BENGALURU: The picturesque snow-capped Himalayas, the beautiful starlit sky at a high altitude - these make some excellent frames for photographs. In the recent past Astrophotography has emerged as a popular hobby for people in the city and a workshop on the same held at Jawaharlal Planetarium on Sunday saw stargazers showing up in large numbers to learn about the techniques and best practises.
Conducted by Ajit Talwar, a former Air India employee and currently the vice-president of Amateur Astronomers Association, the workshop attempted to explain the process of astrophotography and the minute details that went into taking the perfect shot. “Taking the image is not the tough part. It is the processing that requires effort. In order to highlight the stars and the panorama of the trails left behind, a lot of processing work goes in,” Talwar said.
During the day-long workshop, Talwar stressed upon the software required for sky-photo imaging and the different tools which are used to accentuate star trails in those photographs. He gave an insight into photo-editing portals such as Photoshop and Startrails. He even spoke about the kind of cameras and telescopic use in astrophotography to get the perfect frame. The workshop included participants learning different methods of photo-editing, methods to process deep-sky photography and making time-lapse movies by engaging in the processes in tandem with Talwar.
He spoke about photography camps in the Himalayas which last for two months with training and include accommodation, equipment supply and travel.“Photography was my hobby and I regularly attend workshops to learn more. This gives me the edge of learning what I didn’t know earlier and makes me do things professionally,” said Ram Mohan, software engineer. Another attendee said, “I have known Ajay for quite a while now and he is one of the top three astrophotographers in the country. He has conducted this workshop very well,” said Pramod G Galgali, Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium.