The Southwest is rich in history and peppered with amazing sites left behind by the indigenous people of the ancient Americas. The heavens were carefully tracked and documented by the natives who once thrived in these sacred lands. Their knowledge was so precise they could predict the very moment of the start of new season. The imprint and legends they left behind were nothing short of remarkable.

As technology progresses we lose the magic of the night. It's a sad reality that many people never look at the stars anymore because they can't see them. They have forgotten there is a night sky at all. We can change this and bring back the awe-inspiring twinkling night that we used to have. We can fight light pollution!

This is Part II of Astrophotography 101. Click HERE for Part I on Cameras, Lenses, and Tripods.

So now you have your camera gear and you are ready to go out and shoot the night, right? Yes of course get out there but here are some helpful tools to make your job easier.

Daniel McVey - www.danielmcvey.com is a resident member of the Denver Photo Art Gallery at 833 Santa Fe Dr in Denver, Colorado, an Antzl Project Photographer, and citizen of Silverthorne, Colorado in Summit County. I first became interested in photography when I was in high school. I was very interested in art but due to some trouble I got into at the high school (and to this day I swear, all I did was laugh) I was banned from art classes. Instead of art I took Photography and Print Shop Classes which helped to shape the adult portion of my life.

After high school I did not take many pictures until I bought my first digital camera which was an aim and shoot by Kodak. I began to shoot more and more and eventually felt that I had outgrown the camera and wanted to be able to do things not possible on my camera like shoot a meteor shower, the moon, stars, etc, so I bought a dslr and couple lenses which I am currently using and began to teach myself the things that I forgot and the things unknown to me with a little help from John Fielder's book, Landscape Photography: The Art of Seeing and a Photoshop class I took here at Colorado Mountain College in Breckenridge.

More on Daniel.

Check out Daniel's photos: Photo Gallery 

Astro-Photography 101 Camera, Lens, Gadgets, and other Tools

So you have been staring up at the sky and you have been thinking to yourself, "I would love to record this scene but I have no idea where to start." - I've been there and struggled to learn much of this information over a period of several years.

Follow this simple guide to Astrophotography Camera's, Lenses, Gadgets, and other Tools: