I have been doing astrophotography for a couple of years now. Along the way, I have learnt a lot through the process. The complexity and challenges associated with planning, tracking, guiding, capturing and processing an image make it a very enjoyable and rewarding hobby. It deprives me of some sleep but is fully worth it.
Astrophotography is the beautiful blend of science and art. You need have good understanding of space and science, yet you need that creative side of you bring out your best images and renders. The details of what you see in space could be very subjective and there are a million ways to render the same deep sky object, which makes this hobby very unique and rewarding at the same time.
Along the way, I have come across some really awesome people who have not only perfected their craft, but are more than happy to document and publish their mistakes which really helps everyone trying to learn. Some of them are even open to help individually. While deep sky astrophotography has been rewarding in itself, I have built a community of really awesome people who share their work and encourage others to learn.
If you are considering getting into astrophotography, or even simply interested in the art from some very talented folks, here is my list of recommendations. Of course, I follow a lot more people, but here are my top 10.
10. Astrocapetown
Some incredible images from dark skies in South Africa. I am a recent follower of this account, but have been hooked with all the amazing images on the channel.
9. Cosmic Background
While I equally enjoy his solar, lunar and planetary images, I particularly love his deep sky content.
8. Ray’s Astrophotography
I have been one of the early subscribers of Ray’s channel and while his images have all been stellar, I have seen the channel grow with quality content that really helps you learn. Some amazing content both on his instagram and youtube channel.
7. Ian Barredo
One of the accounts I have been following since the beginning. Like this unreal rendering of the Rosette Nebula, Ian has some breathtaking images in his gallery.
6. Chucks Astrophotography
Chuck has some very cool tutorials on his youtube channel and consistently produces some amazing deep sky images. Chuck has produced some stunning images that have made it to NASA’s APOD a few times!
5. CurtisMorgan
While he does a lot of film making and other cool stuff, his deep sky images are insanely cool. His lunar images as well as his deep space images are beautiful. He has some incredible animations as well which are mind blowing.
4. Astrofalls
Truly one of the best astrophotography accounts out there. Each image is meticulously crafted with hours of exposure capturing every minute detail. I have seen few astrophotographers generate more details than Bray Falls.
3. Galactic Hunter
I really like the content on this channel. Antoine and Dalia image through dark skies in the desert which makes for some stunning visuals.
One of the very cool things with this channel is their quest to image all 110 objects in the Messier catalog and they are well on their way to hit that target soon.
2. Dylan O’Donnell
Dylan has some amazing youtube content on planning, imaging and processing content with a dash of humor. I particularly love his ISS pass video, but his images are stunning as well.
1. Astrobackyard
At this point, anyone that is into Astrophotography knows Trevor Jones and his Astrobackyard channel. A big reason could be that Trevor inspired them to take up the hobby.
Trevor not only produces once in a lifetime images of deep sky objects from his backyard, but creates detailed youtube content that really help you learn the nitty gritty aspects of the craft.
Even if you want nothing to do with astrophotography, I will still recommend his channel. You can see some incredible work with deep sky imaging and the science and meticulous planning behind each image.
Lastly of course, if you want to see where I am with my journey with astrophotography, you can checkout my instagram channel, BackyardStarman. I feel my images have come a long way, but clearly going by the above, I have a really long way to go! 🙂
Clear Skies! 🙂