Overheard a park ranger say my astro photo looked like 'a smudge' and it stung worse than I expected

I was at a star party at Cherry Springs State Park last weekend and this ranger walked by my setup, glanced at my 30-second Orion nebula shot, and muttered that to another guy. Has anyone else gotten a brutally honest critique of their photos out in the wild like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

nelson.vera8d ago

I read this thing online once about how park rangers at dark sky sites see so many astro photos that they get kinda numb to it. They see the same Orion shots night after night, so a 30 second exposure probably doesn't blow their minds like someone seeing it for the first time. Kinda like how I felt when my buddy showed me his thousandth picture of the same mountain lake, you know? Doesn't make your shot bad, just means that ranger has seen a lot of pictures.

nguyen.morgan8d ago

Wouldn't most people get tired of seeing the same thing every night regardless of how awesome it is? A chef at a five star restaurant probably doesn't get excited about every perfect steak they grill either.