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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.  The New CCD Astronomy and web-based information was invaluable as I captured my first digital photons in January 2004.  I have used One-Shot-Color CCD cameras with success which are a great alternative for casual imagers.  They require longer exposures to compensate for their lower QE.  For this reason, and particularly for those interested in Narrowband imaging Monochrome systems are preferred.

 

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' (coined 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.

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 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, Nightscape, Amateur Astronomy, WV Living 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 have appeared as a SKY & Telescope, Amateur Astronomy, and IDA Nightscape author.  I am list owner of CCD-OSC a Yahoo! user group for owners of One-Shot-Color CCD cameras, including DSLRs.

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, the Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC) in San Jose, SCAE and RAW, also in California.  I have presented at the Winter, Texas, Okie-Tex and Black Forest Star Parties, and to groups as varied as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Chambers of Commerce, Rotaries, and camera clubs.  I was the US rep for high-quality Atik Cameras from October, 2009 to March, 2011.  I am currently writing a book for Springer Press with Alan Erickson of Adobe, tentatively titled Improving Your Astro-Images With Adobe Photoshop due in July 2013.  I am also a consultant to MSB-Astroart and Celestron, where I co-designed AstroFX software.

 

Astro-Imaging as Art

 

And it is art.  Like any other medium, astrophotography benefits by following the basics.  Elements such as good composition and tasteful 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 darker background sky.  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 painters and traditional photographers as well.  See why an extra few minutes framing a shot is worth the time.  Get a sense of what is considered lovely and pleasing to the eye, and avoid crossing the line into the artificial or garish.

 

Imaging 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 did not have a background in film-based astrophotography, begin with Jerry Lodriguss.  While Jerry is the DSLR maven, the information is invaluable for CCD as well.  Also view my free tutorials at IP4AP

Start with the most solid and finest-tracking mount you can afford.  I can not endorse Losmandy products

Dark skies matter.  Get to them whenever possible. Good Seeing is even more important!

Be prepared to make mistakes and be patient as you climb the learning curve.  Assembling a system that works well for you is not easy.  Once you get it, stick with it for a while and image!

You don't need to spend $15-$40k to get good images.  You will have to lay out a minimum of about $5k to start however.  Prices are coming down- look into cameras based around the KAF-8300 monochrome 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 Atik and Starlight Xpress One-Shot-Color cameras.  If you choose them, get Astroart or MaxIm DL if for camera control and focusing only.  Also look into quality Apogee, FLI, QHY, QSI, and other makers- both Mono and One-Shot

SCTs are a bargain and versatile but 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 very nice!

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.  Corrected 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 RCs, 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 love 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, with the exception of perhaps PixInsight.  Start learning it today.  It took me over six years to even approach Photoshop mastery.  It's still a work in progress!  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 open 16-bit FITS files.  Monitor calibration w/ an X-Rite i1, Datacolor Spyder 3-4 or similar 'puck' device is a must for accurate results!  Purchase R. Scott Ireland's Photoshop Astronomy book and visit me at IP4AP

 Don't assume because someone is an astronomy vendor, that they have the passion and ethics that you do.  I recommend OPT Telescopes, High Point Scientific, and Woodland Hills

 

 

'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