The Complete Guide to Landscape Astrophotography


Book Description

The Complete Guide to Landscape Astrophotography is the ultimate manual for anyone looking to create spectacular landscape astrophotography images. By explaining the science of landscape astrophotography in clear and straightforward language, it provides insights into phenomena such as the appearance or absence of the Milky Way, the moon, and constellations. This unique approach, which combines the underlying scientific principles of astronomy with those of photography, will help deepen your understanding and give you the tools you need to fulfil your artistic vision. Key features include: • Distinguished Guest Gallery of images from renowned nightscape photographers such as Babak Tafreshi, Bryan Peterson, Alan Dyer, Brenda Tharp, Royce Bair, Wally Pacholka, and David Kingham • The twenty-five best landscape astrophotography subjects and how to photograph them • Astronomy 101 - build your knowledge of night sky objects and their motion: the Milky Way, moon, Aurora Borealis/Australis, constellations, meteors and comets • Information on state-of-the-art planning software and apps designed to enable you to capture and enhance your landscape astrophotography • Field guide for creating a detailed plan for your night shoot • Description of the best moon phases for specific types of nightscape images, and the best months and times of night to see the Milky Way • How-to guide for creating stunning time-lapse videos of the night sky, including Holy Grail transitions from pre-sunset to complete darkness • Four detailed case studies on creating landscape astrophotography images of the Milky Way, full moon, star trails, and constellations




The Ultimate Guide To Master Astrophotography


Book Description

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO MASTER ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY.The Ultimate Guide to Master Astrophotography is the ultimate manual for anyone looking to create spectacular landscape astrophotography images. By explaining the science of landscape astrophotography in clear and straightforward language, it provides insights into phenomena such as the appearance or absence of the Milky Way, the moon, and constellations. This unique approach, which combines the underlying scientific principles of astronomy with those of photography, will help deepen your understanding and give you the tools you need to fulfill your artistic vision.




The Universe Today Ultimate Guide to Viewing the Cosmos


Book Description

The Definitive Resource for Viewing the Night Sky David Dickinson, Earth science teacher and backyard astronomer, and Fraser Cain, publisher of Universe Today, have teamed up to provide expert guidance on observing the night sky. The Universe Today Ultimate Guide to Viewing the Cosmos features the best tips and tricks for viewing our solar system and deep sky objects, as well as detailed charts, graphs and tables to find must-see events for years to come. This comprehensive guide is complete with stunning and exclusive photography from top night sky photographers, as well as advice on how to take your own incredible photos. Take your recreational viewing to the next level with activities like: Finding comets and asteroids Tracking variable stars Monitoring meteor showers Following solar activity Tracking satellites Timing lunar and asteroid occultations With star charts, practical background information, technological resources and telescope and astrophotography guides, this is the ultimate resource for any backyard space enthusiast.




The Ultimate Gimp 2.10 Guide: Learn Professional Photo Editing


Book Description

Have you always wanted to do the things the pro's are doing? Now you can! In 'The Ultimate GIMP 2.10 Guide' you will learn professional photo editing, retouching, and e-book cover design in GIMP 2.10 in easy steps. The book starts from the very beginning, so when you are new to photo editing, that's no problem! The book starts with installing and configuring GIMP 2.10 to make it look and act as Photoshop. Then all aspects of photo editing are covered, and no stone will be left unturned! Everything will be shown in easy to follow steps. You will learn how to improve and correct photographs professionally, and how to work with layers. You'll learn how to crop images, how to resize images, how to save images for web, how to save images for print, and how to make PDF's. You will learn professional retouching, like skin retouching with frequency separation, Liquify (for example to make someone thinner), how to let the program remove objects, and how to remove objects with the clone and heal tool. You will learn how to use masks, and how to make selections. In Chapter 5 we will go in to making professional selections with just a single click (this is not possible in Photoshop!) using the patented 'U-point technology'. The U-point technology is delivered by the Google Nik Collection, a professional high-end photo editing ''plug-in'' suite, used by professional photographers. The Google Nik Collection and its integration into GIMP will be discussed in its whole. So in addition to gaining great expertise in GIMP, this book will also cover the complete Google Nik Collection. We'll download and install the software, together with a special plugin that will let you work with the Google Nik Collection from out of GIMP. You will learn how to create black and white images at a professional level with the most powerful black and white plugin on the market, and you will learn how to sharpen images and remove noise. We ́ll look at making vignettes, and HDR photography. We ́ll look at the use of text, kerning text, and how to make eye-catching book covers. You'll learn everything about all the powerful blending modes, and the practical use of each blending mode will be shown and explained. You'll learn how to select hair, how to use and make patterns and gradients, and how to use and adjust a tablet. You will learn everything about brushes. How to create brushes yourself, the many special effects you can create with brushes (e.g. to create a flock of birds with just a single stroke, or to create grunge textures), and how to download free creative brushes. We will look at a popular skin retouching technique used by professionals called ''frequency separation'', and different methods for dodging and burning (selectively darkening and lightening of an image). We will discuss color theory, and it's direct connection to the ways color is manipulated in photo manipulation programs. We'll discover creative filters that bring a different look and feel to your image. The book is created for the Windows (7,8,10) user. With some extra steps however, the Linux user can also follow along. The book has been printed in black and white to keep the price as low as possible. About the writer: Bernard 't Hooft has over 15 years of experience with professional photo editing, and teaches photo editing at the VolksUniversiteit in the Netherlands.




The Stargazer's Guide to the Night Sky


Book Description

"Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quoatations are from the New King James Version of the Bible."--T.p. verso.




Universal


Book Description

An awe-inspiring, unforgettable journey of scientific exploration from Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw, the international bestselling authors of Why Does E=MC2? and The Quantum Universe, with 55 black-&-white and 45 full-color pages featuring photographs, diagrams, maps, tables, and graphs. We dare to imagine a time before the Big Bang, when the entire universe was compressed into a space smaller than an atom. And now, as Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw show, we can do more than imagine: we can understand. Universal takes us on an epic journey of scientific exploration. It reveals how we can all come to grips with some of the most fundamental questions about our Earth, Sun, and solar system--and the star-filled galaxies beyond. How big is our solar system? How quickly is space expanding? How big is the universe? What is it made of? Some of these questions can be answered on the basis of observations you can make in your own backyard. Other answers draw on the astonishing information now being gathered by teams of astronomers operating at the frontiers of the known universe. At the heart of all this lies the scientific method. Science reveals a deeper beauty and connects us to each other, to our world, and to our universe. Science reaches out into the unknown. As Universal demonstrates, if we dare to imagine, we can do the same.




The Backyard Astronomer's Guide


Book Description

The touchstone for contemporary stargazers. This classic, groundbreaking guide has been the go-to field guide for both beginning and experienced amateur astronomers for nearly 30 years. The fourth edition brings Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer's invaluable manual completely up-to-date. Setting a new standard for astronomy guides, it will serve as the touchstone for the next generation of stargazers as well as longtime devotees. Technology and astronomical understanding are evolving at a breathtaking clip, and to reflect the latest information about observing techniques and equipment, this massively revised and expanded edition has been completely rebuilt (an additional 48 pages brings the page count to 416). Illustrated throughout with all-new photographs and star charts, this edition boasts a refreshed design and features five brand-new chapters, including three essential essays on binocular, telescope and Moon tours by renowned astronomy writer Ken Hewitt-White. With new content on naked-eye sky sights, LED lighting technology, WiFi-enabled telescopes and the latest advances in binoculars, telescopes and other astronomical gear, the fourth edition of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide is sure to become an indispensable reference for all levels of stargazers. New techniques for observing the Sun, the Moon and solar and lunar eclipses are an especially timely addition, given the upcoming solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024. Rounding out these impressive offerings are new sections on dark sky reserves, astro-tourism, modern astrophotography and cellphone astrophotography, making this book an enduring must-have guide for anyone looking to improve his or her astronomical viewing experience. The Backyard Astronomer's Guide also features a foreword by Dr. Sara Seager, a Canadian-American astrophysicist and planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an internationally recognized expert in the search for exoplanets.




The Astrophotographer's Guidebook


Book Description

Discover 60 Deep Sky Objects that will considerably improve your Imaging and Processing skills!Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced astrophotographer, this detailed book of the best deep sky objects will serve as a personal guide for years to come!Discover which star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies are the easiest and most impressive to photograph for each season. Learn how to find each object in the night sky, and read our recommendations on imaging them in a quick and comprehensive way. Each target listed in this guide contains our advice on imaging, photos of expected results, and a useful information table. We've also included a few cool facts about each target, a map to find it in the night sky, and more!




The Astrophotography Manual


Book Description

The Astrophotography Manual, Second Edition is for photographers ready to move beyond standard SLR cameras and editing software to create beautiful images of nebulas, galaxies, clusters, and the stars. Beginning with a brief astronomy primer, this book takes readers through the full astrophotography process, from choosing and using equipment to image capture, calibration, and processing. This combination of technical background and hands-on approach brings the science down to earth, with practical methods to ensure success. This second edition now includes: Over 170 pages of new content within 22 new chapters, with 600 full-color illustrations. Covers a wide range of hardware, including mobile devices, remote control and new technologies. Further insights into leading software, including automation, Sequence Generator Pro and PixInsight Ground-breaking practical chapters on hardware and software as well as alternative astrophotography pursuits




The 100 Best Astrophotography Targets


Book Description

Any amateur astronomer who is interested in astrophotography, particularly if just getting started, needs to know what objects are best for imaging in each month of the year. These are not necessarily the same objects that are the most spectacular or intriguing visually. The camera reveals different things and has different requirements. What objects in the sky tonight are large enough, bright enough, and high enough to be photographed? This book reveals, for each month of the year, the choicest celestial treasures within the reach of a commercial CCD camera. Helpful hints and advice on framing, exposures, and filters are included. Each deep sky object is explained in beautiful detail, so that observers will gain a richer understanding of these astronomical objects. This is not a book that dwells on the technology of CCD, Webcam, wet, or other types of astrophotography. Neither is it a book about in-depth computer processing of the images (although this topic is included). Detailed discussions of these topics can be found in other publications. This book focuses on what northern latitude objects to image at any given time of the year to get the most spectacular results.