The Sloan Digital Sky Survey ( SDSS ) first data release provides a database of \approx 106000 unique galaxies in the main galaxy sample with measured spectra .
A sample of star-forming ( SF ) galaxies are identified from among the 3079 of these having 1.4 GHz luminosities from FIRST , by using optical spectral diagnostics .
Using 1.4 GHz luminosities as a reference star formation rate ( SFR ) estimator insensitive to obscuration effects , the SFRs derived from the measured SDSS H \alpha , [ O ii ] and u -band luminosities , as well as far-infrared luminosities from IRAS , are compared .
It is established that straightforward corrections for obscuration and aperture effects reliably bring the SDSS emission line and photometric SFR estimates into agreement with those at 1.4 GHz , although considerable scatter ( \approx 60 \% ) remains in the relations .
It thus appears feasible to perform detailed investigations of star formation for large and varied samples of SF galaxies through the available spectroscopic and photometric measurements from the SDSS .
We provide herein exact prescriptions for determining the SFR for SDSS galaxies .
The expected strong correlation between [ O ii ] and H \alpha line fluxes for SF galaxies is seen , but with a median line flux ratio F _ { [ OII ] } / F _ { H \alpha } = 0.23 , about a factor of two smaller than that found in the sample of ( ) .
This correlation , used in deriving the [ O ii ] SFRs , is consistent with the luminosity-dependent relation found by ( ) .
The median obscuration for the SDSS SF systems is found to be A _ { H \alpha } = 1.2 mag , while for the radio detected sample the median obscuration is notably higher , 1.6 mag , and with a broader distribution .