`P' for Patience

Most people live a hectic life and want everything right now. This doesn't help when you need Patience. This is vital for astrophotography  and I am sure that if they could buy it many would. I was told many times not to work with children or pets but i did,  photographing both on a regular basis for many years. This built up my patience and I am glad for that, in addition photographing and watching wildlife does the same.

So you are all ready to go out, equipment checked and you are all wrapped up and as soon as you step outside its either cloudy or too windy, a regular occurrence in Shetland. Well it will have to wait until another night or you could go out and wait until the cloud clears, but you could be waiting ages that's when you need to be patient.

                                                                                                     Windy days

One factor that you  have failed to take into account is the fact that either you or someone close has just bought some new equipment and therefore put a curse on the weather this usually lasts a month. So anytime around Christmas is normally out unless you live in a remote spot and all your family and friends have forgot your Christmas presents.

Unlike many other aspects of daytime photography it takes along time to set things up, especially if you are using guiding equipment, that is making sure that your camera is moving at the same rate as the earth's orbit. Otherwise you are restricted to using the 500 Rule (see past blog). This may take as long as 10 mins, by which you may well have taken 10 daytime photos.

The time setting up is not wasted as your eyes will need to adjust to the dark ,normally around 10 mins. The other thing that gives you patience is full confidence in your camera equipment, some cameras are better than other for taking photos of the night sky. Its interesting that Nikon is about to launch the first DSLR camera, the Nikon D810A specifically designed for astrophotography . This is a full frame 36 million pixel camera, but it has been adapted and has a dedicated filter to pass H- alpha wavelengths its not going to be cheap with the estimate cost at $3800 without a lens. It may be worth checking out the Sony A7 which also has a great reputation for night sky photography.

Not that i can afford either of these so make the best of what you have and take it to the extreme , the more you know about your camera the more confidence you have and therefore, hopefully more patience as you will know how things what and what to do if things go wrong.