My love for space began when I was a little boy. Few things fascinated me more than the cosmos. Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov were basically extended family to me. Every time a new photo from the Hubble telescope came out, it felt like an early birthday gift.
Astrophotography was not a word I really knew back then, but much of my childhood fascination (which has now turned into an adulthood fascination) surrounding space and the stars would have never been possible without it. People have been trying to picture the night sky since antiquity, but of course, truly accurate portrayals have only been possible since the advent of the telescope, the rocket engine, and most importantly, the camera.
This intersection between art and science, between creativity and high technology, is part of what makes it truly fascinating.
But what does it take to be a skyscape photographer? How did the genre evolve? And who are the talented voices behind some of the greatest space images over the years?
Join me and let’s find out together!
Pioneers of Astrophotography
Let’s begin by examining the stories of some of the great pioneers among astronomy photographers. I am talking about the earliest figures in the genre, including some of the first to even think of using a camera to take detailed pictures of the stars and planets around us.
These are only a few of the hundreds of people who were brave enough to experiment and make it possible.
John Herschel
John was the son of Sir William Herschel, one of the pioneers of astronomy as a discipline in modern science. And his son would achieve even greater fame, not only in that field but in countless others as well.
Beyond being a passionate observer of the night sky, John Herschel also contributed to fields like botany, mathematics, chemistry, and engineering.
It’s only natural that he would also turn to photography, a key pastime among the well-educated ‘gentlemen scientists’ of the day. But he didn’t just dabble in pictures. He downright revolutionized the field.
By inventing many key chemical processes, such as the blueprint and hypo-based fixer, he made huge strides towards the aim of preserving photographs at high archival quality.
Couple that with his achievements as an astronomer, which include being the first to discover and name many of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons, and it’s definitely fair to say that John Herschel laid the groundwork for this field like few others in his time.
He himself didn’t experiment with using a camera to picture the night sky directly. With that said, he did create many rather accurate illustrations by hand based on what he saw through his telescope. For many of these, he utilized the aid of a camera lucida, an early optical device often used by artists that does not create lasting images.
Henry Draper
Like most in his day, Henry Draper was a scientist and academic of independent means who turned to photography purely as a hobbyist but ended up significantly contributing to both the art and science behind the medium.
When Louis Daguerre introduced the daguerreotype process to the world in 1839, his invention opened the door to astronomical imaging. Just a year later, John William Draper used Daguerre’s technique to capture the first photograph of the Moon.
Henry Draper, John’s son, later pioneered spectroscopy in astronomy, taking the first stellar spectrum photograph of the bright star Vega in 1872, revealing its absorption lines.
He also pioneered deep-sky imaging with his landmark 1880 photographs of the Orion Nebula (M42), using an 11-inch reflector. Draper was the first to take a clear and permanent picture of a Nebula, or in fact of any deep sky objects.
Famous Contemporary Astrophotographers
Now, let’s fast forward to the present day. Who are the best astrophotographers in the world today?
Of course, there are a myriad of potential answers to this question. Chiefly due to technological advancements over the last 50 years or so, celestial photography has become much more accessible than it used to be. As a result, the community has also drastically grown.
Adam Block
Adam Block is an astrophotographer and educator. From 1996 to 2016, he developed astronomy outreach programs across the American Southwest. He studied astronomy and physics at the University of Arizona and then joined Kitt Peak National Observatory (NOAO, now NOIRLab), where he created one of the country’s premier public stargazing programs.
Later, he took on the challenge of building a new outreach venue from the ground up: the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter. Founded in collaboration with the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona, the SkyCenter has one of the largest publicly accessible telescopes in the world, a 0.8m instrument. Under Adam’s leadership, it became a leading destination for astronomy tourism in southern Arizona.
As a public speaker, Adam brings his engaging style to his instructional videos, making even the most technical material easy to understand (and fun to watch). His journey goes back to the early days of CCD imaging and over the years he has developed expertise in multiple image processing platforms. He is one of the early experts in the field and one of the few to create a comprehensive tutorial series for several different software platforms. His latest work with PixInsight continues that legacy.
Adam’s work has been published and referenced scientifically and artistically, with over 100 NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) awards, which only a few people worldwide have.
Thierry Legault
A longtime astrophotographer by passion, Thierry Legault was among the first in his native France to use digital cameras with CCD sensors to photograph celestial phenomena in the early 1990s.
Today, he’s an artistic voice that commands respect within the community. From faraway galaxies to lunar eclipses and the surface of the sun, no subject is too challenging for Thierry.
Kah-Wai Lin
A significant figure in wildlife and landscape photography with a particular interest in wildlife documentary film production and conservation, Malaysian-born, USA-based Dr. Kah-Wai Lin has been working across the world for many years. An ambassador for Phase One, NiSi, and the WWF, his works have been widely published.
Though not an astrophotographer by specialty, during his many trips to the Arctic circle Kah-Wai Lin has frequently pictured the Northern Lights in the stunning low light environment that only some of the Earth’s remotest corners offer. His images continue to be some of the most frequently republished and praised contemporary depictions of the Aurora Borealis around.
Damian Peach
Damian Peach has been showcasing the breathtaking beauty of outer space for over three decades.
His stunning images of celestial objects have won numerous awards. His website Views of the Cosmos is also considered a classic resource by genre fans.
Peach’s success and acclaim has allowed him to make use of some of the most powerful ground-based telescopes around. As a result, some of his works, especially his landscape photos of the solar system, have been published by the likes of the BBC, ESA, and NASA.
Mikkel Beiter
Copenhagen-born but active around the world, Mikkel Beiter has enjoyed near-stratospheric success as a young self-taught landscape photographer.
Featured in National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, and other top publications, I think it’s safe to say Beiter has amassed a portfolio worth feeling proud of! Throughout his many travels, a key highlight of Beiter’s photography has been his jaw-dropping scenes from the Arctic Circle.
In places such as Iceland, a favorite destination of his, this also included the breathtaking beauty of the northern lights.
Babak Tafreshi
Bridging cosmic imagery with landscape photography, Babak Tafreshi has been traveling the world and using his art to inspire for many years.
His The World At Night project has been running since 2007 and invites photographers from around the world to capture long exposure images of the night sky in contrast with landmarks on the ground.
Babak aims to promote mutual understanding and create a bridge between art, science, and culture through his work.
You might say the images speak for themselves, but personally, I’d call it a resounding success!
Sara Wager
A passionate night sky photographer with a particular weakness for vibrant nebulae, Sara Wager is one of the most successful deep sky astrophotography amateurs in recent memory.
Her colorful photography and artistic sensibility has made her a fan favorite within the community, and it is easy to see why. I for one can’t get enough of her painterly nebula scenes!
Pablo Ruiz Garcia
An accomplished landscape photographer with a particular interest in night scenes, Pablo Ruiz Garcia is one of the most influential voices today, especially in his native Spain.
In his daylight work, Garcia loves employing long exposure techniques to highlight motion in water, foliage, and other compositional elements. It’s no wonder, then, that his personal style translates extremely well to astrophotography, where he skillfully uses the same long-exposure approach to render beautiful contrasts and colors.
Mark Gee
Today, few specialize almost entirely in photographing the night sky as opposed to a more general astrophotography or landscape art. Mark Gee is one of those few.
Originally from Australia and with a background in VFX, Gee was motivated to venture into it after a fortuitous move to New Zealand, whose clear, starry nights mesmerized him.
Since then, Gee has not just utilized his photography to showcase the beauty and awe of the New Zealand night sky, but also to raise awareness about the harms of light pollution elsewhere in the world.
Andrew McCarthy
Andrew McCarthy only began taking pictures of the skies in 2017. Today, he commands serious respect for his fine art prints of the sun, planets, and faraway celestial objects.
His images show stunning detail and vibrant colours in addition to a unique aesthetic that has surely influenced his meteoric rise in popularity.
If you’d like to consider a print of Andrew’s work, I can only recommend checking out his website CosmicBackground and browsing through his portfolio! I for one have already bookmarked a few of his breathtaking images.
Mike Berenson
An award-winning nature photographer and instructor, Mike Berenson is most passionate about the fascinating and complex landscapes of the Colorado Rockies and surrounding mountainous regions in the North American Midwest.
A big part of his work includes astronomy and night sky photography, often at high altitudes and in remote areas to make maximum use of low-light pollution environments. I’m particularly impressed by Berenson’s star trails, which give some of the masters in the genre a real run for their money!
Giulio Cobianchi
Hailing from Italy, Giulio Cobianchi is a seasoned landscape photography enthusiast and adventurer with a penchant for challenging environments and remote locations. Though he works in a wide variety of genres, night photography has been a constant throughout his career.
Based out of the Lofoten Islands in the Arctic Circle, Cobianchi’s award-winning photos include many nighttime shots of the Aurora Borealis and the blissfully clear night sky. Personally, I find these to be some of the best examples of this kind of photography that the genre currently has to offer!
Future of Astrophotography
Like any other medium or genre, astrophotography too is undergoing rapid change as I write these words.
Most immediately, advances in technology are causing huge shifts that might fundamentally change how we view it.
Technological Disruption
I am not just talking about major disruptors like the rise of AI calling into question the very idea of authorship and authenticity. Even image generation and processing aside, the way we take pictures of outer space is changing, too.
For one, we are taking a lot more photos from beyond the atmosphere than ever before. Okay, perhaps you and I don’t have access to that kind of gear, as disappointing as that may be. But globally, space-based photography is having a major moment.
If you haven’t yet, go and take a look at what the James Webb Space Telescope and ESA’s Euclid have been up to over the last few years! The kinds of images these new-gen space telescopes produce far outpace any prior tech in terms of fidelity and reach, giving us a more detailed look at the universe than ever before.
Environmental and Cultural Shifts
But beyond technology, environmental concerns and heightened political tensions are also casting astrophotography in a new light.
At a time where light pollution (and environmental pollution in general) is worsening, many socially-conscious artists find that cosmic photography is more essential than ever.
In this context, astrophotography is not just aesthetic or educational. It can also be a tool to raise awareness! As such, I think we can expect it to continue growing over the next few years. Armed with better tools than ever before, we could see some of the most significant images since Hubble’s Pillars of Creation in the upcoming years.
We also might see the topic being featured and discussed in a much more serious tone within the media than in years prior.
Conclusion
Astrophotographers are not just artists. They are also science educators, activists, campaigners, and researchers who contribute to our understanding of the universe.
Their images help us understand and visualize our place in the cosmos while also helping space agencies in their quest to map and analyze its contents.
More than ever, this niche is both essential and accessible as a genre, regardless of your existing photographic background. With today’s gear, you don’t need much to get started, and the sky’s quite literally your limit!
Who are the artists you admire most, and what do you find most inspiring in this genre? And if you already have some prior experience in the field, does it strike you the most vividly whenever you stop and think about your work?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Until next time, and have fun star-chasing!
Take Away
Astrophotography has always been technologically cutting-edge and creatively diverse, and there are no signs of this changing any time soon. In fact, we live in a period of accelerated change, as countless factors both economic, social, environmental, and technological change how we take pictures of the stars.
What has remained the same, however, and what the photographers we got to know have proved through their work, is that the genre still contains boundless room for creativity.
As it is so much more accessible today than during its pioneering days, there are also fewer and fewer reasons for curious shutterbugs to neglect the skies above. Why don’t you try a galaxy hunt with your lens on your next photo op? Good luck!
