going RGB how to process

[Daniel-K]

hi all going RGB, when stacking do i put all frames in DSS and hope for the best or is there a way of doing things?

[Gina]

You process the colours separately then put them in the colour channels in PS or whatever you use. I haven't done it with RGB filters and mono CCD but have used Ha and OIII NB filters with DSLR, converted to greyscale and then put into the colour channels in PS.

[Gina]

Well, I posted that but now I have a mono CCD I can't get it to work in PS. I tried copying the separete images and pasting in the colour channels but it won't let me do it. I know I'm missing something simple but I'm blowed if I know what

Help please

[VigdisVZ]

I have no problems copying both color and grayscale into the RGB channels of an RGB image, so I cannot replicate your problem Gina. How are your color depth and bit depth looking?

[Gina]

Seems fine to me - changed Mode to RGB colour and 16bit/channel.

[allcart]

Struggling with RGB myself. I am stacking with DSS, saving as fits files. I have used Nebulosity to save the colour components as separate files, and I have tried Fits liberator to do the same, but I cannot seem to compile the images in PS and get any colour back. After all this effort it seems harder to process the pics than just going straight to PS with a DSS tiff.

I am obviously doing something wrong, and have tried several methods to make an RGB image in PS but its not working for me.

[VigdisVZ]

How does it work with 8 bit Gina?

[Gina]

Well I'm using TIFF files same as I was before with my wide-field Ha/OIII data. I remember it was quite easy but I'm blowed if I can get it to work now Maybe I should take up knitting again

[Gina]

How does it work with 8 bit Gina?

Not tried that but I've always been using 16 bit TIFF files.

[RikM]

Have a watch of this wonderful video tutorial from Anna Morris http://www.eprisephoto.com/create-lrgb You might need some way of aligning the individual R, G & B. I use Registar but it may be possible to do in DSS using 'register' but don't stack them afterwards.

[Gina]

Have a watch of this wonderful video tutorial from Anna Morris http://www.eprisephoto.com/create-lrgb You might need some way of aligning the individual R, G & B. I use Registar but it may be possible to do in DSS using 'register' but don't stack them afterwards.

Ah... Thank you Rik - that's what I was looking for

[Uranium235]

Struggling with RGB myself. I am stacking with DSS, saving as fits files. I have used Nebulosity to save the colour components as separate files, and I have tried Fits liberator to do the same, but I cannot seem to compile the images in PS and get any colour back. After all this effort it seems harder to process the pics than just going straight to PS with a DSS tiff.

I am obviously doing something wrong, and have tried several methods to make an RGB image in PS but its not working for me.

For DSS (OSC), you need to check the "align rgb channels in final image" box and check "rgb background calibration". Before doing your final stack, once its finished - dump the Autosave.fit file into whatever software you use (Maxim or PS), then convert it to 16bit (DSS outputs at 32bit I think). That will make it a bit more manageable, that should fix the colour though it might need the odd tweak in the levels function to get the black point of each channel correct (done in PS). Also take advantage of plugins to restore star colour (noels actions) as processing so often robs the stars of their colour.

For mono CCD, DSS is only useful for calibrating and stacking single channels. For registration of each channel against the luminance master you will need some software like Registar. Once registered, they can then be dropped into PS and they should all stack up perfectly.