Colouration technique

[Carbon60]

Some of you may know from previous posts that I have been playing around with what I call 'pseudo-HDR' to try to achieve more dramatic colouration of our solar images.

I've attached my own prom image treated using this technique and a superb image from Alexandra (Montana) which she has kindly allowed me to use for the purposes of demonstration. I used this in particular because of the spectacular level of detail that Alex has captured here.

I've also shown for comparison Alexandra's original monochrome image, a coloured image using gamma adjustments and one using P-HDR in which I merge three separately coloured and 'levels' adjusted images together using HDR software.

I'm sure there are other ways of achieving the same effect and it would be interesting if anyone else can offer guidance here.

Thanks for looking.

Feedback welcome.

Cheers

Stu.

[Russe]

Wow, loving the last pic!

[Montana]

Stu, that gives a very dramatic effect, like the sun is going to explode or like lava about to erupt.

Can you give an idiots guide to how you did it? (mini tutorial)

Kind regards

Alexandra

[Merlin66]

Certainly the last surface image is very impressive!!!

Shows scope for improvement of our "normal" images....

"How do you do it?"

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

have done a couple lunar shots using HDR/tone mapping.

gimp has a Fake Hdr script you can download, PS has some HDR addon's to.

i use Photomatix HDR software does the trick. but the trial version has a watermark added to the shots taken. careful framing can help remove the watermarking. but better still purchase the full unlocked version for all the bells and whistles

[ollypenrice]

Certainly a powerful technique and beautifully done. Personally I'd feel more comfortable if the colours remained in the range yellow-orange-red since brown/green makes the solar 'surface' look remarkably fertile!!

Olly

[Carbon60]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I'm sure there are any number of ways of doing this, or something similar (layering, selective masking etc etc....) and certainly there are a number of HDR packages available to trial. I'm open to hearing from anyone with good ideas as I think this is a fertile area for ideas exchange.

I agree Olly, maybe green/brown is not to everyone's taste and I'm open to more experimentation to optimise.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

Regards

Stu.

[hobbesy]

Certainly a powerful technique and beautifully done. Personally I'd feel more comfortable if the colours remained in the range yellow-orange-red since brown/green makes the solar 'surface' look remarkably fertile!!

Olly

You could grow sunflowers on it.

<badoom-tish>

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

green brown goes well.

it is showing to others the more hotter areas in red/orange and the cooler areas in green brown. have to remember joe public does not know what color our sun is.

with my hdr software i have a few preset choices, one i use a lot is called painterly and gives an oil type canvas look. thing with HDR/tone mapping is when to stop before it is over done. you see this a lot in hdr shots where they have just gone to far.

i think the orange brown is about as far to go. gives fantastic detail but not pushing the coloring and HDR to much

[Cath]

I've had a play as I'm still learning Photoshop and though I'd try and learn how to colour map. These are based on the gray scale image. I guess it depends on what it is you want to highlight.

I quite like your last image Stu as well.

[Montana]

Wow, I had a go last night with Photoshop and got nowhere near as good as these (in fact so bad I never even saved them).

Do you use the automate/combine HDR or the HDR in the image bar at the top? and how do you get the lovely white hot spots? I need to spend a long time on this.

Alexandra

[Carbon60]

Nice ones Cath.

The beauty it that there are so many parameters to play with and the final colour combination can be completely suited to personal taste or, as you say, whatever it is you really want to highlight.

I agree TamiyaCowboy, it is so easy to go too far and overcook these images. Green/brown, orange/red may be OK. It seems you are well accustomed to HDR. Thanks for your thoughts.

Alexandra, stick with it. Your excellent solar images are a superb basis for this type of processing.

Regards

Stu.

[Cath]

Do you use the automate/combine HDR or the HDR in the image bar at the top? and how do you get the lovely white hot spots?

Hi Alexandra

No I didn't use any HDR options etc, it was done manually in Photoshop.

As Stu says, it's just personal choice and practice really, although I probably have a bit of a head start with image processing due to my past but it's a first with astro images for me, and a first with Photoshop really. I'm not good with layers as yet but learning.

Can't remember the exact steps I took to get the images in the ones I did, I was just really having a play with unsharp filtering and a gradient map adjustment layer (the layer where I created the colours).

[michaelmorris]

This looks like a superb technique. Please can we have a tutorial on how to achieve this effect.

[JamieW]

@Carbon60 - looks like you're on to a winner; and well done Cath, great results!

[ronnietucker]

I went for more of a lava-look in GIMP

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

problem is with HDR everyone has a different way and idea on how much adjustment is needed.

even if the hdr looks bad it can be toned down somehwat in gimp/PS and likes.

i use the photomatix free version.

load in a single JPG or stacked frame. do not stretch colors/contrast etc etc if asked.

leave everything as it loads up.

left panel click , tone mapping. let it load up.

in left side adjustments panel leave method in details enhancer mode.

now all it takes is fine adjustments of the enhancement sliders, they act like the wavelet sliders in registax

[ollypenrice]

HDR wavelets seem great on the sun but I really hate the way they are turning all images of anything deep sky into the same thing. You open a DS image on some forums and see... HDR wavelets!

Olly

[Carbon60]

For anyone interested, please send me a PM with email address and I'll send you a word file 'tutorial'.

Regards

Stu.

[michaelmorris]

For anyone interested, please send me a PM with email address and I'll send you a word file 'tutorial'.

QUOTE]

PM sent

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

I've had a play as I'm still learning Photoshop and though I'd try and learn how to colour map. These are based on the gray scale image. I guess it depends on what it is you want to highlight.

I quite like your last image Stu as well.

Cath try merging those three shots as over exposed under exposed normal in the software. could give a different look all together.

HDR is a mix of normal shot then an underexposed and overexposed shot. 3-7/9 shots tend to be used doing it. but i think your three hdr shots could merge into a single shot and look wicked. just go very easy on the final HDR balancing/tweek