Peter, your videos are excellent and make a confusing multi-step process easy to understand for everyone. I really appreciate the work you put into them. Thank you!
This is by far the best astro-photo course on the web - very methodical and clear. I'm a beginner and this all makes sense so far - the only down side is that my credit card has taken a beating because of all the great hardware I 'must have'!
Peter, thanks so much for going through this! I have really struggled to get the RGB data together with the LU or Ha data and actually went through your tutorial several times but gosh it helped me so much!!!! Thanks my friend for taking the time!! David
Well done! I recommend saving your DSS file list. That way you won't lose the reference frame and it will make it easy to add images over multiple nights. I put each night's captures of a target into a separate group in DSS.
Great video! Thank you so much for that, my fear of troubles on the stacks alignment is gone! About the halos, I remember a video by Trevor (astrobackyard) teaching to reduce the stars of the blue channel to remove blue halos.
One of many reasons for halos around bright stars could be that the filters are installed with the wrong side (reflective coating) towards your chip. Another reason could be the wrong distance to your chip. Or that the filters/or other optical glas parts are tilted to each other. Another reason could be the post processing, if you stretch the single channels different, every single star in each chanel has a different size. When you then stack the channels, the bigger stretched stars will appear as a halo around the smaller stretched stars from the other channels.
Thanks! That's what I was thinking. I couldn't tell the difference on the RGB filters when I was installing them, so it's definitely possible I installed them the wrong way.
I find it refreshing that Peter is one of the few Americans actually pronouncing 'et cetera' as 'et cetera' instead of 'ek cetera'... hehehe... Great videos Peter, I almost cant wait for your next one
This is perfect timing! your vids are making this easier... last video was serendipitous. I just processed my first color image from monochrome (M51). I just found out about groups in DSS. I believe the main group is for frames that every other group uses. (so you could put the reference frame there) For me, I put darks and bias in the main group and for each filter, I use the other groups and place lights and their flats in each specific group. The way I get around the stars being in place is I register them without stacking. Find the highest-rated and register them again before stacking... I may be doing it wrong, I'm really new at this. I can't get over your raw images, they look incredible compared to mine... I'm shooting at 1650mm... C9.25 @ F7.
This is a brilliant video! I've been thinking about getting a H alpha filter and using it for my widefield milky Way landscape shots, but was concerned that including the h alpha data would be tricky, but this is such a simple and effective way of achieving what I want, can't wait to give it a go!
Very interesting, thanks! You know there is an easier way to combine the original RGB images in Photoshop. With all three files open, go to the Channels panel and the menu bar at right. Pull it down and you’ll see Merge Channels. Select RGB + 3 Channels and assign the red, green and blue filtered images to the respective channels. Voila! Photoshop does the merging for you. Of course, as you point out they all have to be aligned. Every time you copy something to the Clipboard you use up RAM. If you do copy a layer and you know you’re done with it, then go to Edit > Purge > Clipboard to free up RAM. Cheers!
@@rickcudmore8156 It would depend on what you want to do with the Ha. Replace the Red channel with it? In which case tell PS to use the Ha image for the Red in the Merge command, assuming it is registered with the others. Or to use the Ha as a Luminosity layer add it as an image layer and change its Blend mode to Luminosity. I think! I’ve done very little HaRGB.
This is an amazing tutorial, and the photo is stunning! The only part you left out was actually the part that I was hoping to see: I'm shooting the California nebula in Ha with a color mirrorless camera, and I'm wanting to make a Ha + RGB image; however, since I have so much light pollution, I'm using a CLS filter to get the RGB colors, while also blocking some light pollution. My question is: Should I set a reference frame for the Ha filter or the CLS filter. Note, the Ha filter does reduce and block a lot of stars
In earlier videos u stacked the milky way or the nightsky and connected the stacked image with the foreground. I d like to know how u connected the 2 images to one really good one, so nobody would notice that there were 2 different photos. Btw. u make really helpful videos that have helped me a lot so thank u for that and good luckk and all the best fpr the future.
I cover my blending process in my Astro Post Processing Course on my website. There's a lot to learn about the blending, so it takes a few hours to cover everything
Something I found if the background color is of. In level or curves, use the midtone dropper and click on the black. I find it neutralizes the color balance. I do use the black as well, but balancing as I go gives great results. Nice shot. How much Ha data? Definitely need to try this. Probably next season. Orion is getting pretty low where I am. I have 3.5 hours on this but not the finer details in the background. M51 is my next target. Have data, but need more. M31 as well.
I noticed your FIT files show a score next to them as soon as you load them. This allow you to select a reference frame. My Canon CR2 RAW files do not show any score initially when loaded and therefore when I select the file as reference frame, No asterisk appears and this process does not work. How do I select a reference frame if I haven't ran them through once to get the score value?
Great tutorial!! One question...around 20:00 you added the Ha image as Luminosity, but wasn't it actually the Ha_Red image you added as that was still selected from when you pasted it into the Red channel? Does it make a difference or could you use the Ha image by itself as a Lum layer?
Thank you so much for making this! But I can't for the life of me make it work right. Every time I try to paste back the new combined red+ha channel to the rgb image, the image turns up in a strong cyan color (with all channels visible). Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Sorry if this is a obvious mistake..
I've considered it, then realized I don't want to bother with it haha I'm honestly really happy with what I've been getting just using Photoshop. I have no desire to spend dozens of hours learning PixInsight right now
Thanks Peter. I've been using this method for a while and often get a strong green or cyan cast on the HaR image which ruins the whole thing. Thoughts on how to mitigate this?
What stacking software would you suggest for someone who is on Mac OS? I have Starry Sky Stacker but it is not as selective and as powerful as Deep Sky Stacker. If you used a modified DSLR did you add filters to capture the red, green and blue images?
That looks great, is there a reason you wouldn’t use just H-Alpha as your red channel straight up? If you’re using a colour camera, does a H-Alpha gives such a big difference over a UHC filter?
I think I tried that the first time, and it came out very odd looking. Then I found that Starizona article and it came out a lot better this way I'm not sure, don't have access to a color astro camera
No, not necessarily. Make sure your top layer is selected, and visible. Then press CRTL SHIFT ALT E (or CMND SHIFT OPTION E if on a Mac) If you don't have the top layer selected, then it might not work properly.
They are 32 bit, so you can't really work on them properly in Photoshop. You usually need to convert them to 16 bit before you can do most actions in Photoshop
Peter, your videos are excellent and make a confusing multi-step process easy to understand for everyone. I really appreciate the work you put into them. Thank you!
This is by far the best astro-photo course on the web - very methodical and clear. I'm a beginner and this all makes sense so far - the only down side is that my credit card has taken a beating because of all the great hardware I 'must have'!
Excellent Workflow!
Those square halos are signatures of ASI1600 cameras. Its due to the micro-lenses installed in front of the sensor.
This tutorial is FOREVER! Thank you! Especially your stressing the idea of the reference frame is absolutely perfect! =)
Peter, thanks so much for going through this! I have really struggled to get the RGB data together with the LU or Ha data and actually went through your tutorial several times but gosh it helped me so much!!!! Thanks my friend for taking the time!! David
Well done! I recommend saving your DSS file list. That way you won't lose the reference frame and it will make it easy to add images over multiple nights. I put each night's captures of a target into a separate group in DSS.
This astrophotography series is soo helpful, tysm!
Great video! Thank you so much for that, my fear of troubles on the stacks alignment is gone!
About the halos, I remember a video by Trevor (astrobackyard) teaching to reduce the stars of the blue channel to remove blue halos.
hands down the best online teacher
One of many reasons for halos around bright stars could be that the filters are installed with the wrong side (reflective coating) towards your chip. Another reason could be the wrong distance to your chip. Or that the filters/or other optical glas parts are tilted to each other.
Another reason could be the post processing, if you stretch the single channels different, every single star in each chanel has a different size. When you then stack the channels, the bigger stretched stars will appear as a halo around the smaller stretched stars from the other channels.
Thanks! That's what I was thinking. I couldn't tell the difference on the RGB filters when I was installing them, so it's definitely possible I installed them the wrong way.
@@PeterZelinka any updates? did you figure out if it was the filters? I just ordered (5 mins ago) the 1600 Mono with the 7x36mm filter kit.
I find it refreshing that Peter is one of the few Americans actually pronouncing 'et cetera' as 'et cetera' instead of 'ek cetera'... hehehe... Great videos Peter, I almost cant wait for your next one
This is perfect timing! your vids are making this easier... last video was serendipitous.
I just processed my first color image from monochrome (M51). I just found out about groups in DSS. I believe the main group is for frames that every other group uses. (so you could put the reference frame there) For me, I put darks and bias in the main group and for each filter, I use the other groups and place lights and their flats in each specific group. The way I get around the stars being in place is I register them without stacking. Find the highest-rated and register them again before stacking... I may be doing it wrong, I'm really new at this. I can't get over your raw images, they look incredible compared to mine... I'm shooting at 1650mm... C9.25 @ F7.
Thank you so much for this series, Peter! Keep up the good work!
This is a brilliant video! I've been thinking about getting a H alpha filter and using it for my widefield milky Way landscape shots, but was concerned that including the h alpha data would be tricky, but this is such a simple and effective way of achieving what I want, can't wait to give it a go!
Thank you for this video, I'm new to PS and have been having a time with my photos.
Excellent tutorial! Thanks
Thanks for that Peter, I like the way you explain the process. Clear and to the point. Now to give it a try.
Very interesting, thanks! You know there is an easier way to combine the original RGB images in Photoshop. With all three files open, go to the Channels panel and the menu bar at right. Pull it down and you’ll see Merge Channels. Select RGB + 3 Channels and assign the red, green and blue filtered images to the respective channels. Voila! Photoshop does the merging for you.
Of course, as you point out they all have to be aligned.
Every time you copy something to the Clipboard you use up RAM. If you do copy a layer and you know you’re done with it, then go to Edit > Purge > Clipboard to free up RAM. Cheers!
How do you then add the Ha image to the combined RGB image?
@@rickcudmore8156 It would depend on what you want to do with the Ha. Replace the Red channel with it? In which case tell PS to use the Ha image for the Red in the Merge command, assuming it is registered with the others. Or to use the Ha as a Luminosity layer add it as an image layer and change its Blend mode to Luminosity. I think! I’ve done very little HaRGB.
This is an amazing tutorial, and the photo is stunning! The only part you left out was actually the part that I was hoping to see: I'm shooting the California nebula in Ha with a color mirrorless camera, and I'm wanting to make a Ha + RGB image; however, since I have so much light pollution, I'm using a CLS filter to get the RGB colors, while also blocking some light pollution. My question is: Should I set a reference frame for the Ha filter or the CLS filter. Note, the Ha filter does reduce and block a lot of stars
Thank you for this great video...really helped in understanding how to combine filter images in PS.
That blew my mind, I’m new to PS but this all made sense..
Great tutorial! Thank you so much!!
Really great... thanks again 👍🏻🌟
Great video good job Peter.
In earlier videos u stacked the milky way or the nightsky and connected the stacked image with the foreground. I d like to know how u connected the 2 images to one really good one, so nobody would notice that there were 2 different photos. Btw. u make really helpful videos that have helped me a lot so thank u for that and good luckk and all the best fpr the future.
I cover my blending process in my Astro Post Processing Course on my website. There's a lot to learn about the blending, so it takes a few hours to cover everything
You make it so easy, I still swear 🤬 more on my astrophotography than 👍 thank you.
Something I found if the background color is of. In level or curves, use the midtone dropper and click on the black. I find it neutralizes
the color balance. I do use the black as well, but balancing as I go gives great results.
Nice shot. How much Ha data? Definitely need to try this. Probably next season. Orion is getting pretty low where I am.
I have 3.5 hours on this but not the finer details in the background.
M51 is my next target. Have data, but need more. M31 as well.
I noticed your FIT files show a score next to them as soon as you load them. This allow you to select a reference frame. My Canon CR2 RAW files do not show any score initially when loaded and therefore when I select the file as reference frame, No asterisk appears and this process does not work. How do I select a reference frame if I haven't ran them through once to get the score value?
serious question : What is wrong with autosave files from DSS? very nice tutorial!!
Great tutorial!! One question...around 20:00 you added the Ha image as Luminosity, but wasn't it actually the Ha_Red image you added as that was still selected from when you pasted it into the Red channel? Does it make a difference or could you use the Ha image by itself as a Lum layer?
Great video! Would you add L filter as you added the H-alpha filter stack?
Wow! Thank you!!
Brah you can sell this picture to NASA! lol Love it!
Did you use a filter wheel? And do you need to when using a h-alpha
Thank you so much for making this! But I can't for the life of me make it work right. Every time I try to paste back the new combined red+ha channel to the rgb image, the image turns up in a strong cyan color (with all channels visible). Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Sorry if this is a obvious mistake..
Ever considered to edit in pixinsight?
I've considered it, then realized I don't want to bother with it haha
I'm honestly really happy with what I've been getting just using Photoshop. I have no desire to spend dozens of hours learning PixInsight right now
Thanks Peter. I've been using this method for a while and often get a strong green or cyan cast on the HaR image which ruins the whole thing.
Thoughts on how to mitigate this?
nice work, have you tried lRHaB? or any other combination? It might give you something a bit different but might looks really nice.
I can't understand if he is saying Control Shift Alt E,V or D ???
What stacking software would you suggest for someone who is on Mac OS? I have Starry Sky Stacker but it is not as selective and as powerful as Deep Sky Stacker. If you used a modified DSLR did you add filters to capture the red, green and blue images?
That looks great, is there a reason you wouldn’t use just H-Alpha as your red channel straight up? If you’re using a colour camera, does a H-Alpha gives such a big difference over a UHC filter?
I think I tried that the first time, and it came out very odd looking. Then I found that Starizona article and it came out a lot better this way
I'm not sure, don't have access to a color astro camera
Is there a reason you tend to favor Levels adjustments vs Curves?
great info, love watching your videos. i tried Ctrl Alt Shift E, but nothing !!, will i get the same effect using Duplicate layer !
No, not necessarily. Make sure your top layer is selected, and visible. Then press CRTL SHIFT ALT E (or CMND SHIFT OPTION E if on a Mac)
If you don't have the top layer selected, then it might not work properly.
6.26 min :what is wrong with DSS autosaves?
They are 32 bit, so you can't really work on them properly in Photoshop. You usually need to convert them to 16 bit before you can do most actions in Photoshop
@@PeterZelinka ok, but are they also useless in Pixinsight?
@@maciek3156 I don't use pixinsight so I can't say