I had a look at Astrobin for a while and just decided to become a paying member as I think this is a community where I can learn a lot and meet people of a similar mindset.
And hence I would like to give a brief introduction to myself.
I am a 60+ yr old German, living in the northern part of Germany (a bit southeast of Hamburg), a physicist by training and currently working in an IT company being responsible for sales and marketing.
My interest in astronomy and astrophotography already started back 45 years ago when I got my first analog SLR and started photgrahy. But unfortunately at that time I couldn't afford it. Then during university and until the kids left home I really stopped photographing and restarted with a DSLR a few years ago.
So I guess still describing myself as an enthusiastic amateur best describes my capabilites in photography in general and astrophotography in particular.
Especially in astrophotography my focus is on doing this with standard affordable equipment (mainly inspired by Katja Seidel). So I am using a standard DSLRs with wide angle and tele lenses along with a Skywatcher Staradventurer travel mount.
For processing I am also using mainly FOSS (or at least affordable) tools. So for stacking I am using Siril/Sirilic, for provessingStartools, Darktable and Gimp/G'mi. All of them in the Linux ecosystem.
Located in the northern part of germany I am a bit limited it terms of dark nights but I am living in a Bortle 4 area so I can do a lot from my backyard or just outside our village. But as I am still have to work for money I do not have that much time to spend for this hobby so do not expect me to publish an image once a week.
So please let me know what you think when you have a look at my images and I am open to any comments or tipps.
Clear skies,
Carsten
