The Art Of Astrophotography

Capturing the heavens can be a rewarding and altogether unique form of outdoor photography

Text And Photography By Tony Rowell

Labels: Locations

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Rowell finds solace in tracking and shooting the heavens, and his images are a combination of diligence, trial and error, and different techniques. These range from telescope adapters to long exposures with D-SLRs, giving him the power of instant feedback, benefitting the modern landscape photographer in the technically challenging realm of astrophotography.

This makes the film and D-SLR option better suited for wide-field images, whereas astrophotography CCDs perform better for single objects like planets with a narrower field of sky. I haven’t used an astrophotography CCD, but I’m definitely interested in this rapidly growing technology.

As you progress, be prepared to spend a considerable amount of money on your new tools. I’ve sold and traded several telescopes to upgrade my gear. I’m grateful to Sam Sweiss, the manager of Scope City in San Francisco, for sponsoring me with equipment over the years; his input and help have been enormously valuable. Besides my friends and family supporting me, another person who has helped me with my astrophotography has been architect/astronomer David Ta-Wei Lin.

While writing this article, I drove through Yosemite on my way home to Bishop and was fortunate to meet David Rodrigues, an astronomer known as the Astro-Wizard. In 1970, David and his team at the Chabot Observatory in Oakland, Calif., used a large telescope to help NASA navigate and bring Apollo 13 back safely to Earth after the moon-bound mission encountered technical difficulties. When I told him I was planning on doing some astrophotography that week, he invited me to join him and a few other scientists at the Barcroft High Altitude Research Station located in the White Mountains at 12,450 feet. Halfway through my drive the next evening, I drove past the bristlecone pine grove where a few months earlier I had captured one of my best images of the Milky Way combined with a tree that’s said to be over 4,000 years old.

After arriving at Barcroft, I met the group and then began aligning my scope with the north celestial pole. This was the best and darkest location I’ve photographed from, although I was surprised when the temperature dropped down to a chilling 25º. That night, I captured the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies on film using my father’s Nikon F100 with a 300mm ƒ/2.8 lens. The next day, a marine biologist/astronomer named Chris showed me his images taken with the new Nikon D700, and I was impressed with the image quality and the low amount of digital noise at higher ISOs. He was very pleased with the D700 and inspired me to buy one.

As I continue learning the art of astrophotography, I look forward to photographing many celestial events in the years to come, including new comets, eclipses and meteor showers!

Tony Rowell, son of renowned photographer Galen Rowell, is a photographer in his own right and has had his images published in books, calendars and magazines, including a few previous issues of OP. More of Tony’s images can be viewed on his website at www.tonyrowell.com.

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Chris Ross makes this comment

Wednesday, 08 July 2009

I'd be interested to know which gear was used for the bristlecone pine image. I'm guessing it was stopped down a bit to get both the sky and the pine in focus
Kevin makes this comment

Wednesday, 01 July 2009

Hi Larry, Mountain Light Photography in Bishop, CA does Eastern Sierra workshops. There is one starting July 6th with David Muench, it is a High Sierra and bristlecone pine workshop. Muench is also leading a another workshop starting July 13-17 with photography locations in Yosemite, Mono Lake, and Bodie Ghost Town. Also there will be Fall Color workshops with John Shaw the first two weeks of October. For more information contact Mountain Light Photography, 760-873-7700, email gallery@mountainlight.com, or go to http://www.mountainlight.com/workshops.html.
larry ostrander makes this comment

Wednesday, 01 July 2009

about 20 years ago i went on a UC shoot in the bristle cone area and brought my celestron C8 what magnificent dark skies woud like to return to the area is any one conducting digital classes in the area Larry
Ian Dodd makes this comment

Sunday, 28 June 2009

Tony Rowell's article came along at a perfect time! I enjoyed a 5 day workshop in Yosemite with Tony's dad a number of years ago. Then, just a few years ago I developed in interest in astronomy. And, just a month ago I had the opportunity to take my first try at astrophotography using the piggyback method Tony describes in his article. For those looking for more "how to", the best introduction I have found is Michael Covington's book "Digital SLR Astrophotography". For the vast majority of photographers the world disappears at night. But when it does, the cosmos open up and the chance to use our passion for photography to connect to nature and the Universe awaits. To infinity, and beyond! (To quote the movie "Toy Story")
Oshin D. Zakarian makes this comment

Friday, 26 June 2009

informative articel but still there is much for " landscape astrophotography " to be mentioned here. i am one of the fans of outdoor photographer magazine and fan of mr. Galen Rowell's inspiring outdoor photography. Reading this article is so interesting for me becouse i just wondered if there are many serious outdoor photographers paying attention to astrophotography as well . there is an international program " TWAN " The World At Night. astronomy can bring all people together. and astrophotography is one great way for this!
JCayer makes this comment

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Ditto...
hkadenilc makes this comment

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Thought you would explain how to or give helpful tips for photographing the stars... HK

Locations

The Art Of Astrophotography

Capturing the heavens can be a rewarding and altogether unique form of outdoor photography

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