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Articles
After honing my skills as a film-based photographer for six years, I began the learning curve of CCD imaging in 2003, studying The New CCD Astronomy and much web-based information. I caught my first digital photons in January '04 and I am still learning. As difficult as good film results were, LRGB CCD imaging is even more labor intensive. The effort that Rob Gendler and others put into their finished work is staggering. I have used One-Shot-Color CCD cameras with much success and I am also grateful for the fine LRGB data which my friends and clients share with me. With the exception of Narrowband, the results that can be achieved with 'OSC' come close to filtered Monochrome, particularly with highly sampled data (.5-1.5 arcseconds). OSCs are a great alternative for many imagers and require longer exposures to compensate for their lower QE. Some of my processing techniques have been culled from the masters, but I'm always eager to discuss my personal methods with anyone. Feel free to write me at the email address available from the Contact button on the Homepage.
Biography
A child of the 60s- Star Trek, Lost in Space, 2001: a Space Odyssey, Apollo launches at dawn. Like many of our time, I boldly went with my heroes ‘Where no man [had] gone before.’ I never really touched-down again. As vice-president of my middle school astronomy club, I owned an 8" Newtonian telescope and began exploring the night sky at 15-years old. By college however, the sky was forgotten for a career in music, most nights playing in bright-city venues, far from the dark skies of my youth in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. I was a recording, performing, and teaching musician the first half of my life, and am a multi-published Nashville songwriter.
Not until Christmas of 1997, when I received a gift of a star chart and modest achromatic telescope was the passion re-ignited. When I was a child, I was gifted with Dr. Fred Hoyle's book 'Astronomy' ('Coiner' of the term 'Big Bang'). Its cover had the glossiest, full-color photo of M27- the Dumbbell Nebula in the blackest, velvet sky. I knew from that moment I must someday photograph the heavens’ wonders. The name of this website is of course, homage to the late Dr. Carl Sagan of Cosmos fame. Though I disagreed with his agnosticism, I greatly admired him as an educator.
Artistic by nature, highly technical aspects of the hobby were initially challenging. For me, it’s less about Cosmology and 'Charge Coupled Devices', and more about the thrill of the hunt for the myriad of beautiful shapes and colors throughout the universe. I’ve been told I have the ability to reduce the difficult concepts of Astro-Imaging to the essentials and effectively teach it to others. My Astrophoto tutorial business IP4AP was named a Sky & Telescope Magazine ‘Hot Product’ in 2007, and I’ve given hundreds of clients the world over a 'quick start' to taking their own great photos. It is my desire to convince new imagers that they can accomplish anything they want in amateur Astrophotography. I also became the US rep for high quality ATIK Cameras in 2009.
I strive to emphasize the importance of artfulness in a largely left-brained hobby, using my background in communications and art history from The American University in Washington, DC. I am proud to have been published as a photographer in: Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, Amateur Astronomy, and Pennsylvania Magazines, and many places on the World Wide Web, most prestigiously- NASA’s APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day). I write extensively for AstroPhoto Insight and am list owner of SXV-OSC, a user group for owners of One-Shot-Color CCD cameras (includes DSLRs) at-
I’ve lectured and lead workshops at the North East Astro-Imaging Conference (NEAIC) in New York, the Midwest Astro-Imaging Conference (MWAIC) in Chicago, and the Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC) in San Jose. I have presented at the Black Forest Star Party, and to groups as varied as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Chambers of Commerce, Rotaries, and camera clubs.
CCD Thoughts
As mentioned, 'The New CCD Astronomy' is the mother lode for a quick start into CCD imaging. Additionally, there are some great web-based tutorials as mentioned below
If you feel overwhelmed by technical minutia, don't assume you cannot aspire to being a great imager!
If you didn't have a background in film-based astrophotography, begin with Jerry Lodriguss. Though Jerry is the DSLR maven, the information is invaluable for CCD as well. Also view our free tutorials at IP4AP.com
Start with the most solid and finest-tracking mount you can afford. I cannot personally endorse Losmandy products
Dark skies matter- get to them whenever possible. Seeing is even more important!
Be prepared to make mistakes and be patient as you climb the learning curve. Completing a system that works for you is a lot of work. Once you get it, stick with it for a while and image!
You don't need to spend $15-$40k in order to get good images. You'll have to lay out a minimum of about $5k to start however. Prices are coming down- look into cameras based around the KAF-8300 sensor!
There are now many producers of quality CCDs. Filtered monochrome cameras requiring a good deal of image reduction aren't necessary to produce stunning images. Don't be afraid to think outside the box. See Chuck Vaughn and Anthony Licata's work with a Canon consumer DSLR, and my work as well as Alan Chen and Dietmar Hager's with the Starlight Xpress one-shot-color cameras. If you choose them, get Astroart 4.0 or MaxIm DL if for camera control and focusing only. Look into quality ATIK, QSI, FLI, Apogee, Starlight Xpress, and other makers, both Mono and One-Shot
SCTs are a bargain and versatile. They also have shortcomings both optically and mechanically. If you go this route, you might need to purchase several after-market products to make them good astrographs. Celestron's Edge HD and Starizona's Hyperstar are rvery nice as well
APO refractors do a great job. Some fine ED refractors come close to the results obtained by APOs, but spend the extra $1k on a triplet or Petzval if you can. Newtonians optimized for imaging are a great value. Russian Maks can be fine instruments for the money, but suffer from QC issues and a lack of mechanical sophistication. Like the SCT, they often require refinements to make them good astrographs. Dedicated imagers interested in smaller objects will want to look into corrected R-Cs, D-Ks, etc
A quality focusing system is the most important modification you will likely need to make. The faster the f/ratio, the more critical focusing becomes. Many like the Bahtinov Mask as it works exclusive of Seeing
There are many good software programs- some shareware, each of which offer one beneficial trick or two that another doesn't. It can be frustrating as you collect them for these features. Without question, Adobe Photoshop CS is vastly superior to any of the CCD-specific programs for post-processing. Start learning it today. It took me over six years to even approach mastery. Certainly, other programs are necessary for image reduction, registration and combining, but once master L-R-G-Bs have been accomplished, Photoshop wins the day. The CS version with a plugin will enable you to process 16-bit FITS files all the way to final output. Monitor calibration w/ a Datacolor 'Spyder' or similar device is a must for accurate results! Purchase R. Scott Ireland's Photoshop Astronomy book and visit me at IP4AP.com
Don't assume because someone is an astronomy vendor, that they have the passion and ethics that you do. I recommend OPT, High Point Scientific, AVA and Woodland Hills- all available from the Links page
'The World As I See It'
“[The harmony of natural law] reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe--a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble." *
*Albert Einstein- Einstein and Religion: Physics and Theology by Max Jammer
Astro-Imaging As Art
And it is art. Like any other medium, astrophotography should respect basic rules. Elements such as composition and color matter. For a visually pleasing final product with lots of impact, thought is required beforehand to match the object to the imaging focal length and chip size.
A slice of nebula or an off-center galaxy doesn't make the same statement as the full object, well-composed and contrasted by a dark background. There are some imagers who approach the hobby from a technical background and lack education in the arts. Though the image may be well acquired, poor composition, unnatural colors and less than ideal processing are sometimes the result.
I'd suggest studying the work of great astro-imagers, and also landscape painters and photographers as well. See why an extra few minutes framing a shot is worth the time. Get a sense of what is considered tasteful and pleasing to avoid crossing the line into the artificial or garish.