Rant of the week,[or, in my case, year]

[raymo]

I am beyond rage and frustration, and teetering on the edge of insanity.
I have been trying for a year to learn how to combine long and short
exposures of objects like M42 that have a great dynamic range.
I have read or viewed every tutorial I could find, bought books such as Photoshop Astronomy, and tried to utilise the video tutorials CD that comes with it,
but am not even ONE step further than I was a year ago. I just can't get my head around the dozens or scores of steps involved. I don't even know how to DO some of them. I could almost cry when I see newbies arrive on the scene, and in no time at all they are happily layering and masking, and deconvoluting, and binning and dithering etc, etc, etc.
It is doubly frustrating because I have been viewing for over 60 yrs, and imaging for about 50. Digital has got me by the short and curlies; just can't get my head around it. I'm not looking for suggestions on how
to combine images [unless there is a vastly more straightforward way
than PS offers], I just needed to let out my emotions.
Thanks for reading, if you bothered to read this far.
raymo :sadeyes::sadeyes::sadeyes::mad2::m ad2::mad2::mad2:

[leon]

Hey Raymo, I'm with you mate, it is all just beyond me as well, the technology is advancing so quickly I just couldn't keep up.
I too have been doing this for a long time, well before Digital everything came on the scene.
You may remember the Hypered Film :) and that sort of stuff.
This generation of people are born with technology with every conceivable device open to them
I know exactly where you are coming from, and it is so frustrating at times.
Hang in there mate I am sure someone will come to the rescue, :) however for me, I have given it away. :sadeyes:

Leon :thumbsup:

[jenchris]

Find a mate and sit down with him.
Go through it a couple of times while he tells you what to do - don't let him do it - you'll learn nothing

[Mighty_oz]

Hi, I found this group helpful, DSLR Astro Image Processing it's a yahoo group, lots of tutorials with some videos going thro the process. Might be just the kickstart you need ?

[raymo]

Thank you for the comforting words Leon; I think I'll just stick to imaging
objects that don't have the large dynamic range of M42.
Jenchris, as far as I know, I am the only astro imager in my town, and any member that might have been able or willing to donate some time and effort to helping me would live a considerable distance away. I think
too that one session would not be enough to get it all to sink in, so it
would probably be a bit impractical.
Marcus, thanks for the heads up, I'll have a look at the group.
raymo

[PRejto]

May I strongly recommend Adam Block's tutorial on CCDStack as a starting point? There is a specific section that discusses a very unique and very easy way to combine two images one a bright core and one of fainter regions....all of this without resorting to Photoshop and masks, etc. In any case the tutorials are worth every dollar spent.

Peter

[raymo]

Thanks Peter; I will definitely have a look at that.
raymo