Checking in from Parkes and the Malin's

[iceman]

Hi all

Just checking in to say g'day from sunny and cold Parkes after going to the David Malin Awards dinner last night.

I don 't remember all the winners and HM's but i'll try and re-cap what I can:

Overall Winner - Jason Jennings (jase) with his brilliant Rho Ophiucus mosaic
Deep Sky Winner - Jason Jennings (jase) with the same shot
Widefield Winner - I think it was Phil Hart but I can't remember what shot it was (he won so many I lost track!)
Widefield Solar System Winner - Vincent Miu (cookie8) with his Crescent Moon and Pleiades shot
High-res Solar System Winner - Anthony Wesley (bird) with his Jupiter impact series
Innovation Winner - Peter Ward with his Ayers Rock Mars shot
Animation Winner - Phil Hart with his 12 apostles animation

I think that was all of them.

The Deep Space was the most highly contested category, with 81 entries! Trying to whittle that down to 6 honourable mentions and 1 winner was very difficult I'm sure!

It was a very well run competition and awards night, and big thanks to John Sarkissian, the CWAS and David Malin for another excellent event.

The family and I went out to "The Dish" this morning, and met up with a few other IIS'ers and award winners. We were lucky enough to have John give us a personal guided tour through the control rooms inside the Dish. An amazing experience.

Will have some photos to show soon, I'm sure others will add their photos and recounts too.

Cheers

[AdrianF]

Thanks for the news..
And congratulations to all the winners.

Adrian

[Rob_K]

Thanks for the report Mike - looks like it was an HM for me! :D Really, really sorry I couldn't make it to the awards but it was too tall an order after arriving back from Tahiti late Friday night. Sounds like an excellent night - congratulations to all the winners! :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[DavidU]

Nice result. A clean sweep by IIS members.:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Well congratulations Jase :thumbsup:.

A killer image for sure and well deserved winner. I thought Peters Ares Rock miiiight have just clinched it but with my incomplete knowledge of what got up as finalists, Jase's Rho was my second pick for overall :D.

Well done to all the other winners too!...bet it was a cracking night!

Hearing Phil Hart's name over and over (again) must have been like that scene in Blazzing Saddles when all the Johnsons kept speaking from the crowd at the town meeting :lol:

Mike

[Peter Ward]

Just got back to the big smoke myself. It was good to catch up at Parkes and meet the ever diverse..and talented pool of CWAS winners.

Again well done Jase! ....I was my cheerful prognostication to him prior to the awards he would do very well :)

And congrats to the rest of the winners and "honorable" mentions. Canon as usual, generously sponsored the event.

[gregbradley]

I was very happy to receive an honourable mention for my NGC1097 galaxy shot in the deep sky category. I also got a highly commended for my Blue Horsehead Nebula image.

Marcus Davis also got an honourable mention for his Corona Australis and
Tim Carruthers got one for his Centaurus A shot.

It was nice to meet a lot of the people I read posts from in person. From Peter Ward and his beautiful charming wife Lynn, to Jase, Mike Salway, Phil Hart, Marcus (finally), Gary Hill, Alex, and the famous Anthony Wesley and his lovely wife.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Congrats to all. Looks like I am a serial HM winner. Oh well next time. :)

Nice to see Jase win the overall prize.

[h0ughy]

congratulations Guys for your hard earned results

[anthony.tony]

Her are some quick pics ... Tony

[Phil Hart]

was great to be there again.. a real buzz. alex cherney and i had fun at the start taking photos at the dish on friday night (and still found a pizza shop open for dinner when we got back before the rest of his family had starved waiting for us).

i really appreciated the talks on saturday as in previous years.. i could listen to john sarkissian tell the unfolding saga of the apollo tapes every year, mike salway and i were gobsmacked looking at anthony wesley's jupiter and saturn images on the big screen during his presentation and the john bolton lecture is also fascinating to hear of the world class science and discoveries coming out of or associated with the Dish (this time about major advances, patents and royalties for WiFi that originated with CSIRO and research at the dish) - for a town of 10,000 people Parkes packs a lot of punch!

i was very happy to get the widefield prize, everything else was a bonus. i was a little surprised (read: embarrased :whistle:) to get four awards in the one animation category. hopefully next year a few more people will get the bug and there will be a bunch more entries!

aside from seeing all the amazing images people have been working on, the best bit of the weekend is just meeting new faces and catching up with folks again. between SPSP a few months ago and now Parkes, i have met a lot more IIS folks this year which has been great. adds so much value knowing the characters behind the posts. also very beneficial to speak to others about plans for the solar eclipse in 2012. what seemed very hard with little local knowledge from home suddenly seems a lot easier.

thanks to the organisers and everyone there.. i had a ball.

Phil

P.S. you could be forgiven for thinking that I should know what i'm doing.. but after two evenings out at the dish setting up timelapse gear (thanks to Alex and Brad) and then two early morning trips out to retrieve the gear, i have nothing to show for it.. i botched two perfect nights in a row.. beautiful soft moonlight, crystal clear skies.. 'user issues' both times :mad2:. if there was a prize for biggest screw ups i'd be a serious contender for that too! ;)

[marc4darkskies]

Congats to you again Jase - well deserved! And good going to all the other award recipents!! Naturally, I'm chuffed with my HM!:thumbsup:

It was a fantastic evening with great food and good company - mostly IISers too! Congrats to John Sarkissian and CWAS for a great event! And of course thanks go to Alan Brightman and Canon for their continued strong support!

Here's a happy snap of "The Winner's Table" :D. L-R: Marcus, Gary, Joanne, Emma, Jason, Mike and Brad.

Cheers, Marcus

[leon]

Well done my friends I do hope that i can attend one of theses functions one day.

Leon

[h0ughy]

from John S:

Hello all,

Last night, during the 2010 CWAS AstroFest dinner, the recipients of this year's "David Malin Awards" were announced. In the next few days, pictures of the event will be posted on the web along with the winning astro-photographs.


OVERALL WINNER: Jason Jennings - "Celestial Fireworks"

The Innovation Award: Peter Ward - "The Moon over Uluru - Series"


Winners by category:

Deep Sky:
--------------

Winner: Jason Jennings - "Celestial Fireworks"
HM: Luke Dodd - "Eta Carina (Narrow Band)"
HM: Max Kilmister - "Witch's head nebula - IC2118"
HM: Marcus Davies - "Near and Far"
HM: Tim Carruthers - "A Scrum in Space - a Celestial Football, when Galaxies
Blend: Centaurus A"
HM: Greg Bradley - "NGC 1097, a Galaxy with Extensions"

Highly Commended: Jason Jennings, Luke Dodd, Steve Crouch, Andrew Catsaitis, Eddie Trimarchi, Eddie Trimarchi



Wide-Field:
---------------

Winner: Phil Hart - "Rho Ophiuchi, Antares and the Blue Horsehead"
HM: Wayne England - "Camping under the Stars"
HM: Mike Salway - "Venus, Crescent Moon and the Pleiades Conjunction"
HM: Rolando De Michiel - " "Sunspot with Contrail"
HM: Gary Hill - "Sagittarius Galore"

Highly Commended: Doug Robertson, Alex Cherney, Bill Christie, Greg Bradley, Fred Vanderhaven



Solar System - Wide-Field:
------------------------------------

Winner: Vincent Miu - "New Moon Occults the Pleiades"
HM: Robert Kaufman - "Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin passing Saturn and Regulus"
HM: Richard Higby - "The Green Visitor"
HM: Phil Hart - "Geminid Meteors"
HM: Brad Le Brocque - "Early Morning Conjunction at Swansea"

Highly Commended: Rolando De Michiel, Andrew Catsaitis, Gary Hill


Solar System - Hires:
----------------------------

Winner: Anthony Wesley - "Impacts with Jupiter - Series"
HM: Paul Haese - "Jupiter, Ganymede and Europa"
HM: Stefan Buda - "Sideways Saturn"

Highly Commended: Paul Haese, Troy Tranter, Anthony Wesley



Theme - "The Moonlit Landscape":
----------------------------------------------

Winner: Wayne England - "Murray River Moonrise"
HM: Wayne England - "Camping by Moonlight"
HM: Phil Hart - "Moonlit Twelve Apostles"
HM: Peter Ward - "Band of Venus"
HM: Mike Salway - "Long Jetty under Moonlight"
HM: Andrew King - "The Moonlit Old-Timer"

Highly Commended: Alex Cherney, Gary Hill, Wayne England, Phil Hart, Brad Le Brocque, Brad Le Brocque


Animated Sequences:
-----------------------------

Winner: Phil Hart - "Twelve Apostles Timelapse"
HM: Phil Hart - "Narrendera Timelapse"
HM: Alex Cherney - "Moonset"
HM: Phil Hart - "March Star Party"
HM: Phil Hart - "Moonset over Snowy Mountains"

Highly Commended: Stefan Buda, Troy Tranter, David Hough, Mike Salway, Greg Priestley, Phil Hart


Regards, John
2010 CWAS AstroFest

___________________________________ ____

John M. Sarkissian
Operations Scientist
ATNF Parkes Radio Observatory
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science

PO Box 276, Parkes. NSW. 2870. Australia.

Tel No: (02) 6861 1769 (Intl. +61 2 6861 1769) Fax No: (02) 6861-1730 Switch: (02) 6861-1700

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/people/sar049/

[dugnsuz]

Wow, I got a Highly Commended in Widefield!!
That's made my day/night - well done to all.
Doug

[Bassnut]

Hehe, thats what I was thinking, I got a highly recomended too, nice unexpected bonus. The really important thing is of course, its the one time I actually beat Mike Sidonio, PLUS BONUS :cool:, thats what im talkin about, ego trippin nirvana :thumbsup:.

Congrats to the winners, specially The Jase punk, well done :thumbsup:.

[cookie8]

I only expect an HM so you can imaging how happy I was when I was told being a WINNER!!!:D It must have been a wonderful night. Although I couldn't attend due to health issue, thanks guys for posting those photos so at least I can feel the joyful atmosphere.
Congrats to all the DMA winners.

[beren]

:thumbsup: Congratulations Jase well deserved and to the other winners/HM plus all those how entered.

[Adelastro1]

Well I just staggered in the door after my 1100km return trip from Parkes today.... sooo tired but it was definitely worth the trip! I still can't believe I won th is year's themed category, the Moonlit Landscape! Wow. And had 3 HMs and a HC. I'm flabbergasted! (Mike you missed me in your winners list! haha. You did well to remember all the others - I couldn't!).

It was good to meet fellow IISers and other nice people at the awards as well. It was good to make some new astrophoto contacts and swap ideas and get tips. Watch out next year!

I can't say how much I appreciate John's work with the awards and the tour he took us on. There are also many others that did a lot of work, as well as David Malin of course. Well done everyone.

Anyway, bed time..... yawn...

[Martin Pugh]

Many congratulations to all, but specifically to Jase as the overall competition winner and an absolute corker of an image.

I had also missed the fact that it was an APOD on 8 Jul, so a belated congrats on that one too.

excellent work all.

cheers
Martin

[strongmanmike]

:lol: On ya Freddo :thumbsup:

Man, I didn't get Jack Crapp from David this year :shrug: :mad2: even with the extra highly commendeds given out :sadeyes: :lol:...Oh well, always next year :P :thumbsup:

Just realised, your highly commended was in Wide Field.....wa tha???:eyepop: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Woo hoo indeed Dougie :thumbsup:

Mike

[lacad01]

Congratulations guys, well done! :thumbsup:

[spacezebra]

Congrats all

Excellent entries.

Cheers Petra d.

[dugnsuz]

Received this morning so I'm doin' a 'houghy'...

Hello all,

Further to my previous email, there were so many entries in this year's
competition, that several images received a mention even though they didn't
win a prize.

For clarity, the Highly Commended images were by category:


Deep Sky:
--------------

Jason Jennings - "Environs of Orion's Belt"
Luke Dodd - "M8"
Steve Crouch - "The NGC 1929/1935 region (N44 super bubble)"
Andrew Catsaitis - "The Veil Nebula (west) - NGC 6960"
Eddie Trimarchi - "Central NGC 6188"
Eddie Trimarchi - "Central LMC"


Wide-Field:
---------------

Doug Robertson - "Barnard's Loop"
Alex Cherney - "Milky Way South"
Bill Christie - "The Prawn on the Table of Scorpius"
Greg Bradley - "The Blue Horsehead"
Fred Vanderhaven - "SPSP time Lapse"


Solar System - Wide-Field:
------------------------------------

Rolando De Michiel - "Biggest full Moon"
Andrew Catsaitis - "Sunspots during Sydney's Dust Storm"
Gary Hill - "Sun Halo"


Solar System - Hires:
-----------------------------

Paul Haese - "Clavius"
Troy Tranter - "Mars 2010"
Anthony Wesley - " upiter, October 20 2009 10:05UTC"


Animated Sequences:
-----------------------------

Stefan Buda - "Tipping Saturn"
Troy Tranter - "Jupiter"
David Hough - "Exploding Venus"
Mike Salway - "Ganymede Occulting Io Animation"
Greg Priestley - "Star Trails Quatre interpretations"
Phil Hart - "The Dish"


Theme - The Moonlit Landscape:
--------------------------------------------

Alex Cherney - "Milky Way and Moonglow"
Gary Hill - "Setting Moon"
Wayne England - " Point Turton Moonlit Star Trails"
Phil Hart - "London Bridge"
Brad Le Brocque - "Moonrise at Singleton"
Brad Le Brocque - "Moon in the City"


Congratulations!


Regards, John
2010 CWAS AstroFest

[jase]

Hi All

Congratulation to the winners, hm's and commendables. It is truly an honour to be selected amongst the fine images presented this year at the David Malin Awards. The still images and animations (especially the latter) just blew me away with their presentation, planning and dedication to seeing the imaging projects through to the end. Amazing work all round. The David Malin Awards brings out the excellence in the Australian astro imaging community. There is little doubt in my mind that the forum is world class.

A great night was had by all and I was pleased to meet a few new faces and catch up with regulars.

Cheers

[jjjnettie]

Congratulations to everyone.:D

[AstralTraveller]

While we're congratulating the 2010 winners I'd just like to add that I've just seen the winners and HM's for 2009 which are on display at the Wollongong Science Centre. I slipped away from the scope at the Discovery Night on Friday and had a look. I'd seen low-res copies on the web but seeing the prints took my appreciation to a higher level. It's like the difference between listening to an orchestra from outside the theatre compared to sitting in the front row. They really are wonderful photos, one and all.

The quality is obviously world class and the fact that some winners from last year didn't go so well this year just highlights the breadth of talent we have in Australia. I hope to see this year's winners 'in the flesh' sometime soon!

[erick]

Congrats to those chosen! Well done to everyone that entered! Categories seemed to work well this year? More clarity?

[jase]

Slightly off topic, but I should bring to light a conversation had with event organisers. As this was the first year of submitting electronic images online for judging, it was reported that some images submitted were extremely dark, and/or had colour balance issues. Given David's critical eye, it would not surprise me that some images were let down due to the lack of attention given to monitor calibration.

There is plenty of resources online to assist those in need.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/MONCAL/CALIBRATE.HTM
http://www.imagescience.com.au/kb/questions/49/Buying+Guide+to+Monitor+Calibrators

I don't like the thought of people working so hard to collect and process data, only to find the end result does not look correct on other peoples monitors. :shrug: For the general populous, this is unavoidable, but you can be assured that David and the other judges would be evaluating images on correctly calibrated monitors. So the effort you put in is not to waste. :)

Finally, the sponsors really make the event what it is today. A big thank you to Central West Astronomical Society, CSIRO's Astronomy and Space Sciences, Powerhouse Museum and Canon Australia for those delightful prizes. Those jokes at the Civic Reception where coming thick and fast. Hilarious.

[Liz]

Wow, what a night that would have for you all!!!
Congratulations to Jase, Peter and the multitude of IIS guys that got mentioned.
A little recognition for the hard yards you all put in. :thumbsup:

[rogerg]

Congrats to all the entrants, and to the winners :) Good to see lots of pics of the event, I'll have to look through sometime soon when I have more time...

[RB]

Congratulations Jase on your win, well done mate !
Congrats to all the catagory winners as well, I can't wait to view all the images.

I recieved a pleasent surprise when I checked my emails this morning to find I received two Highly Commended mentions.

One for my Veil Nebula shot (http://iimagespace.com/page/ds/veil-west.htm)and the other for the Sunspots during Sydney's Dust Storm. (http://iimagespace.com/page/ss/duststorm-sunspots.htm)

Well done everyone !

:)

[strongmanmike]

Perhpas a good argument for going back to entering prints then ie what you see your end is always exactly what the judge will see. Obviously the logistics are easier using electronic entry but entering actual prints was something that made DM's real I recon and removed the issue of only being able to send low res (2000 X 2000) jpeg files that could be judged on any number of moniters and using any number of viewing programs..?

Mike

[bird]

Hi guys,

Leisa and I had a real ball at Parkes over the weekend, I got to meet many people for the first time that I know online and we got a good look through the dish on Sunday morning thanks to John. It was great to catch up again with Mike - haven't seen him for a while, and also lots of fun listening to Phil (the serial winner lol) talking about how he did those amazing animations.

I reckon next year there should be a "Phil Hart" section, to keep him away from the rest of us :-) All mind-bogglingly good images in all categories, including Jase's overall winning image.

The evening sky in Parkes on Saturday looked lovely, clear and still. The planetary alignment happening just after sunset made a nice show. However now I'm home again and sitting under more of that grey stuff I've come to know so well :-)

cheers, Bird

[Garyh]

Congrads again Jase! and all the winners and honorable mention submissions! Great images for sure. Didn`t Phil do some cleaning up!
Great to meet Anthony and others and catch up with a few familiar faces!

Had a ball at dinner and really enjoyed the company and the food.

Many thanks to John .S and everyone who puts so much effort in putting this all together!

[Alchemy]

Well done to all, particularly jase, having been so close previously this year clinched it.

Obviously an incredibly high standard, particularly the deep sky section draws a number of entries of such.

Can anyone provide links to the winning entries ( deep sky) for the last few years , I'd be curious to see if there's any improvement overall, or it just came to object selection and or presentation.

[jase]

Its not compelling enough to go back IMO Mike. Imagers should already be calibrating their monitor to get a consistent print output anyway. So in essence the activity is already being done, whether you print or submit online. I believe there will be basic reference material forthcoming before next years event to assist. However imagers should be taking it upon themselves to become familiar with colour profiles, gamut, calibration and other facets on the topic such as knowing the difference between converting to a colour space as opposed to assigning a colour space in photoshop. Its to their own benefit in the long run.

Ultimately, electronic submission is saving you money too. Back in 2008 when I last submitted any work, it cost me approximately $110 for a mounted A3 pro print on fine art paper. This was of course accurately calibrated throughout so no guess work if the colours on the screen would translate to that on paper - guaranteed to a 98% accuracy. Now if I was to spend at least $500 on getting five images printed, then postage - all to find out that I didn't even get a mention. I'd simply be throwing money away. The new competition submission system make 100% sense to me.



Clive, the previous years entries are listed here - http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/astrofest/DMA/
They are however not full resolution. It should give you a solid idea of what has been submitted in the past if you're looking to add a twist.

===
Thanks for everyone's support.

[Peter Ward]

It has been interesting to see how the CWAS/Malin awards have evolved over the years. The standard of entries has certainly risen. I suspect a key to success (apart from monitor calibration!) is to try and image something that is not run of the mill...

An M42/ Eta/ Lagoon etc. I'd suggest needs to rival Hubble to have success....and even then some ;)

From a personal view, my "innovative" images....actualy I think David called them "wacky" :)....take some effort (eg. plane ticket), making me think at least getting out of your own backyard is almost a requirment for getting an image with an eye-catching quality.

Anyway... now to make plans for 2011! :D

BTW anyone know what next year's theme will be??

[gregbradley]

I agree with Jase the electronic entry system is a real winner in that the number of entries rose 70%. So anything that makes the competition more popular is a good thing.

Also printing images is a whole different technology and knowledge all by itself and a good image could easily be poorly represented by a poor print. You can't send a CD to a print place and expect it to come out like it looks on your monitor without knowing what curves/levels you need to apply to your internet ready image to make it print ready.

Also it makes the competition match how the people in the hobby operate in that we all use computers and a lot post their images on the net in jpeg form. It just means another step of making sure your monitor is not out of whack with a properly callibrated one.

Greg.

[Garyh]

I also agree that doing it all digitally submitted is the way to go...
But I would like to see a higher resolution image say max of 3000px and if possible calibration software available to all entrees which is the same or similar to what is used on the judging PC..

One thing I did miss but is standing infront of all those fine images and drooling over them!
Maybe a LCD tv set up in a continuous slideshow to view?

[strongmanmike]

Of course you make some valid points and I largely already agree with the electronic entry system, even if just for its simplicity. I was just throwing the thought back out there.

Never calibrated my moniter, I must say...maybe I should :)...or else I'll just send my screen with my entry next year :D

Mike

[bird]

Mike, I reckon it's a good argument for everyone taking the 5 minutes with a greyscale test pattern to calibrate their monitors :-)

I keep finding the same thing when I post images that end up looking burned out on other peoples monitors cause they haven't got them calibrated...

cheers, Bird

[strongmanmike]

Well Birdie, I cannot imagine your planetary images looking any better than they do on my moniter, the colours are spot on, so I recon it must be pretty well calibrated :)

Many congrats on your Malin Win too mate, your category win was the easiest to pick :thumbsup:

Mike

[Octane]

Congratulations, Jase!

And, all others who won, got mentions and commendations.

Jase, converting/assigning profiles, having calibrated monitors, etc., is bread and butter in this game. At least I would have thought so, anyway!

And, Mike, printing images and submitting them may be OK for those who know they'll definitely win a category. I spent about $300 submitting a few images a couple of years back (when I didn't have my professional large format Epson). It felt like such a waste when no email was forthcoming. The images probably didn't deserve a mention, anyway, but, it still sucked knowing you spent all that money on what amounted to, for all intents and purposes, a futile endeavour. I wholeheartedly agree with the new submission process. How can you go wrong for $5 a pop?

H

[alan meehan]

Congratulations to all the winners and highly commended winners such a brilliant lot of talent ,well done everyone.:thumbsup:

[bird]

Thanks Mike, ps I hope it didn't come across that I was referring to you, absolutely not. But I know there are some poorly calibrated screens out there in IIS-land...

cheers, Bird

[Peter Ward]

Wat' cha talkin' about!?

My screen is perfect.

It's everyone else that's the problem. :lol:

[anthony.tony]

Some more images from Saturday.. Tony

[Paul Haese]

I agree with Jase. The new electronic submissions has saved me a bundle of cash; just like Jase it was costing a lot of money.

All I can say I am sick of impacts on Jupiter. How the hell does one win with special events taking place in our solar system. :P

One thing is for certain though. We are gonna have to get creative in the solar system narrow field section next year. With Jupiter moving north our images are going to look pretty much like the northern images from last year and this year. No where near as much definition and as a result not as impressive as we have had for the last 4 years. Saturn images don't seem to make the grade so it looks like either ultra high res of Mars (not for at least 4 years yet) or hi res of the moon. My Clavius shot (seen on my website) got a commendation so that might be worth taking a look at I reckon. Hi res solar shots need to be half disk at least I think. At least in the DSO section there are 45,000 or so objects to image really well. ;)

[anthony.tony]

Hello as a member of IIS and the CWAS. I spent most of my time Saturday Taking pictures of the Astrofest and vistors- speakes -etc. I set my canon 40d to the right side of David Malin when he gave his talk .I banged off a lot of shots of David. these are some . one is of J Sarkissian with his Apollo tapes talk.David Malin is an excellant Speaker his images displayed on the screen add more to it. Reguard's Tony.

[Adelastro1]

Well said Jase. I second this wholeheartedly, and thank you to them all.

I'll make sure I attend the Astrofest next time too... I'm spewing I missed out on those talks and John's new high quality video of the moon landing especially!

[zardos123]

just a few more shots from the dma, anyone who wants shots of themselves pm me i took around three hundred shots so have images of most recipients
regards brad

[AstralTraveller]

Maybe if you got them all in one shot..... :shrug:

[topheart]

Hi All,

I was surprised and honoured to to get a HM slip in on my first attempt at a Malin...!!

I was delighted to be at Parkes and to meet so many great astrophotographers. Congratulations to all.

Thanks so much to DM and all the organisers, especially John S. for the amazing work in getting it all to happen. The talk were all amazing. I thoroughly recommend the weekend to anyone interested in astronomy, even if you are not a prize winner.

Regards,

Tim Carruthers

[zardos123]

you look very happy tim, a shot of me , and a few others getting their certs. just realized how many shots of phil i know have!

[zardos123]

in that last group that was peter getting the innovation award, forgot me, also david in the discussion, they also gave him an award( i think for allround awsomeness):lol:

[zardos123]

79519

79520

79521

79522

79523

[marc4darkskies]

And here's a glimpse of next years DM winners!

[dugnsuz]

LOL Marc...
"Being Phil Hart"
:lol:

[Phil Hart]

i had to laugh :lol:

good to see you reserved one for yourself!

[Adelastro1]

Good to see you gave yourself one award at least Marcus! You should have made it the overall one though... Phil would be displeased at that. lol

[marc4darkskies]

I'm not greedy - one's enough!!!:D:D

[anthony.tony]

I added some more pics of Saturday.And Anthony's Talk...Tony

[anthony.tony]

Some Close up shots of the Winners ........ Tony

[Adelastro1]

Touche! :lol:

[cookie8]

Winning photos + HM+ presentation dinner has been fully uploaded on their site
http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/astrofest/awards/
Check it out

[zardos123]

i agree marcus i am happy just to be in the same room as that much talent, luv the phil shot. the good thing is that john has indicated that all entries will be viewable on the site soon

[Adelastro1]

Thanks for the link Vincent. John put the images up very quickly! It's great to see them all together on the one page which is completely different to seeing them one by one on the night. They look fantastic. I can't wait to see them in an exhibition all lined up too!

[strongmanmike]

:rofl:Love it

Phil you are a deffinite talent with that camera, you deserve the recognition :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

so any ideas as to next years topic?

[RB]

You crack me up Marcus !



Lunar eclipse in HDR ! :P

[anthony.tony]

I added some more pics of the Winners .. Tony

[anthony.tony]

Here is the link to Prime news Video of our Astrofest- http://orange.iprime.com.au/index.php/news/prime-news/astronomers-gather-for-astrofest-video,460311 ....Reguard's Tony

[anthony.tony]

here is the Win news story to the Astrofest with a link to Phil Hart com. no video though- http://www.wintv.com.au/national/news/item/32422 Tony.

[Peter Ward]

In the de-brief after the comp...what never ceased to amaze me is David's very keen eye..any flaw or mismatch is picked. I don't think they are paying him enough! :D

Purchasing a monitor calibrator seemed like a good idea.... and while the differences were subtle, the dividens are substantial.

I did a re-pro (or is that a "sid" ? :) ) The image below is the result:

http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery64.html

Anyway...onwards to CWAS 2011!

[h0ughy]

well at least i have a calibrated monitor:P - not a bad suggestion RB:lol:

[Screwdriverone]

:lol: :lol:

THAT....is the funniest thing I have seen in about 6 months.....

Kudos Marc.

Thank you for making me laugh so hard I almost wet myself....seriously....I LOVE the white beard.....

The thing is.... I CANNOT tell which one is the REAL Phil Hart........

Excellent.

Cheers

Chris

[iceman]

LOL Nice one Marcus!

[marc4darkskies]

You're not supposed to laugh at your own jokes but I was chuckling as I was doing it.:)



And YOU go and make one of his pics IOTW!!! ... you're just encouraging him Mike! :lol:

BTW, here are my happy snaps of the weekend. http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/david_malin_awards_2010

It was a real treat to get a tour of the telescope! Thanks again John!

Cheers, Marcus

[anthony.tony]

I have Added some Images Of David's talk On Saturday .. Tony

[jase]

Nice processing on the Phil Hart show Marcus. :lol:



Too right Peter. Don't know why you would bother entering without going through the process. Stunning image btw.

===
Also, thanks Tony and Brad for uploading the photos and news clips. Much appreciated. :)

[strongmanmike]

Great shots marcus.... good to reminisce over :sadeyes:...I feel pissed (as in drunk) just looking at them :lol:

Is this screen calibration rubbish for real :shrug: how many of the winners actually used calibrated screens...or is this a Phil Hart fed ruse to trick non-Hart's :question:

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Yep!



I do! :D

[Phil Hart]

I'm worried that you're just poking fun, but I'll provide a serious answer in case it helps others! ;)

I have not calibrated my monitor with any of the hardware calibration tools, although it is a decent quality monitor that comes with a number of predefined calibration settings. My previous cheaper monitor was pretty much the same colour wise (my images didn't look much different after changing monitor), but the old monitor did suck from a viewing angle point of view.. images were brighter at the bottom than at the top which was getting really annoying.

The hardware calibration tools can be worth the money in a professional environment where you have a workflow from monitor to print (and large print runs, multiple clients etc you don't want to screw up). I have a set of adjustment curves I use for correcting images before sending them to the Pro photo lab to be printed, but I developed them by trial and error (not that hard) rather than using a $500 piece of hardware. Works fine when you're always using the same monitor and the same printer. But I would be interested to try hardware calibration one day.. maybe somebody can share their experiences?

As long as people can see all 256 different brightness levels on the charts (like those on Peter Ward's gallery (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery1.html)) then you'll be pretty close. And once you've seen your own images on other monitors, I think any discerning astrophotographer will know whether their colour balance is significantly out at home.

But seriously Mike, if you produced that Centaurus A image on the monitor you're using now (and all of your other top notch images), you don't need to do any more calibration!! ;) You are the last person that needs to worry about this.. your images look perfectly balanced to me!

When we see the full set of results we'll be able to identify images where calibration has been a problem. David Malin may also have been generous in describing it as a calibration issue.. it's quite possible some people have been black clipping their images which we'll be able to identify and provide feedback on shortly. Mike Sidonio's images (a la Centaurus A from previous years with what.. 21? mag/arc second interstellar dust) will not be in that category!! :thumbsup::rolleyes:

Phil

[strongmanmike]

:lol:...you read me correctly and thanks Phil, finally, some sanity prevails :nerd: :clap:

Mike
Oh and it is more like 27mag/squ arc sec

[anthony.tony]

I dug up two more pics of our Winners -------:thumbsup:----Tony

[Adelastro1]

Just received this email from John Sarkissian, the organiser of the Malin Awards regarding the exhibition of winning photos. I'll have to try to get to Sydney now! They are also being shown at a few other locations around the Eastern states over the next year so get along for a look if you can (see CWAS website for details).


"Hello all,

The 2010 CWAS "David Malin Awards" will be launched at Sydney Observatory
tomorrow night, Friday 13 August, in a low-key event coinciding with their
'Lucky Friday planetary spectacular' event.

However, I'm informed by the Powerhouse Museum, that the formal launch will
be in September in which all the exhibitors (you) will be invited. This will
be the main event to publicise the exhibition.

You can visit the Observatory from this weekend onwards to see the exhibited
photos if you want to see it before the formal launch in September.

I'll post pictures and other information after the event on Friday.


Regards, John"

[Bassnut]

Another angle. There is exactly the same angst in studio audio on calibrated or not monitor speakers whilst mixing, where I have a bit more experience.

The audio industry standard (Yamaha NS10s) are not flash or expensive, but the key is "standard", once you have heard 1000 tunes on them, its the *relative* difference, compared to reference classics that allows knowing when the result is correct, not some absolute measure. Everyone uses them because they all know what they sound like. Some mixing guys cart there own speakers around studio to studio just to have a known reference (for them) if NS10s arnt available.

I recon its the same for displays, as long as you have the basic dynamic range sorted, and have viewed lots of reference images on it, the worse thing you can do is constantly adjust it to some absolute standard, you loose the intuative feel for how things should look based on all the previous images you viewed on it.

[Adelastro1]

Hi everyone,
I received another email from John Sarkissian today saying that the winning photos are on display at the Sydney Observatory now after the travelling exhibition was launched last night:

"Hello all,

Last night, on Friday, 13 August 2010, the CWAS "David Malin Awards"
traveling exhibition was launched at Sydney Observatory in a low-key event
coinciding with their "Lucky Friday planetary spectacular" event.

The manager of Sydney Observatory, Toner Stevenson, welcomed the guests
which included Dr David Malin and his wife, Pillipa, CWAS President, Laurie
Crowley and his wife Margaret, Canon Australia Rep., Alan Brightman and John
Sarkissian from CASS/CWAS.

The members of the public were then invited to view the exhibition.

You can see photos of the launch at:

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/astrofest/awards/sydobs/

The exhibition will remain at the Observatory until 6 February 2011 before
travelling to Scienceworks, Melbourne Planetarium.

Regards, John"