Thanks for the kind words!
Processing workflow as follows:
- Convert all light frames, darks and flats to 16 bit tiff in DPP
- Stack 16 darks to stack mode 'mean' for 90s and 30s each in photoshop and subtract from all the lights of corresponding exposure (have set up a PS action for this that lessens the effect on lighter areas to prevent black spots)
- Stack flat frames to stack mode 'mean' in photoshop to create a master flat (which does need fine tuning from testing) and divide from all lights (also have an action for this)
- for each panel, align 16 images (4x3s, 4x8s, 4x30s and 4x90s) using PT Gui (some manual insertion of control point and correction of the misaligned ones is usually required). The output file is a 16 bit *.PSB file with 16 layers.
- for each exposure (4 layers), convert to smart object and set stack mode to 'median'. Save each exposure to file name with suffixes A, B, C and D for stacked 90s, 30s, 8s and 3s exposures.
- In Fitswork, open A, B, C and D tiff files. Add images to each other as follow: A+B, AB+C, ABC+D then ABCD+A. Adding A for the second times helps the files to handle the next step. Stretch the gamma to 3.02 then clip darks each colour to end of histogram curve. Output as 16 bit tiff.
- Align panels in PT Gui
- Open in photoshop and fine tune levels and gradients (probably the most tedious part)
- Open in photoshop to finish
Still a work in progress. Have some panels with stars not in perfect focus or gone wrong for other reasons. Coming up to the best time of year for field work with clear conditions here in SE QLD, so will need a bit more time on site
