Quote:
Originally Posted by xelasnave
First I congratulate you for keeping at it ... save yourself further heartbreak and go narrow band It will only cost a bass guitar or two
I still suggest you get photo shop and play with the dodge tool, the burn tool, the rubber tool and benefit from using layers.
It is Photo Shop after all and it enables you to build an image to Hubble level if you really decide to do that...but I will bet you can squeeze more out without "cheating"...one thing I will do using the layer function, say with your images here..is to layer two up and merge them in varying proportions and get something in between that is just a little better...then do copies of that adjust the copies differently and then merge them...until you go damn it no more
But the dodge tool used sparingly will bring out more nebulosity, the burn tool you can darken specifics for contrast without affecting the whole image..the rubber tool and layer..if you want a little more colour you create a solid colour layer put your image over it and using the rubber let a little colour in...that recent Dragon image I did, the last one was just a black and white HA and all colour as weird as it is was produced by layering over a solid colour and using the rubber to let a hint of colour into the main image... not entirely proper but it can be satisfying.
However take the time to look at what you have done...you have captured very good subs and I am sure with more of the same you will not find any difficulty nailing a superior image. You are already finding your way around Star Tools and realising being subtle is key and as anyone can see I still can not be subtle...you are doing extremely well so be very happy it took me years to get to where you find yourself..another month I expect you to be leaving us for the big boys section.
Alex
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Thanks Alex, high praise indeed... I'm not necessarily quite as sure about moving to the big boys league any time soon...
Not planning to go narrowband; cost is not really the issue (well, it is but, it's not necessarily what would stop me); it's more about the amount of effort required to both capture & process.. I'm not sure that I am that committed to be honest.
I'm already in waaaay deeper than I ever planned....
Whilst I have obtained approval for photoshop, I've decided to pause on pulling that trigger. I have a book coming from the UK regarding Affinity Photo & astrophotography processing so, figured I'd wait & see what that has to offer.
To be honest, Affinity is from all I read, just as powerful & capable as PS.. alot of very experienced & knowledgeable folk are touting it as a serious competitor. I think the tools & processes you refer to are available in Affinity, I just need to get into some reference books I have & learned how to make better use of it. However, if after some time I still can't get my head around it, I will take the plunge on PS, not because I think it's necessarily better & not because I'm any more familiar with it (I'm not) but, simply because there are lots of experienced folk on here that can offer advice not available for Affinity as well as a wealth of Astrophotography tutorials involving PS on the internet... for Affinity, there are great tutorials for regular photo processing, not so much for astrophotography as yet...
Cheers