A) Overview of MartinB's imaging primers

[MartinB]

Overview of MartinBs Processing Primers

Over the last year I have struggled to make any progress understanding how to use Photoshop for astroimaging. The problem is that PS is primarily used for terrestial photography. Many of it’s functions aren’t of value for processing astro images. Ploughing through the help files and available books on conventional photography isn’t all that enlightening.. Gradually I started to pick up a number of techniques from various online sites but it was a hard slog.

The books of Ron Wodaski have been a tremendous help – The New CCD Astronomy covers all aspects of astroimaging. It can be a daunting read but there is plenty in there for novice and expert alike. It has a whole section on processing using a range of software.

His new book, Zone System for Astroimaging runs through processing using PS. It is very expensive but does have an accompanying CD. Despite it’s price I can thoroughly recommend it.

Here is a link to his web site http://www.newastro.com/newastro/default.asp

The primers cover all stages of the processing work flow after the image has been acquired and stacked. I will also cover combining methods and suggest some useful software tools for dealing with areas where PS is weak e.g. gradient removal and deconvolution.

It will take me some time to complete all the primers but this is the order in which the workflow will be covered.

Histogram modification – curves and levels

Using layers and selection tools

Some keyboard shortcuts

Selecting a star layer

Improving the appearance of stars

Sharpening and blurring

Combining RGB images

Controlling colour bias and colour calibration

LRGB combining

Other software tools for processing

Capture and combining software

Combine methods

I haven't found a way of getting the primers to stack up in the right order however the above outlines the order in which they are intended to be read. Some of the later primers will assume some understanding of techniques outlined in earlier ones.

Let me know how you get on with them and please point out any errors, confusing bits or suggestions for improvement.