Astrophotography Gives New Meaning to Almost Heaven
By Maggie Hatfield
The Andromeda Galaxy, 2.2 million light years from Earth and home to more than 1 trillion stars. Photo by Josh Blanton.
West Virginia is well-known for its picture-perfect views of majestic mountains and rolling hills highlighted by the rising or setting sun. However, what many don’t know is that, to a small community of photographers, it is also known for unmatched celestial views that can only be found by the dark cover of night.
These artists practice astrophotography, a method of photography where a camera is used to take photos of the night sky based on an astronomical or celestial event. The key to astrophotography is using long exposures to gather as much light as possible. Josh Blanton and Wes Thompson, both residents of Kentucky, are avid astrophotography enthusiasts who frequent the Mountain State to obtain that perfect shot. By day, Thompson is the owner of an ad agency called Whiskey Tango Creative and the creative director for Wolf Advertising. Blanton is a plant manager for Vesuvius; a city commissioner for Ashland, KY; and an adjunct faculty member at Marshall University. Both have full schedules, but they make time in the evenings and on weekends to capture amazing photos of galaxies, planets and the moon.
While Blanton and Thompson each have their own favorite spots to photograph, they agree that West Virginia is the ideal place for this hobby. For Blanton, Seneca Rocks and Spruce Knob are his absolute favorite places to shoot while Thompson’s best photos have been shot in Braxton County and East Lynn.
“West Virginia is an amazing spot for astrophotography for a couple of reasons. One reason is that access to rural areas with very little light pollution is fairly abundant,” says Thompson. “Second, when shooting something like the Milky Way Galaxy, it’s nice to have a worthwhile foreground in the shot. West Virginia’s mountains, rolling hills and trees provide a beautiful option where that’s concerned.”
According to Blanton, West Virginia is ideal because of its easy accessibility of darkness.
“To get the perfect shot, it is all about darkness,” he says. “Northeast West Virginia offers some of the darkest skies in the eastern U.S., which makes for some pretty amazing pictures.”
For these two, becoming engaged in this hobby was a natural byproduct of a lifelong love of space.
“I’ve always loved learning about space and our observable universe, but once I got into shooting the moon in my free time, I fell in love with the process,” says Thompson. “The night sky is in constant motion, and the conditions that allow me to capture a decent image are always changing. The most amazing part about astrophotography is that you’ll rarely ever get the same shot twice.”
While this unique pastime can be a bit challenging and time consuming since it can only be done in total darkness, the COVID-19 pandemic provided time to learn and improve their skills. As for the equipment needed for this hobby, both Blanton and Thompson agree that it depends on how detailed participants want their photos to be.
“Newer model cell phones have amazing camera technology that can take nice photos for anyone not wanting to buy equipment,” says Blanton.
For his moon shots, Thompson uses a relatively basic telescope and an iPhone.
“For shots of something like the galaxy or nebulas, though, I use a DSLR camera with a slow shutter mounted to a device known as a star tracker, which allows the camera to move along with the ever-moving night sky and operate with longer exposure times. This allows for more light to hit the camera’s sensor for greater detail,” he says.
According to Blanton, to thrive in astrophotography requires a lot of patience and an eye for detail.
“Another reason I love astrophotography is that you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to get interesting photos since it is all about putting in the time and attention to detail,” he says. “Astrophotography gives you a new perspective that only something thousands of light years away can give, and it has changed the way I look at the world.”
Thompson is most interested in capturing the Milky Way Galaxy simply for its size and beauty across the sky, but he also likes to look for planets, nebulas, clusters and other galaxies like Andromeda. As for Blanton, the types of celestial bodies and events he looks for depends on the season.
“During the winter, I will shoot the Orion Nebula and several different galaxies. In the warmer months, Jupiter and Saturn return to the evening sky,” he says.
Once the images are captured, Blanton uses a technique called stacking in which he will take 40-50 photos of the same thing and stack them together to make the best photo possible.
“Once the photo is stacked, I adjust exposure, contrast and a few other settings in Adobe Lightroom, and then I usually have a finished product,” he says.
Thompson, on the other hand, develops his photos in Adobe Lightroom to bring out the light and colors hidden in the image data.
For readers who are interested in learning more about this unique hobby but don’t know where to start, Blanton and Thompson have some advice.
“My first word of advice is to get a pair of binoculars and learn the sky,” says Blanton. “Then, if you want to continue, purchase a telescope and attempt to take photos with your phone. If you want to proceed from there, purchase a DSLR. I love the hobby because it is usually just me, and I have to figure it all out on my own. For every good photo I make, there are hundreds that didn’t turn out. I have put in hundreds of hours, much of them spent on trial and error and failing over and over. But once you get that one clear shot of a nebula or distant galaxy, it’s all worth it.”
Thompson says that acquiring the gear and understanding the process is the easy part.
“The difficult part is having the patience and willingness to jump on the opportunity when you suddenly have a clear sky, no light pollution and can operate in pitch black darkness,” he says. “For some, it’s all about the science. For me, it’s mostly about art. Take hundreds of photos until you get it right, discard the duds, frame the winners, and enjoy the art of it.”
