I think this is one of my better Saturn sessions. I went out to get a nice global shot of the moon, but found the pull of the ringed planet to strong! I also had an experiment to see if less magnification would result in a better shot. Let me explain the 4 different shots:
Top Left: The best shot I pulled from photoshop after playing with the curves and levels.
Bottom Left: The Top Left shot scaled down slightly for better quality.
Top Right: The magnification vs quality test I did. Seems there is no change in quality. Can anyone verify with similar tests?
Bottom Right: Saturn fresh from Registax (ie. the original shot).
As always, these were taken with my 10" non-motorised Dobsonian and videocamera held with homemade camera bracket.
Here you go Chrissyo. 15 seconds all up. I pasted your pic into Photoshop, Brought the Brightness up to +47 and the Contrast up to +23.
I have not touched the colour balance as I din't think it needs it. There are a few other tricks I could try to clear it up but I will let you play with it first.
Well, I finished reprocessing in Registax and I got a result that I think is nicer than my previous shots. So, I decided to see just what kinda variety I can pull out of photoshop, so I just spent a lot of time playing around with everything! Tell me what you think of my results (the centre pic is obviously the original one). I think my favourites are the top row, and the bottom right hand one.
WOW!!!! Now that's colourful! LOL!
The one in the bottom right is probably the best.
I had another play with the bottom left pic in your original group. I cleaned it up a bit and played with the colour balance and got it to this stage. I think the Cassini Division is clearer now and the banding on the planet may be better!??!
If only the weather would clear up so I can take some pics and have a play with my own ones. Such is life
Wow, yes, the cassini division IS heaps better! Its very clear and crisp on the top left side, a lot nicer than anything I've managed to do before! Anything specific you did to get it that crisp and clean? Or are you guarding your secrets?
No, I'm not keeping anything to myself! I have learnt heaps in here so I give back with anything I can. I may not know a lot about Registax (well practically nothing) but I can make things look a lot better in PhotoShop, so I share what knowledge I do know.
1. Enlarge image to 500%
2. Click on eyedropper and pick up background colour
3. Go to brush size 3
4. Carefully clean away blurred edge around planet with size 3 brush (I didn't do this with yours) and clean away blur from gap between rings and planet.
5. In 'Colour Balance' I slid the bottom slide up towards the 'Blue' to +10
Anything specific you did to get it that crisp and clean?
There is already a good pic there to work with. It's just a matter of learning how to bring it out. As I found out recently with my Venus pic, a terrible pic can be hiding some fine detail. I managed to bring out the 5 Moons in Davo's pic of Saturn only a couple of days ago.
The detail is there, just go and find it. Happy hunting!!
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