Mihail Minkov is a multi-award winning landscape astrophotographer.
He captures image like this above, which was runner-up in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition in 2022.
We spoke to him about how he goes about astrophotography and his tips for others.
“Most people have never seen the milky way, never experienced the feeling of standing under the starry sky on a warm July evening, surrounded by the song of crickets and the smell of lavender. It is something that has to be experienced, it cannot be described in words. That’s why I like to shoot at night. For me this process is like meditation. It scales me up and makes me humble.”
Where are you and where do you do your astrophotography?
I am based in Bulgaria, and I love my country.
We have amazing nature and – thank God – some pretty dark skies (like Bortle 2 at the most).
I have a few posts around the country where I am shooting the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria facing south and the Milky Way is rising from the sea and it is absolutely amazing.
I have been doing landscape astrophotography for the past 5 years.
I have become good at what I am doing and so I want to share my experience and knowledge with people that are passionate about the hidden beauty of the night sky through workshops that I teach.
“Learn how to shoot and edit through workshops and video tutorials and only then go and spend a huge amount of money and buy your dream gear. This is the right path, not the other way around.”
What equipment do you use?
At the beginning of my career, I thought that I needed the best and most expensive equipment to create a WOW image. This is so wrong 😊.
The most important thing is the story behind the image, the idea, the person behind the camera, this is what distinguishes you from the others, your personal taste and approach of editing your shots.
Speaking about my gear, I am a Sony shooter.
I have an astro modified Sony A7 III which is an amazing camera.
I have a number of lenses:
I use Benro tripods and have Shimoda backpack.
I also use star trackers so I can make long exposures of the night sky and capture more details and colours with less noise and using a lower ISO. I use:
At this point, the only thing I really dream of is to have time to travel. I am a father of two and a husband and this is a huge responsibility, and I am a really busy person 😊.
“The peace and seclusion that the night affords me as I shoot makes me feel intoxicated by the beauty and mystery of the glowing stars and planets overhead, but also humbled and grateful.”
Do you do smartphone astrophotography?
Today’s smartphones are becoming very capable of capturing a really good night images.
I love to play with my Xiaomi 13 Pro and see what I can capture.
If you are in a really dark area, you can manage to capture very decent and moody smartphone night images.
It’s amazing what you can achieve with the device you are holding in your pocket.
“I want to share my experience and knowledge with people that are passionate about the hidden beauty of the night sky”
What do you do for post-processing?
I just use Adobe Photoshop and Camera RAW.
Photoshop is just a tool to help you extract the beauty from the RAW files you captured with your camera. For me, it’s not a tool for making things that don’t exist.
For most people, astrophotography is Photoshop, which means something that doesn’t exist.
Just because you can’t see something with your eyes doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Most people have never seen the milky way, never experienced the feeling of standing under the starry sky on a warm July evening, surrounded by the song of crickets and the smell of lavender.
It is something that has to be experienced, it cannot be described in words. That’s why I like to shoot at night.
For me this process is like meditation. It scales me up and makes me humble.
“At the beginning of my career, I thought that I needed the best and most expensive equipment to create a WOW image. This is so wrong”
What are your tips for beginner astrophotographers?
There are a lot of free YouTube videos out there, including my own channel, where I try to create videos and show people how to plan and edit their images.
The only advice I can give to the newbies is to invest in your self first.
Learn how to shoot and edit through workshops and video tutorials and only then go and spend a huge amount of money and buy your dream gear.
This is the right path, not the other way around.
Start with a second-hand full frame camera, buy a zoom fast lens and enjoy.
This is a journey, where we admire the infinite beauty of the cosmos and keep learning and developing.
About You – Mihail Minkov
I have always been fascinated by the stars. Even as a child I was in awe of the night sky.
Over the past few years, I have dedicated much of my free time to capturing the magic of the night sky and the Milky Way in particular.
The peace and seclusion that the night affords me as I shoot makes me feel intoxicated by the beauty and mystery of the glowing stars and planets overhead, but also humbled and grateful.
I am the winner of many awards from prestigious international competitions for astro and night photography.
My shots have been shared by world media such as National Geographic, Forbes, The Guardian, The Times, BBC Earth, Sky at night magazine, Daily Mail, SkyNews, Astronomy pictures of the day by NASA, Bored Panda, PetaPixel, My Modern Met and many others.
You can follow my work here: https://www.instagram.com/mihailvminkov/
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