Deep sky stacker - colour

[Guest]

I'm using DSS 4.2.3 to stack 20 light frames of M82. The final picture looks ok except there's no colour.  I'm using a Canon 450d and using the CR2 files. The jpgs of the lights show some distinct colour in M82 but when I load the CR2 files into DSS they get listed with Depth: grey 16 bit. Can someone explain what's happening here?

Cheers

Steve

 

[FaDG]

It's really normal, don't worry.

DSS produces a very desaturated result. Colours are there but just don't show up that much. 

Finish up DSS work and save your image as 16bit TIF, then open it with GIMP or Photoshop; now pump up the saturation. You'll see the colour coming back and you'll be able to finalise your processing. Just don't use DSS after calibration and stacking phase, let's say it's not the best tool for that (huge understatement). 

Fabio

 

PS: CR2s ARE actually greyscale, the colour is produced by the debayer process, which is performed by DSS in its workflow

Edited April 22, 2020 by FaDG

[Guest]

Thanks Fabio, That works except I seemed to have to boost saturation a lot.

I need to understand better all this stuff about debayering and binning.

Steve

 

[FaDG]

47 minutes ago, woodblock said:

I seemed to have to boost saturation a lot.

Yes, sir!  🤣 

I usually bring up saturation to 150% at the beginning of post processing, then I work on the single channels in order to properly balance them. 

If, at the end of my workflow, i perceive that saturation is still a bit low, i can increase it as a final touch up

[wxsatuser]

RAW files will lack colour, contrast and be dark, they need developing in software.

What you see on the back of the camera is a processed jpeg,