First Solar Image

[Cath]

This is the first solar image I've taken (today), had my scope for 6 days, bought some solar filter film and though I'd have a go. I attached my Canon camera directly to the back of the NexStar 6SE and just saved the live view as a short AVI then used AVIStack.

No where near as good as the photos you guys take but as it's a first attempt I thought I'd post it up.

Unfortunately the sun is a bit big for the scope/camera combination, I guess a reducer would help with that?

[todd8137]

looks good i got the thousand oaks film not keen on the baader stuff but its a great image

[Cath]

looks good i got the thousand oaks film not keen on the baader stuff but its a great image

Hi Todd

Whats the difference between the two different films?

I used the Badder film from FLO.

[todd8137]

the stuff i have gives you a orange look to the images have you tried a green filter for contrast ?

[Cath]

No Todd, not tried any filters, mainly because I don't have any. So I'll add a filter or two to the list.

[Bizibilder]

Well done Cath that is an exellent image - and it's nice to see some activity on the Sun again as it has been a bit quiet lately.

You don't need a coloured filter to take good white light pictures of the Sun but if you feel inclined then a "number 58 green" is the one to go for. There are specific "contrast enhancing" filters available but they are expensive and whilst some folk seem to like them others suggest that they are little better than the much cheaper green filter mentioned.

To get the full disc you may need to take two "shots" and make a mosaic - you can use Microsoft ICE (freeware) to do the mosaicing automatically for you.

You used the video facility of your camera which obviously works well but you could try taking a series (40-60) single shots (use JPEG) and stack them in Registax5 (I don't think Avistack can cope with JPEG's but I may be wrong). You will be amazed at the detail that you can get by this method. Have fun!

[Cath]

Thanks Bizibilder!

I will definitely get the No.56 green filter and give it a go.

Here's the same image after a quick colour change, looks quite nice I think.

Just watching Horizon about solar flares.

[Bizibilder]

You have quite a bit more surface detail there - I had a play but it's difficult with only a smallish JPEG to play with! Hope you don't mind. (Nor mind my "Bizibilder orange" colour scheme!! )

[Cath]

You have quite a bit more surface detail there - I had a play but it's difficult with only a smallish JPEG to play with! Hope you don't mind. (Nor mind my "Bizibilder orange" colour scheme!! )

Not at all Bizibilder!! .. Thank you for showing me that more detail can be extracted, I like what you've done

Was that an unsharp you did or highpass I wonder?

[Bizibilder]

Oops double post!! Silly me!!

[Bizibilder]

I used curves to get the contrast right - that is to get the granulation showing, then unsharp mask to get the detail crisp. I have tried High Pass but I'm still experimenting with it as I can't get consistent results. If you like I'll send you my "action" so you can copy it to help get you going. It will just be a list of the things I do and is quite straightforward to do.

[Zul]

Great details!

[p1taylor]

Bizibilder can I be cheeky, will you share your actions, I am not really in to processing, just do a bit off levels, curves and colour.

peter

[Cath]

Yes Bizibilder, the actions would be good to see

Post it on here for all to see if you want - to help all noobs (not just me).

[JamesF]

I'm impressed that there's so much texture to be seen with a white light image. I thought you only got that with a proper solar scope.

I shall have to try some solar imaging myself now.

James

[Cath]

Just had a quick play with the high-pass filter. It's not great as I'm still learning photoshop.

I'd like a solar filter that let some more light through, because to get this image I had to use quite a slow 1/15sec shutter. If I could reduce the shutter time to 1/100sec or less it should give sharper images - less wobberly atmospheric refractions per image.

[Bizibilder]

Here is "Bizibilder's Action" (Just one way of doing things and certainly not the best!). I have just listed all the things I do to get a solar image processed - hope it helps. Please feel free to modify it as much as you like:

“Action” to process Solar Image:

Stack between 40-80 images (I generally use 64 JPEG’s) in Registax 5. Stack using one alignment point of 256 placed over a sunspot group. When you get to the wavelets I usually only use the top slider and generally start by putting it fully to the right and then backing it off until I get a good image. Occasionally I use slider two as well – but only a little way across. Save the image as a TIFF.

Open the image in Photoshop.

Crop the picture to give a Solar image with a small dark surround (Mine is an 1800px square but yours will be different depending on your scope and camera).

Then:

Image > Autocolour

Image > Adjustments > Levels Move the mid slider to 0.5

Image > Adjustments > Curves Fix the centre of the line (click on it but don’t move it) then click “half way” to the bottom and set that point at 64/55. Click half way to the top and set that point to 187/197.

Image > Adjustments > Colour Balance Move the sliders (Midtones) Cyan > Red to +50 and Yellow > Blue to -70

Image > Adjustments > Vibrance Set the Saturation to 10

Image > Adjustments > Exposure Set the Gamma Correction to 0.75

Image > Adjustments > Photofilter Set the colour to R=220, B=170, G=30 and move the density slider to 50%

Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask Set Radius to 250 and amount to 10%

Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask (ie Do a second unsharp mask). Set Radius to 1.5 and amount to 50%

Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur Set the radius to 0.4px

Resize your image to something like 1024x1024 (or whatever other value you like)

Done!

I've included a picture of my "curve" as i really don't know if the explanation above makes any sense at all!

I have called this an "action" as I have actually made it an action on my computer as I found that it works on 99% of my solar images and it gets a bit tedious doing it manually every time (I'm lazy:D!!). Hope it makes sense and gets you on the road to playing with Photoshop.

This is the sort of thing you will end up with:

[Cath]

Thank you Bizibilder!! .. Very kind of you to go to all that trouble to show how you do it .. web page saved.

I will have a go later

[Montana]

An excellent first picture!! you are definitely on the right track. Be careful with the processing, if you go too far you will get nasty ringing artefacts.

Also try a UV/IR filter as this can clear up an image by removing any out of focus UV/IR light present.

Alexandra

[Cath]

Thank you Alexandra

I think the camera already has UV/IR filtering built in, but I could try adding another one inline I guess. I've just received the No56 green filter to try when I can.

I love Bizibilder's last image, it's really good.