Whereas I said that I wouldn't be going to the Texas Star Party this year because my original presentation, "How to Build an Astroimager," did not make, the TSP guys let me know they still needed me to fill in for my friend, JOhn Davis, who has to vacate his spot in the lineup because he has to run off and make a movie or something. 

That kinda stuff happens all the time, right? 

Instead of changing  what JOhn was going to do, I'll be stepping right in and doing a similar presentation on Photoshop Workflows.   Of course, there are so many things Photoshop can do for us and in so many ways; however, I will be focusing chiefly on luminance extraction and handling, chrominance (color) considerations, and trying to maintain balance between local contrast enhancement and noise.   We will also look a bit at mask creation and its usage in protecting out data from global processes.  

Anyway, I'll be joining the party mid-week, anticipating a Wednesday, May 28th arrival and will stay through Sunday.  Safe travels to all who are headed out this weekend!

Typically, good weather and singular (or practically singular) astronomy events do not always coincide for me.  Well, to be honest, the last time I can recall such a cosmic coordination of circumstances was nearly 10 years ago when I was hoping to photograph the near occultation of Comet Machholz with the Pleaides, an image which actually won me a Sky and Telescope Contest award a year or two later.  

Coming after my NEAIC/NEAF visit, I was Jonesing for some total lunar eclipse action and the skies acquiesed, letting me shoot over 450 individual images of the moon during the entire eclipse cycle.   I have posted a couple of "presentations" of these images to my webpage (and Facebook). 

The first presentation, shown above, are selected shots at some of the major parts of the cycle, from moon's entry into earth's umbra, through to it's "blood moon" appearance - and awful name given by people who have obviously never seen actual blood - and it's final escape from earth's shadow. 

The second, a poster format detailing the times of key points of the event from my home in Grapevine, Texas, shows the normal moon split in half on both sides, signifying Luna's return to normalcy.

All presentations for the eclipse images can be found on a Gallery Page here.

I have no plans to print these out in the near future, but maybe some day I will find a cost effective way of doing so.   I hope you enjoy them!

I am sometimes asked what I enjoy more, imaging the night sky, or talking to people ABOUT imaging the night sky?  

People might be surprised by my answer. 

It is not as if I dislike imaging or observing.  Much to the contrary, it remains one of my favorite things to do.  Even tonight, as tired as I am from the trip, I am thinking of ways to automate a series of images showing tonight's full lunar eclipse and still show up to work in the morning.  

But there is nothing, and I mean nothing, like teaching and talking to people about this hobby!  As a high school school teacher by profession, I seldom get to teach students with a passion for their learning.  Sure, many do what is required in my math classes, but if my school students were to bring the same level of attention and focus to their studies as the participants in my imaging sessions did at NEAIC, well, that would be heaven on earth!

Therefore, words simply cannot describe how much I enjoyed NEAIC/NEAF this year.  The sessions were glorious, particularly those I attended myself. The company, as always, superb.

I am thankful to my wife, Helen, for travelling with me and showing patience with me as my focus was divided between fun and, well, fun!

I will be posting the entire POWERPOINT presentation for my imaging sessions to this webpage shortly.  I just need to figure out a way to make it server-friendly without compromising the media content too much.

In the meantime, happy lunar-observing, everybody!