind to explore astrophotography. However, it always presented me with challenges like buying a new camera for capturing pictures; then again, I had doubts: What if I bought a new camera and didn’t pursue the hobby anymore? After much thought, I told myself I should start small and bought a telescope. I went to the store and purchased my first telescope for 20$
I started with minimal research by understanding the factors favoring the successful gazing of celestial objects. I picked the closest one I could watch and capture: the Moon. I took out my telescope to the backyard every time there was a full Moon, which helped me understand the dynamics. My blunt attempt at the beginning of this year was to see if I could capture the Moon by placing my phone lens over the telescope's eyepiece. It was unsuccessful; the images were blurry (they were just like light blobs). Then I tried to take pictures of the Moon with my mobile phone, and to my surprise, the images were decent enough to capture minimum detail.
Finally, I was confident that I would pursue my astrophotography hobby further. To my fortune, I had to buy the Camera for some other personal use as well, so I bought the Camera without a second thought as my Goals Aligned, and on December 25th, 2023(on Christmas Eve), I took my first picture of the Moon from the Camera (Check the Picture of the Moon i took at the end of this story).
Capturing Moon Pictures with Your Mobile
Vetting your thoughts on picking up Astrophotography as a hobby is incomplete without considering the need to buy an expensive camera and lenses. Necessarily, you don’t need costly cameras & lenses; regular, inexpensive cameras and lenses should do just fine. It is just that one needs to understand the dynamics of taking a good picture. Don’t Believe me ?? why don’t you take out your mobile and Try this (These are generic steps):
- Take out your mobile > open your Camera, and set your Shooting Mode to Manual (For Android phones, you should see an option called “Pro” under the More section, which will set Shooting Mode to Manual. There will be a similar setting for the latest smartphones).
- You will need to set a few values Manually to capture a better photograph of the Moon. The values to set are ISO: 50, Shutter Speed: 1/350, EV: -2.0, Zoom: Maximum, and Focus: Auto (If you know Manual Focus, go for it).
4. Point at the Moon and shoot (share some pictures if you have tried the above settings).
My Experience in shooting with a Camera
Before shooting Moon pictures, I had to familiarize myself with my camera settings and the Exposure Triangle. I will not mention the Exposure Triangle in depth. Simply put, it is balancing/choosing the proper ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture to capture the image as you intended. I shot my pictures in Manual mode, where one can change the Key Elements of the exposure Triangle as intended. Below is the shot I took on DEC 25th, 2023
Shot with: Sony A7 IV with 200–600 mm
Lens: Sony — 200–600mm f/5.6–6.3 G OSS
ISO: 100
f:8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/250
Tripoid: Used
Conclusion
Considering all my efforts over the years to understand the dynamics and establish a solid foundation for the hobby of astrophotography, I feel fulfilled. And as the capture of the first clear image of the Moon on Christmas Eve, I will consider it a “Christmas Miracle.”
Reflecting on my decisions to establish my hobby, I realized a few things:
- Whether it be a hobby or skill or learning something new, it is no single large effort but continuous small efforts.
- Invest in improving your knowledge and skills.
- If you love something so much, don’t give up “Keep The flame alive” until you achieve it.
- Be Thankful and Grateful for the people and little things in your life.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone !!