Fleming Astrophotography Astrophotography Tutoring Service

Feel stuck with your astro-imaging? Not getting the results that you feel you should be getting? Neil Fleming of www.flemingastrophotography.com has announced a new astrophotography tutoring service. This service offering is oriented towards any astrophotographer who wants to “get over the hump” that many experience while progressing in this hobby.

This tutoring service that is dedicated to any level of astro-imager who wants to accelerate their learning curve, through hardware and camera setup, image acquisition, initial processing, and final image processing in Photoshop and its various plug-ins. The format is a dedicated evening or weekend slot, usually 2-3 hours in duration. By using remote access facilities, we would collaborate on one system, either yours or mine. Topics covered include:

• Initial image processing with CCDStack or MaxIM
• Advanced data rejection techniques
• Deconvolution and DDP
• Tools like Quarktet's Tria, Gradient XTerminator, NeatImage, Registar, and FocusMagic
• The myriad possible techniques in Photoshop; Data optimization, advanced selections and layers, sharpening (Smart Sharpen, Unsharp Masking, "True" Unsharp Masking, Multi-layer High Pass Sharpening), Color balancing and adjustments, gradient control, and mosaics
• Image acquisition and guiding techniques with MaxIM or CCDSoft
• Automation approaches with CCDCommander or CCDAP
• Mount alignment with T-Point or PoleAlignMax
• Use of FocusMax.

I have been privileged to be invited to speak at AIC, NEAIC, MWAIC, and have had images published in both Sky & Telescope as well as Astronomy Magazine. Hourly costs for one-on-one tutoring range between $20 and $25/hour, depending on the duration that we work together. Contact Neil at ‘NeilFleming at hotmail dot com’ for further information.

Sample “before and after” images after working with a client:

"Before" RGB Image

"Before" HA Image

“After” Result