Image processing book recommendations?

[Geordie mc]

Hi. Can anyone recommend a book that covers the processing side of imaging? It would be especially good if it used Maxim dl and Photoshop. Something that goes beyond calibrating and registering subs etc. Maybe with lots of step by step examples of galaxies, nebulae, planetary nebulae, globular clusters etc. I've read the excellent Making Every a Photon Count but now want to try and really get to grips with processing the data collected. Many thanks.

[Zakalwe]

This is a good "next step" from Making Every.."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deep-sky-Imaging-Primer-Charles-Bracken/dp/148180491X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1439487753&sr=8-4&keywords=imaging+primer

And then this has a lot of excellent processing techniques from the best of the best.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lessons-Masters-Astronomical-Processing-Practical-ebook/dp/B00EHK9T24/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439487805&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+gendler

[swag72]

You could always go on holiday to a place where you can learn processing first hand

[Geordie mc]

The books seem very interesting thanks. The holiday idea appeals to me but not my wife:(

[gajjer]

I know what you mean Geordie. I would like to see a book on every target - I haven't found one! One book I found useful was 'A Guide to Astrophotography' by Jerry Lodriguss.

I have found it quite useful to watch some of the vids on the Astronomy Shed site. Definitely each target brings it's own challenges and possible solutions.

The Lodriguss book gives a good guide to M42 using masking techniques.

Good luck.

cheers

gaj

[swag72]

The holiday idea appeals to me but not my wife:(

Leave the wife at home!! If you only went for 3 days it's hardly a holiday, more .................... work

As for a book - I've found the Ron Wodaski Zone Imaging systems good, but it's very tricky to find these days.

[carastro]

I had the same problem when I first started, and in the end I bought a DVD by Adam Block, "Making every Pixel count".  A lot of it went over my head to start with, but I recalled seeing what could be done, and picked up the bits I could cope with.  Then as I progressed I went back to it and mugged up on the more advanced procedures.

http://www.caelumobservatory.com/video/dvdpscs3.shtml

Carole 

[Geordie mc]

Thanks everyone. I will look into the ideas put forward. Seems like there's a lot out there to help. I think I saw the zones book on Amazon. A DVD sounds useful too. Lots to get into on all those cloudy nights.

[ollypenrice]

It's so hard to do this by book. It pains me to say so because I've spent a large part of my life as an English teacher advocating books! Carole's recommendation of the Adam Block videos strikes a chord because those influenced me early on. Very good indeed. There are also videos by Warren Keller. He knows what he's about, both in PI and Ps. Once you are up and running Lessons from the Masters is very good, too, but it isn't a primer, it's for those already producing good images.

I help folks with processing but I declare at the outset that I can't master every software tool and programme that's out there. I can teach what I do and that's what I do teach.

I think that's what is good about DS imaging is that there is not a standard fixed workflow and it would be a bad thing if there were because it would constrain those involved and tend to produce a standard result. I love going onto the forums and seeing an image and thinking, 'Well blow me, I never knew that was there!'

If I can give one bit of generic advice it would be this. Look at the picture. Don't fret about this or that bit of someone else's workflow, just look at the darned picture. It will tell you what it needs. The rest is just learning the tools needed to respond to what it's telling you. It's the same in answering an A level English question. Look at the question. The question will lead you to the answer - if you really read it.

Olly

[r3i]

This is a good "next step" from Making Every.."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deep-sky-Imaging-Primer-Charles-Bracken/dp/148180491X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1439487753&sr=8-4&keywords=imaging+primer

And then this has a lot of excellent processing techniques from the best of the best.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lessons-Masters-Astronomical-Processing-Practical-ebook/dp/B00EHK9T24/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439487805&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+gendler

+1 for DSI Primer.

Lessons from the Masters is OK, the only problem I had with it was that some of the chapters refer to tools in PS CS5, which are not available in the CS3 version that I have.  This is fair enough as the book is kind of a statement of 'current thinking in image processing', and looks to me like an update of an earlier book: Digital Astrophotography: The State of the Art.

Leave the wife at home!! If you only went for 3 days it's hardly a holiday, more .................... work

As for a book - I've found the Ron Wodaski Zone Imaging systems good, but it's very tricky to find these days.

Another +1 for the Zone Imaging book.  I recently managed to track down a copy of it secondhand.  Worth keeping an eye out for.

Another book by Ron Wodaski that you might find interesting is The New CCD Astronomy.  It is quite old (2002) so some of the information on hardware is decidedly dated but it does have separate sections on how to process each type of target.  I'm sure I came across a rumour that there was going to be an updated version published 'soon' but that was some time ago, so perhaps that was wishful thinking on the part of somebody.