Astroimaging DNA, by Jay Ballauer

Abstract:

Jay presents more of the theoretical and philosophical aspects that undergird his imaging philosophy.
 
Regardless of your experience level in astroimaging, this presentation outlines a cohesive approach that will help you inject “DNA” into an image.  It is a look at how astroimagers – past, present, and future – can produce images in a recognizable and consistent style.

 

With information gained here, you can begin to maximize the potential within your own images – from data planning and collection; to processing and presentation. But mostly, it will show you how you can create images that become uniquely your own, creating “signature” works each time.

This session will detail four “nucleotides” of the imaging DNA chain: Growth, Aesthetic, Tolerance, and Consistency:

  • Growth: The development of the astroimager is the focus here. This is a study at how ethics, opinions, education, and theory affect the growth of the astrophotographer, and consequently, his or her imaging “program.”
  • Aesthetics: In an arena that is traditionally considered science, is there room for an individual’s aesthetic? If so, what decisions can be made and how does this affect the overall quality and perception of the image?
  • Tolerance: This will involve a technical discussion of the photographic system – image acquisition, data interpretation, and image processing – and how an imager learns tolerance, quality control, and eventual acceptance of the final result.
  • Consistency: If you’ve done it once, how do you repeat it? Can all images contain recognizable DNA? If so, what does that look like? Thus, we look at how changes to the “workflow” are necessitated in our treatment of various objects/imaging types, as well as how many of the great, pro imagers have established their own digital “fingerprints.”

 

Prerequisites:

A familiarity with Photoshop software is recommended, at least the basics of it.

 

Daytime session (3 hours, with two 10 minute breaks)

[date/time TBA]