The Deep-sky Imaging Primer

Here's the "I'm too Lazy to Read the Whole Review Summary" Overall, this is an excellent reference and will provide a foundation to the beginning and intermediate imager. Excellent discussion of signal, noise, CCD operation, etc. There is information in this book even for the advanced imager. Review I purchased this book based on the other reviews and a desire to better understand CCDs, noise, signal and image calibration/processing as these topics relate to astronomical imaging. Charles Bracken delivers on all these subjects (and more) in a concise, understandable way. The first two chapters of the book deal with how a CCD sensors actually works, types of noise and signal to noise ratio. I think these chapters are so good they're worth the price of the book alone. Don't think if you're an imaging veteran these two chapters are too elementary - I would guess most people who read this book/chapter will walk away saying "I didn't know that..." or "So that's what ___ is". Bracken supports the topic with a small amount of math, but explains virtually all the math terms along the way; i.e. Standard Deviation, mean, etc. Other texts I've read quickly devolve into the mathematics without adequately preparing the reader. These initial chapters (chapters 1 and 2) are the best I've read on these subjects and will allow you to answer questions like "Do I need bias frames if I'm not scaling my darks?", "What is my true signal to noise ratio?", "Why does imaging under a dark sky matter?", "What is noise in a mathematical sense?". You may know these answers already, but after reading this book, I can say with confidence you'll have a deeper understanding of the underlying concepts. The other chapters are equally well written and applicable to both CCD and DSLR users. The chapters on image calibration are particularly good and there are detailed image processing examples to demonstrate the concepts.

This is a great guide for the basics of astrophotography. There is a good balance between theory and application - and the theory is presented clearly and simply so it is understandable! Chapters are on the shorter side and don't overwhelm with information, nor are they so short they leave more questions than they answer. All aspects of deep space imaging are covered, and at the end of the book are two examples of image processing (including one for DSLR cameras!) Even though this is written for beginning imagers, I think anyone will benefit from the book. Reviewing the basics and creating a solid foundation go hand in hand. Like many other books being published on imaging, the information is out there already. In this case, you don't have to hunt the internet or get conflicting advice from well-meaning friends. Charles Bracken has brought together what you need to know and presents it in a format that makes it easy to grasp and apply. Well worth the money, you'll come back to this book again and again.

I agree with the other 5-star reviewers in recommending this book, but have a couple of additional points to make. I purchased two books on this subject together: This one, "The Deep-Sky Imaging Guide" and the second title "Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography" by Allan Hall (which I also plan on reviewing). I do not regret getting the two titles together. Charles Bracken has created a wonderful, and a BEAUTIFUL, book. For one thing, he uses a lot of COLOR photos and illustrations (where some do not). It may seem a little thin to some at 202 pages, but the type is smaller than "normal" and so this book could have easily been 300 pages if set at a different type size. He has used a two-column per page text layout, making it very readable. This means many of the illustrations, like software screenshots, are also one column wide which seems a little small but is still readable. Helpful tips and supplemental information are set off in darker boxes within the text. The first section of this book (through page 36) covers fundamental concepts of how electronic imaging works "with special attention given to the concepts of signal and noise. This will help you make informed decisions about equipment and processing". This information applies regardless of whether you are using a digital camera or a CCD device. I believe that too many people rush out to buy equipment before understanding these important concepts, and so often regret some of the purchases that they have made. The next section of the of the book (through page 98) covers concepts that it is necessary to understand in the Image Acquisition side of things. The 2nd half of the book (section 3) deals with processing those images to get the most out of the information you have captured. Post-processing sections of this book employ Photoshop. As the book itself says, "Version CS3 is used for the processing illustrations and examples, but the tools are nearly the same from CS3 on. In subsequent versions the interface has changed slightly and some new tools were added, but everything shown is possible in the newer versions. While expensive, Photoshop is the de facto image processing standard for other kinds of photography, and it currently appears to be the most popular choice for astronomical image processing as well." He also employs several Photoshop plug-ins. The end of the post-processing section concludes with two very helpful chapters covering start-to-finish walk-through examples of the concepts previously covered: "DSLR Processing Example: The Witch's Broom Nebula" and "CCD Processing Example: The Rosette Nebula in Narrowband". I have a hard time seeing how anyone would be disappointed by this wonderful book. If you are looking for specific equipment recommendations you will have to look elsewhere. In my opinion, Bracken has, for the most part, wisely avoided this thus making his information a little more "timeless" than those that spend a lot of time on specific equipment and tools. But you will feel far better informed in understanding the various trade-offs between different approaches and in order to choose which pieces are right for you and your pocketbook.

Al momento il miglior libro sull'argomento. Penso di averli tutti e ognuno ha dei pregi in un singolo campo ( teoria dei ccd, software di gestione etc...) ma il libro di Bracken tocca ogni aspetto in modo esauriente! Da avere!

Muy Bueno, técnico y exhaustivo. Recoge varios aspectos fundamentales de la astrofotografía describiéndolos con mucho detalle y en profundidad. It's a must.

This is a very impressive and fairly comprehensive book on deep sky astrophotography. The book covers everything from sensor chips and signal to noise ratios to suitable imaging targets and processing tips (including walkthroughs for DSLR and CCD imaging) and everything in between in a clear, concise and authoritative way. The book appears to be self-published and - in the UK at least - looks to have been digitally printed-on-demand but the quality of the many images stands up pretty well considering. There are a few more typographic errors than I would consider normal but the quality and breadth of the content is terrific. Calling the book a primer does it a bit of an injustice in my opinion as the content will keep good intermediate level imagers entertained and I am sure most amateur astrophotographers will get a lot out of it; it's a great next step on from Steve Richard's acclaimed Making Every Photon Count and is very highly recommended.

Une lecture agréable, le sujet est abordé sans détours et de manière complète. Ouvrage spécialisé mais cependant rendu très accessible par l'auteur. En anglais uniquement.

The book is a great introduction to the hobby of astrophotography. It is a clear no-nonsense approach to a difficult subject. Charles Bracken takes a step by step approach which works very well in bringing you deeper into the subject matter. Highly recommended.