Guest Author: Chandresh Kedhambadi - Sony Alpha Universe
Since the dawn of civilization, humans have gazed at the night sky wondering—‘Is there anybody out there? My astrophotography journey began with the realization that we’re all made of stardust— the elements born in crucibles of stars is alive within us.
I wasn’t planning on becoming an astrophotographer. My curiosity for the natural world began in the mountains of South India, where I spent childhood summers exploring forests and coffee plantations visiting my grandparents. That love for exploration followed me to the Canadian Rockies, where a chance encounter with the Northern Lights on a remote oilfield drive to work changed everything. Mesmerized by the dancing aurora borealis—like celestial brushstrokes painting the heavens—I knew I had to capture that magic. That single moment turned curiosity into obsession.That sparked my journey into astrophotography—a craft that has since deepened my understanding of light, sharpened my technical skills, and opened new creative paths through the beauty of Canada’s wild landscapes.
So when we say “we are stardust,” it means the atoms in your body were created in the hearts of stars billions of years ago. Everything on Earth—including you—is made from these recycled elements, the Carbon in your cells, Calcium in your bones, Iron in your blood and the Oxygen we breathe were all were all formed in the crucibles of ancient stars. You are literally a product of cosmic processes—a living piece of the universe becoming aware of itself.
I am Chandresh Kedhambadi, an astrophotographer from Calgary, Alberta Canada
Living near Banff National Park offers astrophotographers incredible benefits—most notably, quick access to some of the darkest skies in North America, including Bortle 1–2 zones along the Icefields Parkway. This proximity makes spontaneous year-around aurora chases or Milky Way shoots feasible. The dramatic alpine landscapes provide stunning foregrounds that elevate night sky compositions.
However, astrophotography in Canada also comes with challenges—extreme cold during winter months can be harsh on both gear and the photographer, and unpredictable weather often means lost shooting opportunities. Yet, it's these very conditions that make the pursuit so rewarding. The thrill of capturing a rare aurora display or the Milky Way arching over a frozen lake under clear skies creates an unmatched sense of wonder and connection to the universe.
We’re explorers, chasers of dark skies, relentlessly seeking the finest camera gears to capture what the eyes cannot see at night.
Astrophotography demands patience, precision, and gear that can handle the extremes. I quickly realized that low-light conditions weren’t forgiving—unless you had the right tools. Enter Sony.
Light pollution can wash out stars, so we seek out Bortle class 1 skies—the darkest possible conditions on Earth—for the clearest view of celestial objects. I'm fortunate to live just two hours from some of the world’s best stargazing locations along the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park, where pristine Bortle 1 skies allow me to capture the Milky Way, aurora borealis, and distant galaxies in stunning clarity. These conditions, paired with the right gear, help bring out the very best in my astrophotography.
My first real upgrade was the Sony α7 mirrorless full-frame, and it changed everything. The low-light performance, dynamic range, and minimal noise at high ISOs were exactly what I needed to capture the subtle colors of the nite sky. Pairing it with Sony’s GM lenses gave me wide, sharp, distortion-free views of the night sky—perfect for capturing and presenting those starlit moments of wonder.
The Sony Alpha 7 Mark IV has been a game changer—its low-light performance, bright monitoring, and focus peaking makes it ideal for astrophotography, the advanced autofocus is perfect for those wildlife encounters.
The Sony Alpha 7 IV’s high ISO performance allows for cleaner, low-noise images in dark conditions—crucial for capturing the faint details of the night sky. Its 33MP full-frame sensor delivers high resolution, enabling astrophotographers to crop images without losing detail and produce large, gallery-quality prints that showcase the intricate beauty of stars and landscapes.
Bright Monitoring is a feature on Sony cameras designed to enhance visibility in extremely low-light conditions, making it especially valuable for astrophotography. When programmed into one of the custom buttons and activated, Bright Monitoring temporarily boosts the screen brightness and gain, allowing photographers to better see stars, the Milky Way, or dark foreground elements in real time—without affecting the final image exposure. This makes it much easier to compose shots in the dark and fine-tune framing before taking a long exposure. As astrophotographers working in remote, pitch-black environments, Bright Monitoring is a game-changing tool that simplifies setup and ensures accurate composition when capturing the night sky.
Focus peaking is a powerful manual focusing aid available on Sony cameras that highlights the edges of objects that are in sharp focus, using a colored overlay (red, yellow, blue or white) on the live view screen. For astrophotography, where achieving precise focus on distant stars is critical—and often done in the dark—focus peaking becomes especially useful. By manually adjusting the focus ring and watching for the peaking highlights to appear on stars or foreground elements, astrophotographers can ensure their images are tack sharp. This feature helps save time in the field and reduces guesswork, especially when autofocus is unreliable in low-light conditions.
The advanced autofocus system in the Sony Alpha 7 IV, featuring Real-Time Eye AF and Real-Time Tracking, ensures fast and precise focus on animals—even in motion. These features are especially valuable during wildlife encounters, allowing photographers to lock onto a subject’s eye or body and maintain sharp focus for tack-sharp images. Combined with in-body image stabilization, the camera helps reduce blur from hand movement, making it easier to capture crisp, steady shots even with long lenses or in low-light, handheld conditions.
These tools bring the universe to life—and makes me feel one with the universe.
But it wasn’t just about specs. What kept me loyal to Sony was how their cameras made me feel confident. Whether I was hiking endless hours across the Icefields Parkway or chasing unpredictable solar storms through Alberta’s backroads, I knew my gear could keep up. From the blazing core of the Milky Way to the ghostly curtain of northern lights, Sony helps me capture what the human eye cannot see at nite.
Today, my work is not just about images—it’s about storytelling. Sharing the science, the culture, and the wonder of the night sky. And every one of those stories started with a quiet night, a tripod, and a Sony camera pointed at the stars.
Featured in this blog:
Sony a7 IV Body
