Flickr: fruitbit

I'm teaching myself to take better pictures as I go along. My typical subjects are nature-related, and as I am a hobbyist stargazer and will sometimes show some of my recent nighttime photos. I'm still a ways away from having the perfect gear, but I will eventually get there! I use a Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope (2000 mm — ƒ10) with my camera mounted onto it (3200mm effective) in order to take photos of (deep) space objects. The suggested maximum useful magnification of my setup is approx. 768x.

My most memorable moment was seeing the Shuttle fly over Ireland through my telescope and seeing the crew onboard firing the thrusters. Actually seeing people operating in space is one of the most amazing things. I will surely miss the Shuttle programme when it ends, as it's been such an inspiration for me.

Most of my photos are licensed under Creative Commons, so please use them if you like them. Just don't forget to attribute me. A link to my Flickr is a great way to do this.

Most of my earlier photos are edited entirely in Aperture, but I have since made the switch to Lightroom. I don't typically use other software and shoot everything in raw, though I'm thinking about using stacking software for my astrophotography.

I had replaced my old Canon 350D with a Canon 500D and was among the first on Flickr using it at the time -- and it's a huge leap forward (for me). The best part is being able to use raw all the time in every shot, instead of only on manual mode (M). Just a short while I upgraded even further to the top of the line APS-C camera, the Canon 7D. Having only used it a short while as I write, I can already tell this is the camera I've always wanted. Everything about is what I've always been looking for. I finally feel like I have the right tool for me.

I'm a proud Flickr Pro user since January of 2011!