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Processing of dust lanes in galaxies?

Russe

By Russe
in Getting Started With Imaging

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Russe

Russe

Posted
Posted

Have a look at today's pic of the day on astrobin.com:

get.jpg

I would love to know if any of you know, how you process this dark dust lanes in photoshop? I keep on trying for hours but just can't get a hang of it...

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lensman57

lensman57

Posted
Posted

Have a look at today's pic of the day on astrobin.com:

get.jpg

I would love to know if any of you know, how you process this dark dust lanes in photoshop? I keep on trying for hours but just can't get a hang of it...

I don't use PS in the first stages to enhance the data it is usually either Startools or PI but I do at times in the final stage import the file in PS and then use Annie's actions"Enhance Dust lanes" to do a final tweak but it is very subtle, on the other hand having a super rich data file shot with  observatory grade instruments from a true dark site can be a massive help too.

Regards,

A.G

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lukebl

lukebl

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Having a 20" imaging scope would help! It's seriously amazing how much depth that there is in that image, but in my humble opinion it is ruined by excessive processing and diffraction spikes. The contrast of the dust lanes and overall saturation just doesn't look natural, and the huge 8-spike diffraction spikes, to me, are ghastly!

But what do I know.

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lensman57

lensman57

Posted
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Lol...

I meant, how do they work...

Hi,

They are based on the usual layers with differing blending modes, star selection, high pass sharpening and so on. In PS there is not a lot of revolutionary tools as you know and someone with a good knowledge of PS can probably write their own actions but for me for the very little asking money these actions work and the speed is a real time saver. Some of the actions actually need users input as they are sort of walk through kind of way going about it such as the " simple Stretching" or the LRGB combine. Personally I love Startools, it is very unlike PS and cost me a little over what I paid for Gradient Xterminator and a heck of a lot less than the PI and it is a dedicated AP software.

Regards,

A.G

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lukebl

lukebl

Posted
Posted

I must say that it's stretching things a bit when an 'amateur' image uses data from Hubble! When does it stop being an amateur image? Personally, I am very happy with my own mediocre efforts andI really don't like that Disneyesque image. But each to his/her own!

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wxsatuser

wxsatuser

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I must say that it's stretching things a bit when an 'amateur' image uses data from Hubble! When does it stop being an amateur image? Personally, I am very happy with my own mediocre efforts andI really don't like that Disneyesque image. But each to his/her own!

I have to agree.

Plus how many amateurs can have a Planewave 20inch CDK or a Class 1 sky for that matter.

I'm not jealous but in my mind it's not cricket and I will achieve what I can with my humble gear.

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Russe

Russe

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I agree. I'm happy with my humble attempts. In my opinion - as long as it is your own data - you can do what you want with it.

There was however a lovely M13, which was contrived of the data of several people. Lemme see if I find the link.

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
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The linked image isn't to my taste either but I think the the dust lanes haven't been processed, they've been discarded. They strike me as being black clipped out of existence.

To my mind the good processing of dust involves discriiminating between various brightnesses of dust. To do this you need enormous amounts of data for the obvious reason that dust gives off very little light and scarcely climbs above the noise floor. You need a dark site and long subs. (Someone is bound to pop up and say that long subs are no better than short for this purpose but don't believe them! They won't be able to link to an image which confirms this claim.)

To my mind Harel Boren is the king of the dust. He really knows how to tease out its nuances. Alas, how he does it I do not know!!

Olly

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lensman57

lensman57

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The linked image isn't to my taste either but I think the the dust lanes haven't been processed, they've been discarded. They strike me as being black clipped out of existence.

To my mind the good processing of dust involves discriiminating between various brightnesses of dust. To do this you need enormous amounts of data for the obvious reason that dust gives off very little light and scarcely climbs above the noise floor. You need a dark site and long subs. (Someone is bound to pop up and say that long subs are no better than short for this purpose but don't believe them! They won't be able to link to an image which confirms this claim.)

To my mind Harel Boren is the king of the dust. He really knows how to tease out its nuances. Alas, how he does it I do not know!!

Olly

I cordially invite Harel to come to my neck of the woods and image the wonders of the night sky with my not incosiderable 50+ degrees of LP. I can then spy on him and see how he does it and report back to all my friends here on SGL. Realistically we can only do so much with limited imaging time, bad weather, mostly unsuitable equipmand and limited talent not to mention an unreasonable boss whom still wants you to put in the usual 10 hours of work for the price of 8 each day.

Regards,

A.G

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Well, I've narrowly missed the pleasure of meeting Harel here once already but I dare say it will happen. However, we shouldn't feel bad towards imagers who have the skies and the skills, we should learn from them.

I'm always careful to stress that I have no expertise in processing out LP. I do get sent LP affected data to play with and I run some standard routines past it which are more or less effective.

The OP asked about processing dust lanes and dust lanes from LP are always going to be difficult. That's how it is.

Olly

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RikM

RikM

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I use Noel's local contrast enhancement action on a top layer, then apply a 'hide all' layer mask, and paint on the mask over the dust lanes with a soft white brush, at low opacity and set to 'darken'.

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lensman57

lensman57

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Olly's point is quite right as usual but my problem with LP is that I don't think the camera or the filter can distinguish which  photon is from the faint lanes or nebula or which one is from the lovely street light so it all gets filtered out. At the end of the day we have to accept that imaging from polluted urban areas is just a futile exercise in AP and it is a miracle that we hobby guys get something half decent every once in a while, my last clear night was  now nearly 3 weeks ago .

Regards,

A.G

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