Tag: Astrophotography

Tutorial: Stacking Night Sky Images in Adobe Photoshop

From widefield images shot with your camera to deep space images shot with a telescope, all astrophotography can benefit from stacking. Windows users benefit from free tools readily available online such as DeepSkyStacker, as well as some fantastic, albeit expensive, paid applications.

Mac users are left out, as all they have available to them are the expensive, paid options.  However, most photographers already have Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, the most common image editing tools on the market. And you actually can align and stack your astro-images using these tool!

This video will give you a step by step guide into preparing your images in Lightroom for export and stacking in Photoshop. Continue reading “Tutorial: Stacking Night Sky Images in Adobe Photoshop”

R.I.P. iOptron SkyTracker (November 2013 – November 2016)

Back in the fall of 2013, I had a decision to make. I had been into astrophotography for about a year at this point, and I already knew winter seriously put a kink into my astrophotography plans. My only telescope and mount at the time was my 8″ Meade LX90 on its fork mount. I had owned this telescope for 3 years at that point, and there were 2 things that were quite clear about it already that worked against me in the cold of winter:

  1. Setup took quite a long time, so I was frozen by the time I was ready to start imaging; and
  2. Once temperatures hit 0ºC and colder, the display on the handset controller didn’t work any more, making navigating to anything impossible.

I had to do something!

Continue reading “R.I.P. iOptron SkyTracker (November 2013 – November 2016)”

Explore Scientific "Essentials" ED80 triplet apochromatic

Review: Explore Scientific “Essential Series” ED80

If you’re into astrophotography, chances are that a short focal length apochromatic refractor is on your “to buy” list if you don’t already own one. There are prized instruments for their elimination of chromatic aberration and high contrast, true colour images and the tool of choice for many astrophotographers. The problem the “common folk” face with apo refractors is they tend to be quite pricey for even small apertures. While there are several small aperture apochromatic telescopes available at comparable prices, they often significantly fall short in one department or another.

The Explore Scientific Essential Series ED80 (model # ES-ED0806-01) delivers the goods with solid construction and great optics. It has a few shortcomings and compromises that keep its price affordable, but overall, this fine instrument will fulfil the needs of the most demanding photographer without breaking the bank in the process.

Continue reading “Review: Explore Scientific “Essential Series” ED80″

Enter the LensMuff™ from Digital After Dark.

LensMuff™ – Affordable Dew Control For Your Camera Lenses or Telescope

If you’re into night photography or astrophotography, you’ve likely already encountered the scourge that rapidly puts an end to any photo session – dew. It’s a problem that has plagued night photographers and astronomers since these pursuits have existed. Over the years, many techniques and products have been developed to help combat this problem. Many are quite effective, but have their drawbacks. Continue reading “LensMuff™ – Affordable Dew Control For Your Camera Lenses or Telescope”

Aurora over Camden Lake under an almost full moon.

A Shift In Focus – Widening My Horizons

Welcome to the new Dark Arts Astrophotography blog! It’s been a long time since I posted a real blog entry – barring yesterday’s announcement of my new site and blog. Now it’s time to get back into gear and start posting more regularly once again. I’ve been neglecting my blog over the last several months, partly due to being busy with photography and other stuff. But laziness has also played  a part in it, not to mention my frustration with the Blogger platform. But I digress. This blog isn’t about my lack of activity, but rather about what I’ve been doing over the last several months!

Continue reading “A Shift In Focus – Widening My Horizons”

Star Trails at Shawmere Cottages

Getting Started in Astrophotography

Getting Started

One of the questions I get asked the most often is how one gets started in astrophotography. More specifically, what kind of equipment is required in order to take images like I do. In this article, I’ll try to clarify that. Note that this won’t be covering technique or procedures in any way, but rather just what you need to get into it.

The first thing to mention is that there are 3 types of astrophotography:

  • widefield / landscape;
  • solar system; and
  • deep sky.

Each of these types will require vastly different equipment and techniques, as well as software and technique for post processing. I’ll be covering each of these 3 types and what is required to get the best results.

Continue reading “Getting Started in Astrophotography”