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What if I can't afford PhotoShop?

DaveGarland

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DaveGarland

DaveGarland

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Ok so I'm having a dabble with imaging and at the moment I'm using Gimp to try and edit the pictures. The trouble is that gimp works with 8 bit Tiff files while Deep Sky Stacker saves files as 16 bit Tiffs so I'm clearly losing something.

Are there any other program's I can use that don't cost the Earth?

Thanks for any help.

Dave.

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JamesF

JamesF

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16-bit support is in the works for Gimp, but that's obviously no help right now. There are some threads on cheaper alternatives to a brand new copy of photoshop, so it might be worth searching for those. I believe someone said that CS3 comes up cheaply now and then, but I don't know if it does everything you'd need.

James

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Astroegg

Astroegg

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GIMP does have 16-bit support (and even 32-bit) but not currently released in the stable versions (currently at v2.8 you will have to wait until 2.10) - so you will have to build your own version from the source code. I assume you are using MS Windows Operating System, not Linux, so compiling source code may not be your thing, in which case it could be easier to use Cinepaint which readily handles 16-bits per channel images and is freely available open source software. I use Paint.net which apparently now also supports 16-bit TIFFs.

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r3i

r3i

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Not sure what your budget is but older versions of PhotoShop occasionally crop up on Amazon at almost reasonable prices. See this recent thread that discussed this.

There are also often good offers available on Paint Shop Pro, but I've not used PSP for years so not sure where it stands on being recommended for astro image processing - I'm sure others will be able to confirm or otherwise its suitability.

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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Just a thought, you could carry out your initial stretch in DSS at 16 bit (this is the most critical phase where bit count is most important) before passing it on to the Gimp for tweaking. However, PhotoShop CS3 will do everything you could want (I never use anything other version) so it may be worth saving the £165.00 for.

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rfdesigner

rfdesigner

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I've used IRIS for a long time http://www.astrosurf.com/~buil/us/iris/iris.htm

It's free

It's 16 bit

It's excellent at pre-processing and less good at post processing and a touch tough to drive but rewarding and powerful, works best from the command line although can be menu driven.

I'm looking to upgrade currently and am dithering between PS via the 'cheap' route or PixInsight.... I'm vearing strongly towards the latter.

Derek

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Daniel-K

Daniel-K

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you can get nebulosity 3 for about £45 you can do alot with it and its a capture program too it doesnt have all the gimicks PS has but you can still get a decnet image if you follow the walkthrough on you tube

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LeeB

LeeB

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I use photoplus x5 from serif, only because i use it for other work , Check it to see if it does the stuff you want, its cheap well written, and well supported and british.

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JamesF

JamesF

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What's the real life difference of 16bit vs 8bit? Has anyone got a straight comparison of an 8 bit image vs a 16 bit image? I'm guessing it could be quite subjective?

I've not compared the two, but it may well be that processing involves some fairly hefty histogram stretches so having plenty of data to play with at the bottom end probably makes quite a difference.

James

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dugpatrick

dugpatrick

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I used Paint Shop Pro for many years, but 16-bit support is weak. I hope they continue to improve because it's a good alternative other than lack of full 16-bit support. Some of the plugins work with PSP but not enough to satisfy an astrophotographer.

There's a student version of photoshop, well at least there is in the US. If you can't qualify for the student version then with patience you might find a good sale on the full version. A few months ago, right before CS6 was announced, you could buy the full version of CS5.5 (non-student) for around $125 USD. These sales are extremely rare for photoshop but with patence you could score some savings.

I also like Iris. It's worth having even if you have photoshop, and it's the right price. :-)

Doug

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rfdesigner

rfdesigner

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What's the real life difference of 16bit vs 8bit? Has anyone got a straight comparison of an 8 bit image vs a 16 bit image? I'm guessing it could be quite subjective?

massive difference. You hit a pinch point when you stack your raw subs to create your first uncompressed image. If that gets clipped either at the bright or dim end then you're in trouble.

I hit the roof even on 16 bit when I was processing M42. Most of the astro images you see have huge raw dynamic ranges, with my M42 problem I was trying not to clip the trapesium, but ended up with the nebula showing distinct contours caused by running out of resolution at the dim end. With 8 bit the nebula would have entirely disappeared.

Derek

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