Easy Astrophotography: Shooting the Night Sky

by David Skernick, Brian Valente

Overview

Everything you need to know to photograph and postprocess images of the night sky with standard DSLR and mirrorless camera equipment

Ever look up at the sky and say, “Wow!”? This is the best way to capture the universe in photographs.

Everything you need to know about photographing:

• the moon
• eclipses
• the Milky Way
• star fields
• star trails
• comets
• meteor showers

A complete list of the equipment you will need shows that you probably already have all or most of what is recommended, as this book is for photography with your standard camera, lenses, and tripod, not telescopes and tracking tripods.

All the camera settings you need are included, as well as exact processing techniques to help you make your best images.

Lots of illustrations with complete technical information will help you plan your exact strategy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764366840
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	10/28/2023
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	1,031,548
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

David resides in Woodland Hills, California, with his wife, Ria, and dog, Dudley. He spends as much time as possible traveling, photographing, and teaching workshops along the back roads of the United States.

Brian Valente was born and raised living among the redwood forests and ferns of Marin County, California. He discovered photography later in life but quickly discovered it was an ideal medium to convey his sense of wonder about the natural world. Brian has won numerous awards and accolades for his photographic work and exhibits primarily in California. When he's not out photographing nature, he's behind his telescope conducting deep-space and planetary imaging.

Editorial Reviews

07/03/2023

Photographers Skernick (Back Roads of the Pacific Northwest) and Valente detail the ins and outs of photographing the night sky in this concise and informative manual. Without fancy gear (any mirrorless camera, a few lenses, and a “good, sturdy” tripod will do), readers can capture bewitching shots of nighttime spectacles from the moon or eclipses to the Milky Way. Each brief section spotlights a subject (comets, meteor showers) and provides information on aperture, shutter speed, and focus, along with specific tips such as rendering shots of the moon in black and white for an otherworldly image, taking multiple exposures when photographing comets, and choosing a vantage point “with a good foreground and as little ambient light as possible” when capturing meteor showers (“you will be there for three to five hours,” the authors caution). While the technical tips serve as an excellent starting point for novices, the authors also make clear that passion and patience are key to astrophotography, and that it needn’t be a solo pursuit: they “recommend you find a friend to join you in your quest for night sky photographs.” It’s an ideal resource for aspiring shutterbugs eager to take on a new challenge. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly