The Astrophotography Manual: A Practical and Scientific Approach to Deep Sky Imaging

By far, the best book I’ve read on astrophotography, which I’ve been doing for over 5 years, but I need to learn more about the topic to improve my results. Mr. Woodhouse writes in very concise yet understandable terms along with clear illustrations for the novice and experienced photographer alike. He doesn’t drown you in arcane jargon, but when arcane topics arise, he explains them very clearly - you can’t help but get those “a-ha! I understand it now” moments.Terms like magnification, arc-seconds, as well as the various telescope, mounts, and sensor types with their strength and weaknesses, are all clearly explained. While we may have heard and “understood” them before, Woodhouse puts them in proper context so we can make intelligent informed decisions instead of trial and error. He gives us simple equations and real-world examples of why this stuff really matters.Short of your own personal astronomer/photographer guiding you through the process, this book is worth every penny and a very easy eye-opening read for those considering astro imaging as a hobby, or just want to be better at it.It’s money well spent before investing $1000s on equipment and your time. There’s no one-size-fits-all setup to image everything in the universe, but Mr. Woodhouse tells you what you need and how to get the pictures you want.

Whether you are a beginner or experienced astro imager with many years of experience, this manual is a comprehensive description of what it takes to get good astro images. It covers observatory and portable set ups, instrument configurations, alignments, CCD theory and practice, and post processing. Post processing is centered on PixInsight, but the techniques can apply to other photo processing. It may seem overwhelming at first, but the last quarter of the book goes through the process of acquiring and processing several targets. An experienced astrophotographer told me "it is a journey that will take you the rest of your life."I wish I had found it earlier. It cleared up a lot of confusion from my research just using the web. Highly recommend it.

I really like Chris' pragmatic and systematic approach. The sections on choosing and setting up equipment alone are worth the price - he gives practical advice that will not only help you navigate the bewilderingly large variety of equipment available, but also help you factor location, stability, portability, power supply etc. into your decision. This will help you avoid some of the common pitfalls that await the beginner. I wish I'd read this book before making my own purchases!Some of the content is quite advanced, but I'm OK with this - it means this book will continue to benefit me as my skills evolve.Highly recommended!

Bought both the kindle and paperback version based on the glowing reviews written here on amazon. Yes, the 400 page book is packed with every minute detail of dynamic ranges, sensor details, meridian flips, pixel rejection, target acquisition, astrometric model properties et al. Illustrations include a few flow charts and small photos of equipment configs. Disappointed in the length of text presented and lack of basic "get started" information for this once hopeful astrophotographer. This book is more of a graduate level college textbook that captures everything the author knowsrather than a backyard practical reference. We made a terrible error in judgement and should have used the look inside the book feature before purchasing.

The book has a lot of information and I have not been able to get through it all. It does talk you through the steps from getting equipment to the end result.

Practical and pragmatic, the book provide guidelines to choose right equipment, software and hardware setup, alignment, imaging and post-processing.Beyond guidelines, this book provide the knowledge to take our own decisions.I read and review this book many times. I keep coming back to the book to guide me in acquisition techniques and help me with ideas to post-processing.

The best generic astrophotography book I have read by far! Comprehensive reference book that I will continue using for many years to come. Plenty of meat in the technical arena to gain a useful understanding of all aspects of imaging and so many practical examples for current hardware and software that save much trial and error.All the more useful now that I have received my first mono camera and filters!

It's not about astronomy. It's not an introduction to the topic of astrophotography, it's very advanced. Far better with a year or more of imaging experience under your belt. The equipment used is not the point. The software used is the best, but the software is not the point either.