If you are new to this blog and want to learn more about it, then firstly, welcome, and secondly why not start here at https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html
An almost
one-year review of the blog
I’ve
conducted a brief review of my blog based on feedback from people who have visited
it, an analysis by Chat GPT (I just wanted to try it out, having never used it
before) and the patient ‘critical friend’ thinking that always comes from my
wife.
I’ll just
focus on the areas I want to improve over the forthcoming year for now, but if you want to read about my original aims for this blog then you can find them here at https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/what-is-aim-and-purpose-of-my-new.html
Some possible blog improvement areas for 2026 could be:
1.
Posts
about acquisition of data and use of equipment are sound but I need to improve
the clarity, depth, and readability of ‘post-editing’ tutorials. I also need to
include more ‘before/after’ comparison images, explaining step-by-step what I
did to get the improvements
2.
Whilst
some of my posts are more narrative and less structured, which is fine, I need
to include more consistent elements to improve usability for myself and readers
e.g. ‘summary of key points’, ‘what I’d do differently next time reviews’, ‘bonus
tips’
3.
I
need to better categorise posts through their titles to help me and others find
their way around the blog e.g. ‘Beginner guides to ….’ ‘Gear reviews’ ‘Image
capture’ etc
4.
Increasing
interactive features like comment prompts, Q+A posts, regular reader submission
pages, ‘How did your results go?’ etc to build up more of a community feel and
participation rate
5.
Improve the SEO, discoverability and broader reach of the blog. Use more
long-tail keywords (uur??) and more tags/categories. An old IT friend of mine
said “make your older posts easier to find and navigate”. And a very
social media savvy younger friend of mine, well she said “more visual
thumbnails, more summaries for sharing on social media, get an Instagram page”.
Gulp!
6.
Two young, world travelling, former students of mine suggested some more
varied content could broaden blog interest e.g. “‘Astrophoto travel stories’,
‘Visiting dark-sky sites’” (they were in La Palma when they suggested this
one!); “‘interview some fellow local astronomers and astrophotographers you
know’” (another of their suggestions). ‘Challenges and setbacks’, ‘Quick
tips’. Lots to think about going forward.
7.
The whole ethos of the blog is based on ‘going on a learning journey of
self-improvement’ in astrophotography and astronomy, so is there a way I can provide
a visual ‘roadmap’ of the site which gets regularly updated e.g. “If you’re
just starting, do X, then Y after you’ve mastered A, then move to B”.
Would this move the blog from
being more of a journal to more of a community resource?
So, almost a
year in, lots to ponder. I think the blog is beginning to get a strong and authentic
feel; one that shares a learning journey in a relatable way backed up by
practical details, an honest approach and even, perhaps, a niche focus on ‘beginners’.
We will see how it goes forward in 2026. I, for one, will still be out there
trying to capture images of our amazing cosmos. I will still be grappling with
developing some reasonable post-editing skills for both milky way landscapes
and deep space objects. I’ll still be trying to learn and remember all the
constellations. I’ll still be trying to learn the basics about the cosmos.
As
always, drop me a ‘hello’, introduce yourself, tell us about your own learning
journey in astronomy and/or astrophotography. Share an image you are pleased
with. Pose some questions.
And, stay
safe out there, clear skies and have enormous fun
Steve
Postscript:
Some Further Thinking About the Aims and Philosophy of This Blog
It’s
December 2025, and I’ve found myself doing a bit more of that end-of-year
ritual again: staring into space and pretending it’s “deep reflection,” when in
reality I’m just trying to remember whether I locked the car up or not. Still,
somewhere in that fog, I started thinking about this blog again - its aims, its
philosophy, its raison d’être (or whatever the astrophotography
equivalent of that is).
When I first
sketched out what this blog was supposed to be (over here - https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/what-is-aim-and-purpose-of-my-new.html
) , I now realise I missed something important. The reminder arrived this
week in the form of new SIRIL 1.4 updates - the Veralux hypermetric stretching
scripts, to be precise. Every time I learn something new from the generosity of
others - people like Riccardo, who seems to have compressed entire galaxies’
worth of wisdom into helpful, game-changing python scripts - I’m nudged to remember to try and give
something back, in my own small, insignificant way.
The truth
is, I’m still a beginner. A proper one. The kind who looks at experienced
astrophotographers discussing “best practice” and nods sagely while quietly
Googling every third term or instruction. I can’t tell you the definitive way
to do anything. But what I can do is talk about how I do it - warts,
mistakes, mis-clicks, and misadventures included. And maybe, just maybe, by
sharing the bumps in my learning curve, I can help another beginner avoid hours
of head-scratching and existential questioning on what to do, how to do it and
whether a finished result ‘looks right’!
While poking
around the site, I realised one of my original goals needs more love: not just
sharing my images - the glamorous and the ghastly - but sharing the story
of my progress. The before-and-after comparisons. The “here’s what changed
and why.” The “look how awful this first attempt was, and look how
slightly-less-awful the latest one is.” Because ultimately, this whole
hobby is a learning journey.
Recently, I
read a blog post by someone named Patrick. Brilliant piece. Insightful. And of
course, I forgot to bookmark it. I hate when that happens – anyway, what stuck
with me was Patrick’s key point: we should all tell the story behind our
imaging sessions. He had a list of questions to help guide that story. I can’t
remember them all - but here are the ones I think were on the list: remember
Eric’s famous line to Andre Previn “I have all the right notes, but not necessarily
in the right order”
- What object was I imaging, and
what’s its history?
- Where was it in the sky?
- How did I collect data, and why
did I choose this object in the first place?
- What gear was I using?
- What was my shooting plan?
Exposure details?
- What problems did I run into,
and how did I wrestle them into submission?
- What did my post-processing
workflow look like - ideally with screenshots and commentary?
After
reviewing my blog, I realised I’m doing some of these well… and some of them
not at all. A cosmic patchwork of effort, if you will.
And just to
be clear: my goal isn’t to tell you the right way to do anything. There is
no right way. Astrophotography is basically a giant cosmic buffet - everyone’s
plate ends up looking different, and that’s half the fun. But by sharing how
each of us approaches things, we give one another the chance to pick up new
tricks, shortcuts, and “oh wow, so that’s how you fixed that” moments.
So, I wanted
to revisit and clarify what I’ve said before about the aims and philosophy of
this blog. If nothing else, it’s a reminder to myself that this space is
supposed to be as much about the journey as the destination - messy,
meandering, and occasionally magical.
Hope that
helps make the direction of this blog a little clearer - and thanks for coming
along for the ride.
PPS - Patrick, if you happen to read thios post - drop me a comment below - your blog was brilliant and I can't find it to share - sorry buddy!
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