ATIK Camera's Warren Keller discusses CCD offerings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1WwhUTMD1EWarren Keller of ATIK camera from Jeff Ball on Vimeo.

U.S. representative Warren Keller discusses ATIK CCD cameras now available in the U.S.

You can find ATIK USA at the link below

http://www.atik-usa.com/

A very special THANKS to Tom Kennedy for technical assistance on video production.

Warren Keller Video

Al Nagler discusses his astrophotography endeavors

Al Nagler discusses his astrophotography endeavors from Jeff Ball on Vimeo.

Noted telescope designer Al Nagler discusses his early efforts at astrophotography and current telescope designs aimed at improving imaging performance of his telescopes. A wonderful few minutes spent with one of the industry's icons and a terrific ambassador for the amateur astronomy community. I am sure you will enjoy the discussion and learn a thing or two.

This video is part of a project I am putting together, but felt that Mr. Nagler's presentation stood on its own from an entertainment and information point of view.

I have had an opportunity to image with Televue instruments over the years including the TV85 and TV101. These instruments are capable of taking wonderful astrophotos. The TV101 and TV127 IS systems are particularly noted for their astrophotographic performance. I encourage you to consider Televue for your astrophotography needs, not to mention those unbelievable eyepieces for the visual astronomer!

A very special THANK YOU to Tom Kennedy for his technical assistance on video production!!

Thanks and clear skies.

A new tool for astrophotography enhancement

EZ CCD DVD by Tony Hallas is a new tool for the astrophotographer to improve their image enhancement skills. I just completed viewing the 3 DVD set and here are the answers to your questions:

1. Is it worth the $68? Yes. You have to remember, as much as I have studied Photoshop and processing, I still approach the subject as "unknowable." I always learn something from every course I digest. What I particularly like about this DVD series is that you are basically sitting at Tony's side as he works through M81 processing from post-reduction to final print. You work through stretching of luminance and application of RGB with the utmost attention to detail. This is the definition of Fine Art Photography.


2. Will it make my images better? Yes. There were moments when I had the DVD running on my laptop with my M31 open in Photoshop and applied the current lesson to the image. The image was improved by at least 20% through these new approaches. In particular, application of the spunge and high pass filters were most useful for this image.


3. Will I learn something? Yes. I have studied with many of the country's top landscape photographers and image enhancement and compositional consideration were a part of those instructions. I still learned many new techniques and more importantly how to apply them at my artistic taste.


4. Who is this for? Are your frustrated with your image processing? Do you not know how to effectively use masks and filters to enhance selected parts of your image? Do you have a pretty good understanding of Photoshop, but want to go a bit deeper into the water? Then this DVD set is for you.

The DVDs contain video files of Tony lecturing during his workflow in addition to some lectures on color, visual psychology, mosaic construction, and hydrogen alpha enhancement. The DVDs are focused on enhancing 16 bit fit files converted to TIFF, which is a bit different from my current workflow with RAW converted DSLR images. So my stretching of TIFF data is a bit different than what Tony presents, but after the lecture on stretching, all other techniques are certainly viable for any astrophotographer regardless of how the data was captured.

I had to chuckle on his "green gun" technique as I recall when he introduced that to the old film astrophoto list many years ago. It is still a very viable technique and one that every astrophotographer should be aware of.

What I like most about Tony's presentation is that he is first and foremost an artist with a vision. You may or may not find his final art product to your liking, that is the nature of the beast, but what he does do is share with you what is possible and encourages you to explore those possibilities that match your own artistic voice. That is what is really important, developing your own artistic eye. While it is important to be keenly aware of the enhancement tools at your discretion, ultimately it is your ability as an artist to visually interpret the data and present it in a way that meets your artistic vision and pleases your intended audience.

That is exactly what I like to focus on when working with imagers, finding their own artistic vision and reconciling their work to meet that vision. If you find yourself not satisfied with your work, you know that something is just not right, give me a call and we can discuss some of the ways to find meet your vision through your image optimization approach.

You can purchase the DVD set directly from Tony here or from Astro-Physics here.

Sunrise Moon from West Summerland Key, FL

Sunrise Moon from Florida keysAfter a spectacular night of astrophotography, I was treated to this intense display of light at sunrise.  I was totally fatigued by the night's imaging, but this scene energized me so much that I had to work the scene.  The Moon and rocks provided the necessary compositional elements to complete balance and a sense of scale to the image that is dominated by the intense horizon light.  The Florida Keys offer many opportunities for amazing light and I hope to return often in order to capture those moments and bring them back to you.  

The image is the first of the Florida collection and may be viewed in larger format by visiting that gallery.  Many more images to come to the Florida gallery.  

This image may be purchased by simply visiting the "Purchase Fine Art Prints" menu option, selecting your print size, and then typing "Sunrise Moon" as the image title of the print.  

Venus Transit 2004 is now on the site

Venus Transit June 2004One of my most coveted astronomical and landscape moments was in June 2004 when I photographed the unique transit of the Sun by Venus.  A transit is where a planet moves in front of the solar disk creating a black dot shadow. These events certainly help put the size of the Sun into perspective. Venus can be seen in this image to the lower right quadrant.  

A lot of preparation and planning went into the composition.  My first objective was to capture the event in the landscape.  This meant I had to utilize the natural filters available on Earth. One of these is the marine layer of the oceans.  The Atlantic is closest to me and the transit was going to be timed perfectly to occur during sunrise in the eastern U.S.  (For even more information on the event, please see my archived webpage detailing the event with site photos.)

The location selected was Myrtle Beach, mainly because I was familiar with the location and I knew the Sun would rise directly over the waters of the Atlantic.  The only thing needed was a clear sky and boy did we get one.  This is one of my favorite images and I hope you enjoy it, too.  More details at the link below.  

Color Astronomical Gallery

You may also purchase this print by simply navigating to the "Purchase Fine Art Prints" page and selecting print/mat size and inputing "Venus Transit" in the print title.