I don’t know about you, but when it comes to passions I enjoy failing. Being aware of your shortcomings can help you grow. At least that’s what I noticed when freezing under the stars to set up my camera.
I started shooting without a tracker, then bought one that could help me learn. So far I’ve had ups and downs. This is my first effort:
The focus isn’t right and the editing could have been better. But this is the starting point: a crop camera, a tracker and a vintage Cosinon 135mm f/2.8. Then I decided to put the Sony 18-105mm f/4 G OSS on the tracker.
The result isn’t as spectacular as I imagined, but the stars are in focus and the editing is better. Since I can’t afford to buy a new telephoto lens and my 300mm f/5.6 Tamron vintage lens doesn’t focus quite well near infinity, I rented the Sony 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 (the one I had a few weeks back) and got shooting.
Even though the clouds rolled in pretty early, I still managed to get a beautiful shot of the Orion Nebula.
Could it have been better? Of course! Am I upset it didn’t turn out like I expected? You bet! Does this mean I’m going to quit? Not quite. The evolution from photo to photo is more than enough to keep me going. And that’s what you should do as well.
I know the tutorials we see online always have the perfect output and ours doesn’t quite match. That’s normal. Experience is what matters the most. You won’t earn it by doing what you like once. I know there will be more nights my hands will freeze on the the camera. But the prospect of a better photo of the stars is what genuinely warms me up.
Keep doing what you like.
