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My 1st Andromeda

Coco

By Coco
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Les Tilly

Les Tilly

Posted
Posted

You really need to stack in Raw, did you take any Dark frames or flat frames? after you calibrate and stack in DSS move it into Photoshop if you have it for stretching, DSS is really only a calibrating and stacking program

Regards

Les

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Tim

Tim

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Hi Coco,

You need to set DSS up to handle RAW files properly. Try to work just with them, having the camera writing and converting to jpeg on the fly is a waste of flash card memory and time.

As Les says, I think it best to just use DSS as a stacking tool. Personally I then take the 32bit file (autosave.tiff) it produces and do everything else in Photoshop, including converting to a 16bit file you can actually do things with :) After stacking I use the levels tools in DSS for a quick preview of how the image looks, but never bother saving that modified image. I know that several folk recommend boosting the colour saturation in DSS, but again, that's a very coarse process, and best done more subtly in PS, as recommended by the Gabany method Les Tilly brought to our attention recently.

Otherwise, M31 is a damned tough target at this time of year, and to get that image from a standard lens on an astrotrac mounted camera is just great, especially for only 10 mins exposure. It's hard enough to frame and focus M31 through a telescope with the image on a laptop, so I cant imagine how tricky this was!

Thanks for posting, looking forward to more

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

Posted
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I don't use DSS (I use MaximDL) but I'm with the others, just use DSS or indeed any other stacking software just for the stacking, save the file in as high a bit depth as your version of PhotoShop will allow and do the rest of the processing in PhotoShop.

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Tim

Tim

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A good start Coco as others have said it's best to use the RAW files.

Personally I always use the curves and levels and saturation tools in DSS and have found them very good. I don't see why it's should be considered to be inferior.

Well no one can argue with your images Kevin!! They speak for themselves. The author of DSS seems to indicate that he only included the levels curves etc for a quick preview, he makes this comment in the tutorial

I would like to remind here that DeepSkyStacker only allows simple processing treatments of the resulting picture in order to quickly view the result of the stacking process.

The heavy post processing should take place in another more specialized software.

It's probably that which gives folk the impression. Or maybe its the fact that free software versus mega-bucks Photoshop, you would expect PS to do a better job. It'd be real interesting to do a side by side comparison actually.

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Beyond_Vision

Beyond_Vision

Posted
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I think that the author was being a bit modest. It's an exceptional program considering it free :). Not everyone can afford the likes of photoshop.

The curves applied in DSS are a mathmatical function with a choice of many different types.

The curve function in photoshop has a freehand tool and a few presets such as contrast boost, lighten, darken etc. It's possible to shape the curve to give similar effects to the DSS curves but the user is able to produce curves which are of an unnatural nature if one is not careful.

Regards

Kevin

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Tim

Tim

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I notice in Noel Carboni's piece in the latest issue of AN that he's possibly going to develope "stretching" actions for Photoshop and some other goodies... hopefully by mid 2009....

Peter...

Ahhhh, wouldn't it be just great to have a tool or program that would automatically make the best out of an astro-image, drag and drop style :)

I have just recorded an action for colouring, and was surprised at how easy it was, so I may do one for my usual initial stretching routine as well, just to save time.

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Coco

Coco

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I have downloaded the Tiff Guy...

Did you take and use any Bias frames when staking in DSS...?

Peter

Yes Pete, this was a stack of 19 lights and 4 darks

It will be interesting to see your result :)

Guy

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Ah so...(must stop sitting on cold ground) you have lights and darks but no BIAS...

You can take the BIAS now... Cover the Lens and viewfinder , set the ISO that the lights were taken at and shoot of a load of frames (20-30) at the fastest possible shutter speed... add them into the stack as BIAS frames and they will help remove the banding in the image...

Peter....

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Coco

Coco

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Ah so...(must stop sitting on cold ground) you have lights and darks but no BIAS...

You can take the BIAS now... Cover the Lens and viewfinder , set the ISO that the lights were taken at and shoot of a load of frames (20-30) at the fastest possible shutter speed... add them into the stack as BIAS frames and they will help remove the banding in the image...

Peter....

You mean say 8,000th sec ISO800 lens cap on and bast away?

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