Digital Astrophotography A Guide to Capturing the Cosmos

About this book

At first glance, the challenge of astrophotography may appear daunting. But not only are spectacular results possible, they are easy to learn with the step-by-step instructions provided in Stephan Seip's "Digital Astrophotography: A Guide to Capturing the Cosmos". Today, amateurs can produce images that only twenty years ago a large professional observatory would have been proud of; and this book shows you how.This book helps you learn how to: set up your camera for optimum results; focus your camera for razor-sharp images; take beautiful night shots with a simple compact digital camera, a tripod, and a telescope; use a DSLR camera to shoot the Sun, Moon, stars, star clusters, and nebulae through your telescope; get brilliant images of planets with a Webcam; capture remote galaxies with a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera just like a pro; select which cameras are best for the various celestial objects, what to look for when buying a camera, and what accessories you really need, from a simple camera and tripod to highly specialized equipment.Also included are lessons on the processing that is done in the "studio" after your shoot, including how to: shoot RAW format images and improve them with calibration frames; take short exposures of faint deep-sky objects and combine them into a longer exposure; perform brightness, contrast, and color correction; make corrections to correct for vignetting and uneven field illumination; and process your images for stunning results.

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Biography

Currently living in Stuttgart,Germany, Stefan Seip works as a professional fine art photographer, an IT consultant, and a science writer. His enthusiasm for the activities and objects of the cosmos dates back to his early adolescence. Driven by his innate desire to capture beauty in images, it was only natural to combine his two loves; astronomy and photography.It is only recently--decades later--that Stefan started to grasp what he had gotten himself into. Although, he still enjoys visual astronomy, astrophotography has gained the upper hand, requiring his full commitment. He said, "Had I foreseen the amount of time, perseverance, technology, know-how, and (in the end) money would be necessary in order to produce first-class images, I would have had second thoughts about it--only to pursue the same path again!"Astrophotography grants him many unforgettable hours under the night sky, while it allows him to produce aesthetically rewarding and lasting results. His love for this challenging craft is evident in his many spectacular images.To learn more about Stefan Seip, and to see his stunning astrophotos and fine art images, visit his website at http://www.photomeeting.de.