Catching a Comet: The Shared Emotions of Astrophotographer Mihail Minkov

Catching a comet that brightly illuminates the night sky is not impossible. This is demonstrated by numerous photos of C/2023 A3, which these days delights our eyes, even without a camera or telescope. But to capture it in such a way that your shot tells a story is a skill not everyone possesses. Astrophotographer Mihail Minkov, repeatedly awarded in international photography competitions, and last year and this year - Milky Way Photographer of the Year 23 & 24, agreed to share his encounter with the comet with the readers of the Dynaphos blog.

Dynaphos: You captured comet C/2023 A3, and one of your shots is amazing - it shows the comet touching the dome of a church. Tell us about the location and if you were looking for this effect?

The day before we photographed near the chapel by the village of Kovachevtsi, my family and I went to see and photograph the comet near Pchelina Dam. It was a great experience for the children, which we captured in several shots. Since I was impressed by the size of the comet, I decided to suggest to a few other photographer friends to go to the "St. Peter and Paul" chapel near Kovachevtsi to try and take a few more shots, and to meet and talk; it's always great to exchange some information with like-minded people during photo sessions. In my Facebook group Astrophotography Bulgaria, which numbers almost 20 thousand followers, there was already a huge amount of comet shots. Separately, on Instagram, fellow astrophotographers from all over the world were also sharing shots of the celestial object. I had seen a few shots that same day that inspired me a lot, and when we arrived at the chapel, I "saw the shot" in my head and voiced the suggestion to wait until the comet "touched" the dome of the chapel. This composition has some symbolism, like a touch from above. In my shots, I always try to have some message, idea, or story that touches the viewer. We are daily flooded with a huge amount of visual content, and for something to hold your gaze for more than 5 seconds is an achievement.
After spending almost an hour and a half on site, under an almost full moon, the comet began to descend, and the moment it was level with the cross on the dome, the four photographers who remained on site collegially began to move back and forth with our tripods and cameras in search of the right position. We were like shamans performing a spell. It was fun. I think everyone managed to capture their divine touch. After we were sufficiently frozen, we got into the car and drove back to Sofia.

Dynaphos: Would you share a little about the shooting technology? And the equipment you used?

For almost an hour and a half of shooting, I only took single frames, always with the idea that I might also catch a meteor or a bolide. A curious incident from the same evening was that at one point, a meteor entered parallel to the comet, and none of us managed to capture it in a shot. Due to the almost full moon, it was very bright on site, and I shot a series of frames at ISO 1600, f/2.8, 4 seconds exposure, so that the comet would be whole and its shape not blurred. In night and astrophotography, it's always a juggling act with ISO within acceptable limits, i.e., not exceeding ISO 3200, relative to the situation, with the exposure time being as long as possible so that there is enough information in the frame. I shoot with an astro-modified Sony A7III, still one of the best cameras for astrophotography. Since I didn't have a long enough lens, a friend decided to let me test the Sigma 28-70, so the shot was taken with that lens at 70 mm.

Dynaphos: You say that as a photographer, you look for the darkest possible sky, and the full moon spoils that. How does your camera see in the darkness of the sky, and how would your photo look with the darkest sky?

Next year, a group of enthusiasts and friends and I are going on a photo expedition to Bolivia – Chile Atacama and Easter Island, to experience and photograph one of the darkest skies in the world, and that in the Southern Hemisphere. This was my dream, to shoot in a place devoid of any light pollution. The full moon is beautiful, but for observing and photographing the night sky, you need to be far from city lights or wait until the new moon. Our eyes are too imperfect to capture the colors and shapes hidden in the darkness of the night. When I press the camera button and wait for the exposure time, I get excited like a small child. Then comes the surprise and the WOW effect, to see on the camera display what has been captured, which is invisible to our eyes in colors and shapes. This feeling of discovering the hidden treasures of the night sky and the world around us in the tranquility of the night is a feeling that continues to make me feel alive and truly happy.
When the sky is dark and there is no light pollution, one can capture a beautiful shot even with a standard f/2.8 lens. The less light pollution there is, the more beautiful the sky. What personally excites me is for the shot to have a story, to have some highlight, an idea. The sky is for the background; it is the same, only changing depending on the month or location from which you are shooting. In landscape astrophotography, what matters to me is the idea you have. Strong composition and an idea make all the difference.

Dynaphos: One easy piece of advice for beginner astrophotographers - what should they start with in their attempts - both in terms of subject to shoot and equipment?

What I always tell participants in my astrophotography workshops is to invest in themselves first, not in expensive equipment. Let them learn how to handle the equipment they have, understand the basic principles, how to look for an interesting composition and viewpoint when on location, and last but not least, to bring out the qualities and information embedded in the RAW file, captured by the camera, to be able to process the photo in such a way as to create a shot that will evoke emotion in the viewer, make them feel better, provoke something in them.

Dynaphos thanks Mihail Minkov for the shots he provided to publish with this article and for his shared emotions while shooting them. You can learn more about the work of the renowned astrophotographer on his website and Instagram.