Creating and Enhancing Digital Astro Images

ISBN-13: 9781846285806 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 156 str.

Grant Privett

Opis

The book will, in jargon-free blow-by-blow terms, describe how to create the best astronomical images you can with the digital camera equipment at your disposal. It will explain the steps we go through to extract results from the raw-and-dirty original imagery, and then transform them into high quality pictures that you could hang on your wall. The advent of CCDs, and more recently inexpensive webcams, has led to a much greater proportion of amateur astronomers becoming involved in digital imaging. The low price of the new Meade Deep Sky Imager - $299 (2005) suggests that within a few years a simple digital camera will become a standard accessory for any telescope. There are as yet few books available on this aspect of amateur astronomy. This situation is likely to change in the next few years and there are going to be lots of people out there asking questions like "Flat field? What does that mean?," and trying to work out how to get the best out of their webcam, CCD or Digital SLR. They will also be wondering what is the best software to use. To summarise; this is a book that tells practical astronomers (and that includes some but not all professionals) what is needed to get from standing in the dark with a telescope and a camera, to showing your spouse, local society friends or even supervisor the astonishing images that can be obtained with simple equipment but the right software and knowledge of how to use it. (Grant Privett works for the Ministry of Defence in the UK, heading up the Advanced Image Processing Team.)"

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"This book is packed with sound practical advice about digital imaging. ... The book is aimed at beginners and experts ... . there is plenty of information in this book and it gives an excellent general overview of the subject." (Pete Lawrence, BBC Sky at Night, August, 2007)

"This recent addition to Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy series is chock-full of helpful tips for anyone considering attaching a camera to a telescope. ... I highly recommend it for beginners or for advanced imagers who concentrate on one photographic discipline and need an introduction to the other ones." (Sean Walker, Sky & Telescope, November, 2007)

"Privett has certainly packed a bundle of useful information into one hundred and fifty pages, with hardly an equation in sight! ... His advice is both relevant and concise and clearly reflects years of practical experience ... . There is a good index at the back as well as useful appendices on hardware and software, and a helpful list of acronyms and abbreviations ... . I got a good feeling from this book - a nice blend of genuine enthusiasm and expert knowledge comes clearly across." (Gerard Mc Mahon, Astronomy and Space, December, 2007)

Spis treści

Acknowledgements

1. The myriad advantages of image processing (introduction)

2. Choosing a camera

3. Acquiring images (and choosing software)

4. Displaying images

5. Image reduction

Flat fields

Dark subtraction

Image transformations

Image stacking

Image mosaicing

Image scaling and histograms

Background gradients

6. Image enhancement

Image sharpening

Image unsharp masking

Image deconvolution

7. Handling colour images

Achieving colour balance

CMY or RGB?

Other problems

8. Handling image sequences and webcams

Image acquisition

Image quality techniques

Automated image processing

9. What is best for…

Planets

Deep Sky

Widefield imaging

10. The pitfalls

11. Postscript

Notes on image contributors

Appendices

Software

Hardware + Software Suppliers

References

Further reading

Index

O autorze

Grant Privett works for the Ministry of Defence in the UK, heading up the Advanced Image Processing Team.  

Blurb

Digital imaging is now available to all amateur astronomers at a reasonable price. The advent of CCDs, DSLRs and – perhaps most significantly – webcams mean today’s astronomers can make colorful planetary or deep-sky images of breathtaking beauty.

The results obtained with even modest equipment can be spectacular, but of course they depend crucially on the computer processing of the images after they have been captured.

Enhancing Digital Images is not just an introduction to image processing, it is a deeply practical, comprehensive and fully illustrated in-depth guide to using a digital camera, performing image reduction and undertaking image enhancement – all without jargon or math.

Here is everything you need to know about processing digital astronomical images, regardless of whether you are experienced or a relative beginner!