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I believe that part of the fun of this hobby is the free exchange of knowledge between astrophotography enthusiasts. One of the most challenging aspects of Astrophotography is the digital dark room or image processing. This page contains some of the methods I use when processing my images and the tutorials are meant to provide some incite into these methods. Please understand that I believe this is technical art and there is more than one way to processes an image. These are just some of the techniques that I use to make my images as dramatic as possible. I hope they are useful to you.
As the President of the Advanced Imaging Conference, Inc I would like to invite you to attend our conference to not only learn image acquisition and processing methods from the best, but to network with an amazing group of fellow imagers.
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On-line Tutorials by Ken Crawford |
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| Clipping Masks & Color Mapping |
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This tutorial covers the basics of clipping mask and color mapping in Photoshop. One of the best methods for full control of color blending of Narrowband data as well as RGB data. This is the preferred method used by the Hubble image processing team. Note that the Flash movie will start to run after about 10% of buffering. A broad band internet connection works best. |
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Click Here if you would like to download the Flash movie so you can play it from your hard drive. |
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Depth of field is of the visual elements that helps images appear real. This tutorial goes over some methods you can use to give your images more depth and dramatic appearance. Also I open up my imaging processing tool box and demonstrate several image touch up methods. Let the Flash movie buffer to about 10% and a broad band internet connection works best. |
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Click Here if you would like to download the Flash movie so you can play it from your hard drive.
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| Multi Strength Decon Layer Blend |
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The devil is in the details and because of blurring by seeing and guiding issues some of our details become hidden. This tutorial will demonstrate how to blend difference strengths of sharpening to preserve star profiles while digging out the details. Let the Flash Movie buffer to about 10% and a broad band internet connection works best. |
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Click Here if you would like to download the Flash movie so you can play it from your hard drive.
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This is the Powerpoint file of the Six Filter Narrowband presentation I gave at AIC2009. It is in a PDF format and is 500meg so broadband is recommended. This is not narrated but each slide has notes that you can click on and read to help you follow along. There are imbedded step by step movies that need to be started by clicking on the slide. These are some of the methods that I use to incorporate RGB data with Narrowband data. There are two different examples with step by step slides and movies that start with color mapping and end with image touch-ups to help make your images more colorful and dramatic. |
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Live Presentations by Ken Crawford |
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The Universe from my Backyard |
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This presentation is an overview of astrophotography followed by a tour of the universe using fine astrophotography. I will show how amateurs achieve professional results from their back yards and will talk about the requirements, challenges and conditions needed for high-resolution imaging. I will explain the equipment and processing that I use in my backyard observatory and my remote site in South Australia controlled through the Internet. Also, see examples of "natural light" and "super natural light" images acquired using specialized filters and processing methods.
I have given this presentation to astronomy classes, clubs, and general interest groups. This presentation is suitable to any gathering of people who have an interest in the beauty of the deep sky universe. |
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Depth of Field Processing |
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Astrophotographers take images of very distant, faint objects normally resulting in the image having approximate focus across the field of view. Many processing methods that we use to display the very faint and very bright areas of an image which can compress the dynamic range so much that it can result in a “Flat” looking image. Because of this 2D rendering of the image we have to use other methods to simulate “Depth of Field”. If we use only global processing methods across the entire image this can also contribute to removing some of the 3D space. Using selective processing methods for smoothing, sharpening, and contrast we can simulate the 3D effect of Depth of Field. This presentation demonstrates several processing methods using Color, Contrast, smoothing and sharpening on the correct regions of the image. Using these methods your images will have more depth and visual impact.
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Six Filter Narrowband Processing |
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Narrowband Imaging is fast becoming the standard for emission and planetary nebulae. Narrowband images can be very dramatic but the "pink" stars and lost subtle colors can make them look very un-natural. This presentation will show you how to successfully blend RGB data into your narrowband images to give your narrowband images more visual impact. We will covers two different methods of blending in the RGB data as well as digging out the details and adding more depth to your narrowband images. |
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Image processing is a learned skill that is part of the technical art of astrophotography. I would highly recommend the following tutorials and teachers as you climb the imaging processing learning curve. |
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| Warren Keller's wonderful Image Processing DVD's will give you a jump start up the learning curve of the digital dark room. These are well presented Photoshop tutorials that cover A-Z of astro-image processing. |
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| Master Astro-imager and processor, Adam Block will cover all aspects of image processing including calibration. He will show you how to make every pixel count! |
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| One on One tutoring by astrophotographer Neil Fleming! |
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| CCD Imaging master Tony Hallas has reciently released his 3 volume image processing DVDs. |
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E-Z CCD |
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