About Paweł Białecki - Astrophotographer and Astro Photons Author

Paweł Białecki, Astrophotographer, Professional Astrophotography Blogger, Passionate Stargazer, Amateur Astronomer

Hey, I’m Paweł Białecki, a passionate astrophotographer from Poland. I’m a 29 30 31 full-time professional astrophotography blogger and amateur astronomer. I like stargazing, astro-camping, and my astrophotography gear!

I don’t know how exactly you have found this website, but as you are here, I have one suspicion – you are interested in astrophotography. If so, you have come to the right place!

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What's This Site is About
Who am I
My Astrophotography Gear
My Goals
Newsletter
Social Media
Contact Me

What's This Site is About

Do you want to shoot amazing astrophotography pictures with your DSLR camera?

I do. And this site is all about that.

At some point in my life, I wanted to start taking those beautiful astronomy pictures.

Summer Milky Way in Smedava, Czech Republic. Probably my best wide-field picture of the Milky Way so far. I captured it with a DSLR (well, a mirrorless, actually) camera and a 12mm lens (Rokinon/Samyang 12mm f/2) on a mobile equatorial tracking mount (Fornax Lightrack II).

Milky Way, galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, constellations. I knew that there are people around the globe who photograph them from their backyards, without having access to the Hubble telescope in space. I have been wondering for a long time how do they do that. I don't see any of those colorful things with the naked eyes on the night sky, so how do they do it?! I started to dig online.

Flame and Horsehead Nebulae in Orion Constellation. One of my favorite deep-sky pictures. I took it with the same mirrorless camera (Fuji X-T20) and a small refractor telescope (Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED).

Forums (Cloudy Nights, Stargazers Lounge). Blogs (Lonely Speck, AstroBackyard, Astropix, Galactic Hunter). Reddit. Books. I read every single available resource about astrophotography that I found. There was a lot of knowledge available, yet not really easy to absorb for a total beginner like me then. People were using confusing words like tracking, stacking, or guiding, just to mention a few. They were communicating efficiently between themselves, but to understand those astrophotography terms for a total newbie, was a challenge.

Then I decided. I'll create a beginner-friendly astrophotography learning place - the Astro Photons.

SkyWatcher Evostar 72ED - the true friend of a beginner astrophotographer — My small telescope for astrophotography – the Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED with the Fuji X-T20 camera mounted to it.

Do you want to know HOW to take pictures like these with a DSLR (or mirrorless) camera?

Fun fact: only three pictures from this mini-gallery are taken with a telescope (that SkyWatcher Evostar 72ED above). From the rest left, two I captured with a telephoto lens (Rokinon/Samyang 135mm f/2.0), and one with a wide-angle lens (Rokinon/Samyang 12mm f/2.0).

Astro Photons' goal is to provide the most comprehensive, detailed, objective, and beginner-friendly tutorials and resources about deep-sky and Milky Way astrophotography.

If you want to start your journey into astrophotography, you are in the right place!

Astro Photons blog is the place for you if:

You are interested in astrophotography (mostly Milky Way and Deep-Sky)
You are a beginner (and maybe you don’t even have your astrophotography gear yet)
You want to improve your photons-gathering and processing skills
You love the beauty of the night sky
You are looking for astrophotography tips, tricks, and first-hand gear reviews

Andromeda Galaxy (M31) — The Andromeda Galaxy captured from my balcony in less than one hour of integration time.

Who am I

I'm a 29 30 31-old guy born and living in Poland, Europe. I bought my first astrophotography gear in September 2017 (Fujifilm X-T20 camera, Rokinon/Samyang 12mm f/2 lens, and a Vanguard tripod). I started untracked-astrophotography (without a star tracker) but upgraded quickly to tracked-one by buying my first equatorial mount - Fornax Lightrack II.

I live in the small city of Bogatynia (twenty thousand people) next to Poland - Czech - Germany tripoint. Light pollution is a problem but with the proper astrophotography filters I down it to the minimum. My closest dark-sky area (Czech village Smědava) is around 40 minutes by car (that Milky Way picture at the beginning of this page was shoot there).

Outside of the astrophotography world, I'm a father, husband, and self-employed iOS developer. My wife is really cool by letting me spending whole nights on our balcony taking astro pictures - and sometimes taking a trip to the dark-skies areas.

As a non-native English speaker is not easy to write a blog in English, but a language barrier should not be the reason not to share your true passion with others.

My Astrophotography Gear

This is my most recent equipment list. I update it every time I buy or sell something.

Mount	Fornax Lightrack II (with the dedicated wedge, polar scope, and counterbalance kit)
Camera	Fujifilm X-T20
Telescopes	Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED
Lenses	SMC Super Takumar 200mm f/4 Rokinon/Samyang 135mm f/2 Fujifilm Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 Fujifilm Fujinon XF 23mm f/2 Rokinon/Samyang 12mm f/2
Autoguiding	Lacerta MGEN II Stand Alone Autoguider
Filters	NiSi Natural Night Hoya Red Intensifier Orion SkyGlow Imaging Baader H-alpha 7nm

My Goals

Astro Photons is my main project now. I spend a few hours daily working on new astrophotography materials for people around the globe.

I run this site for people like me - amateur astrophotographers looking for astrophotography tutorials and resources. It's fueled by the pure passion for the night sky. If you want to start doing or improve your astrophotography skills, let's do it together.

Subscribe to my newsletter and get your free astrophotography ebook.

Find me on:

Instagram (I post there the most)