Got my images - now what??

[rubecula]

I took my newly modified Canon 550D out last night for a trial run.  I settled on the Orion Nebula and took 30 lights at 60sec, 30sec, 5sec and 2sec and darks to match. 

I thought I had read an article on how to deal with such a set of images but can't find it.

My thoughts are to stack each set i.e. 60sec lights plus 60sec darks in DSS and then develop each set in StarTools to produce 4 processed images.  Then use Photoshop to layer the 4 images into 1 image (somehow).

Is that about right, or is there a better way?

[Davey-T]

Probably ought to take some flats, easier to do the whole thing in DSS to start with then P'Shop to combine the Trapezium bit, this will give you an idea of how good your data is.

Dave

[ollypenrice]

Here's what you need to know about Layer Masking for combination of different length subs. (Don't throw the lot into DSS.) http://www.astropix.com/HTML/J_DIGIT/LAYMASK.HTM

I think this is by far the best method of all. Recent versions of Ps differ in just one respect. To see the current status of the two layers you need to go Window - Arrange - New Window For... abd that will show you your top and bottom layers as they are combined at the moment.

Olly

[rubecula]

Brilliant, thanks Olly, that's just what I needed