Choosing a site for astrophotography and setting up your mount, camera and scope.
Observing Site
Choose you observing site with care. Choose somewhere with good views of the southern sky in particular and that is free of obstructions and direct light pollution. If this will be a commonly used site or even a place to build an observation shed, think about how you can get access to power and the internet.
Leveling & Balance
Level the mount first, then with the counterweight bar in the home (down) position add weights and lastly the assemble the scope, add all the wires and then balance.
Polar Alignment
You can do a surprisingly close polar alignment us an Ap like Polar Scope Align Pro described more fully here. Getting all the set up done in daytime is a lot easier than at night and you don’t waste imaging time. When night does come then you can either use the polar scope on your mount or for a faster and more accurate method use the PA functions in NINA or Sharpcap pro.