Chris Curtis Web Site

My first try at webcam astrophotography.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7924794@N06/4053057961

Jupiter, Io and Europa

To make this image there is quite a long sequence of steps!

1. Obtain a webcam with a CCD sensor – I happened to have a Philips SPC900
2. Obtain an adaptor so you can remove the webcam lens and fit the webcam into the telescope in place of an eyepiece – the telescope effectively becomes the webcam lens. I bought the adapter from telescope house
   
3. Use some software so you can see what the camera is seeing – I used wxastrocapture (which is free) on my “easy peasy” linux netbook.
4. Aim and focus the telescope and make sure it is tracking so that Jupiter appears to stay still.
5. Use the capture software to collect about 150 frames as an AVI video file – camera settings are trial and error so I varied them (e.g. gain, shutter speed) and did this several times.
6. Use “stacking” software which aligns all the frames then “averages” them to pull as much detail as possible out of the images and make one image from the video. I used Registax which is also free. I ran this on my windows laptop which is much more powerful than the netbook.
7. I took the best image of Jupiter into Photoshop and adjusted brightness then used “Topaz Detail” a great photoshop plug-in I have.
8. There was one image that showed Jupiter particularly well and another where Jupiter was over-exposed but the moons showed well. I used Photoshop layers and a little erasing to assemble one image from the two. Then re-sized the whole thing.

Not quite at Hubble standards yet but worth doing, I think. Much more to learn, but the basic idea worked.

Just signed up for the “Kick the couch 5K” in the “World Wide Festival of Races” which commits me to run 5K on the weekend of 10 – 11th October in company with runners from all over the world who will be doing 5K, 10K or half-marathons – the training has a purpose!

The WWFoR is linked with Phedippidations (itunes)- a podcast which I often listen to while running.

I have waited for ages, but zenfolio is now genuinely available in the UK. They provide a service (which you pay for) to display and sell images. The site is fast, clean and does the job well. I had an account set up and working very quickly and smoothly. I will be moving to this service from the “pro gallery” at Photobox straight away.

They even provide a service to create flash galleries you can embed on your favourite web pages!

I cannot believe that this blog is now 5 years old!

It has been rather sluggish of late, but the blog still exists and is being edited from time to time so it is probably one of the older, still-active blogs out there. Thanks for visiting.

I have been experimenting with a Zoom H2 digital recorder. We have a major need to record students playing and singing at school and at the moment are using all sorts of things from full-blown cubase through various digital recorders and CD recorders. None of these are ideal. We need simplicity but also high quality. The Zoom looked worth a try. The microphones are built in, once the record volume is set you just press the obvious red record button once to check levels and again to record. It all goes onto an SD card and can go onto the computer directly or via a USB connection to the zoom.

I have done some recordings using the Zoom and I am very impressed. The set-up could not have been easier.

1. The zoom sits on the music stand (though this might not be an ideal location it works well enough)
2. I play the backing track on my ipod through open back headphones, so I can hear the backing track and the Sax but the zoom only records the Sax
3. I pull the zoom recording into audacity, normalise it and then align it with the backing track. Counting in with the backing track helps!
4. I add a little reverb and equalisation in audacity – especially to the sax. I tend to leave the backing track alone.
5. I create an mp3.

The result is like this:

The Wedding

Given this was recorded in my bedroom without any attempt to exclude external sound, and it has had only a little work in audacity, the sound quality is really quite pleasing (not quite so sure about the playing, though!)

The “music stand” placement for the zoom (it literally sits on the music stand in front of the music I am reading) can tend to emphasise the breath and key sounds from the instrument, though I have found taking a step or two backwards is helpful. There is also a risk that I will send it flying! I ought to put the Zoom on a mic stand. It is very convenient though. You hit the red button on the zoom, then hit “play” on the ipod (which is on the bed – my headphones have long leads) and by the time the backing track is counting in, you are ready to play.

The music is “The Wedding” by Abdullah Ibrahim. I love the smoochy, laid back tune. This arrangement is in the AB Real book which contains pieces for ABRSM Jazz grades 4 and 5 for Clarinet, Alto and Tenor Sax, Trumpet and Trombone and the backing track is from the Grade 4 Tenor Sax CD that goes with it. It is used here for educational purposes. The middle 8 is improvised.

The Sax is a Bauhaus-Walstein Phoshor-Bronze Tenor (probably the best value Sax in the world) with a Vandoren V16 ebonite mouthpiece and fibracell 2 reed. I have been playing sax for about a year.

As you can see, the blog now records the “tweets” I have made on twitter during the previous week. Almost all the tweets I make are automated – itunes “tweets” every time I play something.

I wondered if there was a pattern and there is. Quite a lot of what I listen to is for work: at the moment I am mixing music for my school’s cheerleading squad. I can honestly say that I am not listening to that for pleasure! I am also editing and organising a wide variety of music at the moment for a dance show we are doing in June so that shows up as a lot of listening. I use itunes to provide backing tracks when I practice my Saxophones too, so these show up and occasionally, I just listen to music!

I am still not sure what I think about Twitter. Is it a social revolution? Of course not! No technology is revolutionary in itself: it becomes a revolution when people start to live different lives in response to it. I have not noticed any aspect of my life changing as a result of Twitter – at least, not yet. Twitter is interesting though: it is good to see people exploring what they can do with what is a simple (but maybe brilliant) concept. I already like the breaking news services and stay in touch with a few web sites that I enjoy. I do not have a thriving network of real people to “follow” – anyone I might be interested in is too busy to send many tweets.

I will stick with Twitter for a while and see what happens.

I have been exploring and playing with twitter.

I do not think that it will change the world (and I guess it might not survive: I cannot see how they make any money) but the ability to “shout out” short messages and to follow others who do so is useful. It is by far the best means to receive quick, timely news items (though that probably means the quality is low – no time to check) and it is a good way of keeping in touch with what people are doing.

It is this last that is the issue. I want to know if there is an update to a web site I keep an eye on or a new book from an author I like but I really do not care if someone has just gone out to the shops – even if it is someone I care about. I cannot stand soap operas – whether they are real or imaginary – or big brother so that side of twitter is not for me (but then I do not send or receive dozens of text messages a day and some people do)

Anyway, you can find me on twitter as @chrisecurtis