Saturn tonight My first ever attempt at it

[radioactive]

Well did a couple on the moon last night so just managed to get a quick one avi run at Saturn before the cloud cover came tumbling in

MY problem is now how do I take away all the blue background and start to get some definition into it I have photoshop cs2

but do not know how to use it yet ant help on this would go down a storm here thanks here's the pic

admin you can delete it if you want to keep this bit pure!

So How do I fix This ???

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Wait till it gets dark next time?

Captain Chaos

[radioactive]

managed to get the blue away now this is latest try still without using photoshop so there must be a lot still to come out of the yet

[Grant]

Nice first image of Saturn you've got there Radioactive, I'm sure some of the photoshop gurus will be around soon to help you out

[radioactive]

Yeh Cheers Grant I hope so cos I ain't got any real idea I ahd been playing with it since 9pmish

[OXO]

Hi Radio,

When you stacked the image did you play with the Wavelets in Registax? Try experimenting with them until you see the image sharper, if the planet is far too bright then lower the Gamma\Contrast that can sometimes help. Also when your taking the AVI do it so saturn is a dull image and not bright this will help when stacking the image to avoid overexposed look about it.

James

PS:Great effort!

[radioactive]

James

yes cheers for that advice I think its where the problem lies over exposure

I get it a lot locally too

when I next try I will dull down the camera settings somewhat

actually on the setting fromt would you give a brief setting out what you use for saturn on the webcam to me please

ie frame rate gamma contrast and so on it may be a good starting point

Thanks

[radioactive]

James

yes cheers for that advice I think its where the problem lies over exposure

I get it a lot locally too

when I next try I will dull down the camera settings somewhat

actually on the setting fromt would you give a brief setting out what you use for saturn on the webcam to me please

ie frame rate gamma contrast and so on it may be a good starting point

Thanks

[MartinB]

Radio, you have done really well. Conditions were bad last night and it looks like you have nailed the focus which I reckon is the hardest thing. The rest is just twiddling with the settings and being patient waiting for good seeing.

I'm learning all I can as well and it seems people use a variety of settings. Some people use higher gain with a slightly faster shutter speed others keep the gain low. Seems the most important thing is to keep the image fairly dull on the screen but bright enough so that you can make out cassini to help with the focussing. You will need to over expose though whilst you are getting it on the screen.

A stonking first go.

Martin

[radioactive]

Martin Thanks for the encouragement yes I think now that where I went a bit wrong was to over expose the view on Saturn

Like you say in your post looks like viewing was not that clever although I thought it was pretty good at the time I took the avi an#d just after thats when I had a few technichcal probs with the laptop So for a while I was doing a visual on the Planet and its moons

Anyway I take onboard all what you said and thanks again to yourself and indeed to everyone who has or is going to assist me with astropic taking

[Greg]

Not bad, not bad at all......

You're better off over exposing than under exposing - you can pull more detail out that way.

You can just make out the cassini division - so the details all there just need a bit of tittilation!! er... I mean tittervation. Ooo Matron!! :shock:

Greg

[daz]

Radio

Start with everything fairly high. Once you get the thing centered, bring the settings down until you can focus clearly. Then bring them down some more until it is quite dull. You will think 'that's too dark' but it will be OK when you align and stack.

You'll need to play with shutter speed and gain, but you should aim for a lower gain (I think!!)

Take as many frames as you can at as high a frame rate as you can, but the seeing will determine what's good. 1000+ frames is a good starting point.

If you can, manually sort the AVI in VirtualDub or similar and then let Registax process all the frames. Tweaking the wavelets is the key to Registax!!

Best of luck

[tom.yates]

Well done mate, I don't know where to start with astro photo stuff shame really as i have the scopes do do really well.

[Jamie]

Radioactive:

The best frame rate settings for using a TouCam is 10fps for planets.

And like Daz says adjust your gain till the image is quite dull but recognisable.

When you stack them the image WILL brighten up.

If you had done that here then you would have had a superb image.

[OXO]

The best frame rate settings for using a TouCam is 10fps for planets.

I have always found 5fps to best personally never had any luck with 10fps Mmmmmm i will try it though Jamie

[radioactive]

thanks for the advice everyone I have duely noted it all down and I am looking forward to getting a viewing time in

thingsare not loking good weatherwise it may just let me see something here on sat/sun &sun/mon nights respectively if the weather people have it right