Astrophotography in the Sea Garden in Varna
Astrophotographer Rositsa Dimitrova will present 25 photographs of the starry sky, the Milky Way, and the Moon on the first July evening after July Morning in the Sea Garden in Varna. The exhibition is arranged right next to the Sundial and is her first solo exhibition, although her name as an astrophotographer is world-renowned. In 2022, she became the first Bulgarian woman in the most prestigious astrophotography selection – that of the Royal Observatory Greenwich. And this year, she is already part of Capture The Atlas's Milky Way Photographer of the Year 2024 selection.
The photos are from various locations around the world, and each one takes the photographer a different amount of time. According to her, shots of stars usually require a longer journey, about 3-4 hours on location, and several more hours of processing to clean up noise and balance the light. The opposite is true for Moon shots – they are sometimes planned for hours to find a suitable position and calculate "good light." After that, the subject is "captured" in just about 30 minutes, with Rositsa doing almost no post-processing afterward.
"The perfect shot requires a lot of preparation, but also a lot of patience and persistence. One must be willing to return to the location again and again to truly capture it under ideal conditions – clouds, fog, and even bioluminescent plankton, which I captured near Tyulenovo 3 years ago," Rositsa Dimitrova reveals to the readers of Dynaphos's blog.
And the cameras and lenses she uses to gaze at the sky are Sony:
"Sony A7iii - astro-modified to better capture the red hues in the night sky - H-alpha light; with Sony 14/1.8 - for stars and landscapes, I adore this lens.
Sony A7Riii - with more megapixels, when I shoot the Moon and the Sun.
Sony G 200-600mm - for the Moon and the Sun.
Plus:
Sony 24-105 - when I travel.
Sony 24/1.4 - sometimes for the starry sky again.
Otherwise, the Sony A7iii performs great in terms of noise in night shots, while with some of the newer ones, it's not quite the same. This is probably the best body for astrophotography, especially considering the quality-to-price ratio."
The exhibition in Varna will remain next to the Sundial until July 14.
"The Sundial has been my favorite since childhood – it precisely symbolizes the movement of the Sun – not only during the day but also through the seasons, which amazed me as a child. Whenever I walk in the Sea Garden, I always pass by and look at these exhibitions; I never miss them. There was one of my photos there from Varna Airport, but I always dreamed of a full exhibition. Finally, this small dream of mine came true," says Rositsa, as if to motivate others to follow their dreams.
Having started photographing the sky only 7 years ago, today, in addition to the exhibition in her hometown, she can confidently summarize:
"Stars are extremely photogenic, and in fact, they are not so difficult to capture. The difficult part is finding a suitable and dark place, finding a great foreground, and building a complex, breathtaking composition."
Just like in life, which all photographs try to capture through their lenses.
The photos in this article were provided for publication by Rositsa Dimitrova. You can read more about her as a photographer and travel blogger on her blog.
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