Re: [APML]: Computer Enhancement

[a.vannini@mclink.it (Alessandro Vannini)]

>>I have read that part of the beauty of astrophotgraphy is that it's
>>not easy, and that a great astrophoto results only from many hours
>>(years ??) of experince brought to bear on alignment, film selection,
>>guiding, hypering, waiting for perfect skies, trial & error etc.
>>Are we skilled photographers, or just good with a computer program?

Well, I've used for a long time a fork mounted telescope, a Meade
2080-LX5, for my deep-sky astrophotography. This fork mount is not a
champion of steady and tracking precision, there's nothing like the
PEC, and the worm and gear couple is not a masterpiece. Guiding for an
one hour and a half exposure was a VERY difficult and gruelling task.
Now I'm the happy owner of a good Losmandy G11 equatorial german
mount; it haves a very good tracking precision, a powerful PEC system,
and a rocky-like steady. Now, guiding for an one hour and a half
exposure is a light task. Am I a false astrophotographer, now? And
what if I plug a guiding CCD into the Losmandy's electronic box?

>>A recent posting said that computer enhancement can turn a so-so
>>image into a great image

That's completely false, in my humble opinion. You cannot turn a poor
shot into a great picture. Think about a planetary image, taken on a
classical film: if you can't achieve a good tracking precision, a good
exposure time, a good focusing level, you can bungle as much as you
like, but you'll only mess things up, that's all! Maybe, people who
tell that computer enhancement can turn a so-so image into a great
image like to use the paintbrush tool... ;-)

>>Personally, I feel that enhancement 
>>should be used sparingly and true to the original image, not to add 
>>color that isn't there, or remove star trials due to guiding error. 

Completely agree about adding colors, but I think that removing star
trails would be just sheer madness!!! :-))) Maybe a good deconvolution
algorithm, but this wouldn't be a dishonest manipulation.

>>Question: Are computer enhanced images allowed in astrophoto 
>>competitions such as that at Astrofest?

If not, I wouldn't be surprised to see witch hunting again... :-(((
Here in Italy I'm partecipating just now to an astrophoto competition
with a computer enhanced image, the one you can see at
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/7087/cygnus01high.jpg.

It was a very hard task to paint all those stars... :-))))))))

----------------------------------------------------
Alessandro Vannini
a.vannini@mclink.it

Deep Void - deepvoid@geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/7015

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