Digital Astrophotography: A Guide to Capturing the Cosmos (Paperback)

~ Stefan Seip (Author)
Key Phrases: digital compact camera, webcam body, flat field frames, The Astronomical, Taking Astrophotos, Milky Way (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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.

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

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 Process your images for stunning results

Equipment requirements for astrophotography range from nothing but a simple camera and tripod to a multi-thousand dollar computer controlled telescope equipped with a CCD auto-guider and separate guide-scope. Researching the best equipment for your needs is a task in itself. Seip helps you to sort out which cameras are best for the various celestial objects, what to look for when buying a camera, and what accessories you really need.

Therewards of this fascinating hobby, as the author says, "Grants you unforgettable hours under the night sky; it allows you to produce aesthetically rewarding and lasting results. Astrophotography is a love-match between physics, photography, art, and digital image processing. It is exciting!"

About the Author

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 162 pages
• Publisher: Rocky Nook (January 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933952164
• ISBN-13: 978-1933952161
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #156,462 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great primer for astrophotography, January 17, 2008

By	Ivan W. Ong (Charlotte, North Carolina United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Astrophotography is an area in the hobby where most beginners feel a measure of intimidation- from the high cost of equipment, the myriad jargon tossed around in amateur astronomy forums on the web, and a seemingly confusing and endless selection of knobs, plates, adapters, scopes, mounts, tripods, cameras, etc. available in the market place. But most folks are hooked the moment they take a photo of the moon or a planet through a small digital camera or even a cell phone cam.

Seip's book is concise, highly readable and an up-to-date book on amateur astrophotography. It is clear and well written and perhaps the best primer to read when one is contemplating delving into this area of the hobby.

I would have liked to see a little more elaboration on guiding (manual and auto), on focusing a DSLR (that's what most people start dabbling in), and on the importance of a good mount-perhaps an appendix guide on mount recommendations, stability considerations, the concept of PEC and maybe on drift alignment (a proper mount is the biggest success factor in astrophotography), but this information can be easily found elsewhere on the web and in books (Ron Wodaski has an excellent section on telescope and mount selection and considerations in his book that bears reading). All in all, an excellent book. I enjoyed reading it very much.

Lastly, if you see Seip's astrophotography photos on the web, you will realize how spectacular his photos (and skills) are. Perhaps it is a reflection of his humility that he avoids showcasing his jaw-dropping photos in his own book!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Ideal Intro and Much More, March 1, 2008

By	John A. Cheng "A Reader" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Many of us have been impressed by the images made by Stefan Seip, an astro-photographer based in Stuttgart Germany. His shots of Comet Machholz against the Pleiades and Venus at inferior conjunction framed by wispy clouds are stunning examples of what digital imaging technology can produce when directed by a discerning eye.

So, even though I'm a committed visual observer, when Seip's "Digital Astrophotography: A Guide to Capturing the Universe" became available (It was first published in German under the title "Astrofotografie digital") I thought what better photographer to acquaint me with what's become such a huge part of the astronomy hobby. And I was right. As an intro, it's superb.

His book is an attractive soft cover volume, profusely illustrated in color and printed on a heavy weight glossy paper with lots of open margins for notes. It enjoys two clear advantages over some other digital astrophotography texts. First, it does not limit itself to one particular type of digital tool/photography and two, being published this year, its camera and software references should be up to date.

A short introductory chapter, "Before You Start" addresses some basics and presents some terms and concepts which will figure in later discussions.

Then comes the heart of the book: four chapters, each treating a type of camera available to today's digital astro-imager:

- Compact Digital Cameras
- Webcams
- Digital Single Lens Reflex Cameras (DSLR)
- Charged Coupled Device Cameras (CCD)


Within each chapter, Seip

- explains the characteristics of the specific camera type and
mentions its advantages and disadvantages

- mentions the types of photographs suited to it, e.g., only
webcams are recommended for planetary imaging while CCD cameras
are unsurpassed for deep sky objects.

- gives tips on purchasing, e.g., webcams with a CCD sensor are
better than those with a CMOS sensor for astrophotography

- recommends accessories, e.g., his chapter on CCD cameras
mentions software, autoguider connections, filter wheels, focal
reducers, portable power supplies, etc.

- takes the reader, step by step, through the process of capturing
an image and processing it. Understandably, to do this, Seip
necessarily uses specific equipment and software in his
explanations, e.g., his webcam chapter is geared to the Celestron
NexImage camera and Registax software. The CCD chapter utilizes
MSB's Astroart software. Adobe Photoshop is used throughout the book.


As Seip progresses from simpler to more complex cameras, the discussion of digital imaging itself becomes more sophisticated and the reader's grasp of the whole topic becomes deeper. Later chapters discuss topics that definitely would be of concern to intermediate level imagers, e.g., thermal noise, spectral sensitivity, format conversion, field flatteners, coma correctors, etc.

I was impressed that the book was able to educate me about a seemingly complicated subject in a painless way. Plus, I kept thinking should I ever decide to take the plunge into digital imaging, I'll have what amounts to a "cookbook" reference.

The book has an internet tie-in to Stefan Seip's web site. The actual images used to illustrate software photo processing techniques can be downloaded, so the reader can duplicate the steps shown in the book. Also three documents, one on how to treat dust and pixel defects, another telling how to remove a satellite trail from an image and the last listing selection criteria for a CCD camera are available as PDF's.

There is an appendix containing some useful information, a glossary (which comes in handy for a visual observer when a term such as "resolution", for example, takes on a definition which differs from the one that applies to telescope optics alone), a list of resources and reading suggestions and last, but not least, entries giving the exposure info and equipment used for each of the images used to illustrate the book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally! An Understable Book on Astrophotography, February 17, 2008

By	C. Reich "Business Physicist and Astronomer" (Northern, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've quite a few books on astrophotography in my astronomy library and they've all followed the same course: They start with extreme basics and then jump into using a $[...] camera to gather 800 6 hour exposures and how to stack and process the singles into an image better than the Hubble could capture. You'll need a $[...] mount.

Since I am an observer, my interest in astrophotograhy is not deep enough to entice me into spending the time to do all the work that most books teach. This book covers the middle ground nicely. If you want to go beyond holding a camera to the eyepiece but don't care to build an observatory dedicated to electronics, this guide book will have you producing beautiful images---on any budget. And if you want to go "all the way" there is plenty of material for that too.

I was very pleased when I got the book and am more pleased every time I open it.

Chris Reich,
TeachU.com
EtnaAstros.com