Rocky Nook — a digital photography book publisher in California — sent me a review copy of Digital Astrophotography: A Guide to Capturing the Cosmos for review, which I read over the last few months.
Pros
- A good overview of the techniques used in astrophotography.
- Well illustrated.
- Inexpensive.
- Largely easy to follow for the casual reader.
- Covers the entire process, from equipment to post-processing. I’m very well oriented with “typical” production and post-production photography methods, but was unaware of the additional complexities and tools involved with astrophotography.
Cons
- Casual SLR/DSLR and point-and-shoot users will not be able to suddenly get stunning frames of the night sky. It turns out that the equipment required to get decent shots requires a level of financial commitment to the niche you aren’t likely to make unless you have a professional need or really, really, REALLY like looking at celestial bodies. You’ll probably need a special mount for your camera, or build a jig yourself. I did not want to invest a significant amount of money, so I have been unable to try many of the techniques described.
- If you’re bad at math, you may find some of the technical setup difficult to follow.
- The tools covered are Windows applications. Bah.
Recommendation
Buy if..
- You’re serious about becoming astrophotography and have the cash to pony up for specialty hardware, or…
- You are not planning on trying it for yourself but nevertheless have $20 of curiousity.