Capturing the serene beauty of planets, stars, and celestial bodies is both fine art and scientific discovery. Fascinating, challenging, and extremely rewarding, astrophotography is a pursuit that is greatly enhanced by gaining access to the type of detailed instruction The Astrophotography Manual offers, with charts, tables, over 380 images, and real-life troubleshooting advice in detailed case studies. The Astrophotography Manual is for those astrophotographers who wish to swiftly move beyond using standard SLR cameras and Photoshop, and who are ready to create beautiful images of nebulas, galaxies, clusters, and the solar system.
Beginning with a brief astronomy primer, The Astrophotography Manual takes readers through the full astrophotography process, from equipment choice and set-up, through image acquisition, image calibration, and processing. Along the way it explains how sensor performance and light pollution relate to image quality and exposure planning. The Astrophotography Manual will satisfy the technical and practical reader and uses case studies to illustrate the entire process, using a range of equipment (including tablets and smartphones), exploring deep sky and planetary objects, and utilizing a variety of software, including Maxim, Nebulosity, Photoshop, RegiStax and PixInsight.
1. Astronomy Primer
- The Diverse Universe of Astrophotography
- Space
- Catalogues
- Four Dimensions and Counting
- Limits of Perception
2. Choosing Equipment
- The Ingredients of Success
- General Equipment
- Imaging Equipment
3. Setting Up
- Telescope Mounts
- Telescopes
- Still Cameras
- Video Cameras
- Astronomy and Imaging Software
- Ignition
4 .Image Processing and Enhancement
- Introduction to Image Processing
- Calibration
- Image Processing
- Image Enhancement
5 .First Light Workshops
- Capture Principals
- M13 Globular Cluster
- M31 Andromeda Galaxy
- M45 Pleiades
- Rosette Nebula
- M51 Whirlpool Galaxy
- M42 Orion Nebula in False Colour
- Jupiter
- Moon Mosaic
- Summer Projects
6. Chapter of Errors
- Diagnostics
7. Appendices
Templates
Resources
Glossary
Index
Chris Woodhouse was born in England, and during his teenage years was a keen amateur photographer. After receiving an M.Eng. in Electronics at Bath University, he designed communication and optical gauging equipment before joining an automotive company. As a member of the Royal Photographic Society, he gained an Associate distinction in 2002. During the last thirty years, he has pursued his passion for all forms of photography, mostly in monochrome. This, coupled with his design experience, led him to invent and patent several unique darkroom timers and meters, which are sold throughout the world. After the success of his first book, Way Beyond Monochrome, he turned his attention to digital monochrome and astrophotography. He quickly found the technical challenges of astrophotography responded well to methodical and scientific methods; together with his photographic eye and experience, he produces beautiful and fascinating images.