Astrophotography Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Today's photographic equipment allows amateurs to take pictures of the stars that far surpass images taken just a few decades ago by even the largest observatories-and this book will teach you how.Author and world-renowned astrophotographer Thierry Legault teaches the art and techniques of astrophotography: from simple camera-on-tripod night-scene imaging of constellations, star trails, eclipses, artificial satellites, and polar auroras to more intensive astrophotography using specialized equipment for lunar, planetary, solar, and deep-sky imaging. Legault shares advice on equipment and guides you through techniques to capture and process your images to achieve spectacular results.Astrophotography provides the most thorough treatment of the topic available. This large-format, richly illustrated book is intended for all sky enthusiasts-newcomers and veterans alike.Learn how to:Select the most useful equipment: cameras, adapters, filters, focal reducers/extenders, field correctors, and guide telescopes Set up your camera (digital, video, or CCD) and your lens or telescope for optimal resultsPlan your observing sessionsMount the camera on your telescope and focus it for razor-sharp imagesPolar-align your equatorial mount and improve tracking for pin-point star imagesMake celestial time-lapse videosCalculate the shooting parameters: focal length and ratio, field of view, exposure time, etc.Combine multiples exposures to reveal faint galaxies, nebulae details, elusive planetary structures, and tiny lunar craters Adjust contrast, brightness, light curves, and colorsPostprocess your images to fix defects such as vignetting, dust shadows, hot pixels, uneven background, and noiseIdentify problems with your images and improve your results
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Rocky Nook; 1st edition (July 6, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1937538435
ISBN-13: 978-1937538439
Product Dimensions: 10 x 0.7 x 10 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #79,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #34 in Books > Science & Math > Astronomy & Space Science > Star-Gazing #93 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography & Video > Equipment, Techniques & Reference > Reference #116 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Visual Arts > Photography
If you are seriously interested in astrophotography, I recommend you add this book to your library. The author very obviously "knows" his subject.This treatment of astrophotography is very comprehensive, and, as an astrophotographer myself (my specialty was faint minor planet position mensuration), I can vouch for the authenticity of Legault's treatment of the subject. Today, much popular astrophotography is devoted to making "pretty pictures", which is an art in itself.Legault, whom I do not personally know, has done a very credible job of treating many aspects of capturing excellent astrophotos with typical advanced amateur equipment. I enjoyed browsing through his book, and found much of interest ... great for a cloudy night and much good information for clear nights!My compliments to the author for a well done book.
I have purchased several books in my search for an intermediate to in-depth technical book on astrophotography that doesn't loose the reader in the weeds. This is that book. A wonderful flow to the text, Thierry covers details that are needed to take your photography to the next level. The amount of material covered is daunting. The text starts with observable photography, delves into the wonders that can be accomplished with today's low noise DSLRs, then brings in using telescopes and tracking mounts. I can well expect there are weeds to be discovered for much of what is covered in this text. That being said, the level of detail is not summary. I cannot wait for the eBook version, to have a reference copy with me.
An excellent resource if you want to get started in serious astrophotography. The explanations are very clear and detailed. The illustrations are excellent. Many different aspects of astrophotography are covered: moon, planets, deep space. Details are covered that are typically skipped over in online articles and blogs, such as the bit depth needed for planets. The author is clearly and expert and the text is easy to read. I would recommend it to others who are starting out but want to get seriously involved.
This is the best book on astrophotography I have read. It is detailed, well researched and has a huge amount of useful information in it. The author assumes a basic knowledge of cameras and technique, and takes it from there to a really in-depth treatise of the complex world of astrophotography. Chapter 1 is for the photographer who has a basic camera system and from there on the following chapters get more and more detailed and sophisticated in the use of extra equipment, additional specialized software and advanced techniques to maximize image quality. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 cover specifics of photographing our solar system's planets, the sun and deep-sky objects respectively and each is a comprehensive look at what it takes to successfully photograph these subjects. This is a book to read to get an overall feel for astrophotography and to then to delve into more and more deeply. There are numerous discussions of why certain techniques work (including the complex mathematics and physics behind the techniques) and all the potential pitfalls of optical, mechanical and electronic limitations. Even the translation from the original French is flawless. A book to treasure. I am one of the book reviewers for the Arkansas Outdoor Photographers Club and will heartily recommend this book to our members. Bravo!
I have been looking for a beginners Astrophotography book that wasn't over my head. I have another one here by a different author and the photos are in black and white. ??? (It makes it difficult to really see the processing that author is talking about in his photos).. THIS book however is FULL color, you can see what the author is talking about. Its VERY comprehensive, full of information but easy to break it down to a beginner level and then learn from it there. This is a science unto itself. SO very complicated, but this book explains it well
Besides being a great technical reference, this book is a work of art. Well organized, top-notch materials, and wonderful pictures. I'm just getting started in AP, so it's somewhat advanced for me, but Legault's writing style is very clear and organized, as one would expect from an engineer.I initially disliked his decision to minimize the software and processing side of things, but he actually does a decent job covering it to at least give the reader a taste of what can be/needs to be done. Frankly, for AP processing help, Youtube videos are a better and more up-to-date source of knowledge.I would recommend buying the book and not the E-book, if not for the beauty of it, for the ability to go back and forth to review technical information. I think it just works better for a physical book.
This book, while perhaps not a great *introduction* to astrophotography as it gets fairly technical rather quickly, does give you a comprehensive view of the most popular astrophotography methods and detailed explanations as to the science behind the techniques and technology, including explaining the differences between CMOS and CCD sensors at the pixel level, diagraming the physics behind different aberrations one may come across while photographing, and covering various methods of image calibration. His section on post-processing of images for deep sky photography is also detailed and comprehensive. This book does not, however, offer much in the way of introduction to the beginning astrophotographer in terms of basic equipment or setups. Thinking of it, it would probably be more helpful in the beginning to an astronomer venturing into astrophotography with little camera experience than a photographer who has interest but no experience in astronomy. If you know the difference between prime focal and afocal photography, or your alt-azimuth mount from your German equatorial mount, this book can definitely help take your astrophotography to the next level if you're willing to digest the smorgasbord of technical information Mr. Legault provides.
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