Having recently joined and no clue in astrophotography or scopes found this post very interesting, well written and knowing that when I do get the opportunity to get out I'm not expecting to see all the magazine and Internet style pics.
What I have noticed when watching YouTube vids is even the astrophotography side, when you see an image taken from a well spec scope and camera compressed from 400 to 500 individual pics stacked into one that you don't actually see alot till you start to adjust the contrast/brightness etc then the magic happens .......every adjustment you see a little bit more till you end up with this amazing image of say the horse head nebula.
That is what I'm looking forward to getting home and trying to capture in December........not expecting great results as like driving a car need to start with the basics and learn but keep on trying.