{"id":30204,"date":"2022-03-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=30204"},"modified":"2022-04-20T13:26:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T13:26:22","slug":"processing-create-a-skyscape-panorama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2022\/03\/24\/processing-create-a-skyscape-panorama\/","title":{"rendered":"Processing: Create a skyscape panorama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
PROCESSING<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

APY Masterclass: Create a skyscape panorama<\/h2>\n\n

Processing an image to showcase the sky and a foreground<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
The final \u2018Ch\u00e2teau de Chambord\u2019 image combines the stunning view of the Milky Way with the elegant foreground building, both of which have been processed separately <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Never could I have magined that my \u2018Ch\u00e2teau de Chambord\u2019 image would be shortlisted in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Competition 2021. It was captured in 2020 when I travelled 4,500km by car, with the goal of reaching five locations in five nights, and Ch\u00e2teau de Chambord (at Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France) was the last location on the itinerary.<\/p>\n\n

The idea for imaging this beautiful location came from a photographer, Ralf Rohner, and if it wasn\u2019t for him this photograph would have never been taken.<\/p>\n\n

The image is a panorama and both the foreground and sky sections consist of multiple images. For both these, the camera had to be panned between each<\/p>\n\n

Advice from a 2021 shortlisted entrant in the \u2018Skyscapes\u2019 category shot, with enough overlap to avoid stitching issues in post-processing. Each frame overlaps by 40 to 50 per cent to be on the safe side. By taking exposures at various settings, both the foreground and sky could be exposed correctly, which isn\u2019t possible in a single image. Here I\u2019ll explain, step by step, how these images are processed to get the final panorama.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Screenshot 1: Prepare to merge selected images as a panorama in Adobe Lightroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
Stitching together<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The first step is to stitch the sky and foreground panoramas separately in Adobe Lightroom. Once the images are imported into the \u2018Lightroom Catalog\u2019 (see Screenshot 1) you can begin making adjustments. To do this, select any image, then from within the \u2018Develop\u2019 module in the top menu, chose the \u2018Lens Corrections\u2019 panel, which is located on the right-hand side towards the bottom. At the top of the panel are two tabs, \u2018Profile\u2019 and \u2018Manual\u2019. Select the \u2018Profile\u2019 tab and untick the \u2018Enable Profile Corrections\u2019 option below it. Next, select the \u2018Manual\u2019 tab and manually remove the \u2018Vignetting\u2019 by using the sliders, which prevents dark patches appearing in the final panorama.<\/p>\n\n

Next, these adjusted settings need to be applied to batches of images (a batch each for the foreground and sky). To do this, first select the foreground images, then right-click with the mouse to bring up a dropdown menu and choose \u2018Develop Settings Paste Settings\u2019. Now all the images have the same settings applied to them. Next, reselect all the foreground images and right-click with the mouse again to bring up the dropdown menu. From this menu, select \u2018Photo merge > Panorama\u2019. Repeat these steps to stitch the sky images together.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Screenshot 2: In Photoshop, the foreground mask cuts out the foreground ch\u00e2teau and leaves the sky transparent<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Once the foreground image is stitched, proceed to the \u2018Basic\u2019 section in Lightroom \u2013 also located under the \u2018Develop\u2019 module \u2013 and use the sliders to adjust the \u2018Whites\u2019 balance levels, bringing them more to your liking. \u2018Shadows\u2019 can also be raised to increase dark areas, and \u2018Highlights\u2019 lower to reduce harsh bright areas. The stitched image is now ready to import into Photoshop, so select it, right click and chose \u2018Edit in > Edit in Adobe Photoshop\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

With the image open in Photoshop use its \u2018Quick Selection Tool\u2019, located in the toolbar on the lefthand side, to highlight the foreground. Now add a Vector Mask to cut out the foreground, and make the sky in the image turn transparent: click on \u2018Layer\u2019 in the top menu and select \u2018Vector Mask\u2019 > \u2018Reveal All\u2019 in the dropdown menu. With the Vector Mask selected, choose a paintbrush from the toolbar to make fine adjustments. You need to use the colours black and white and can use \u2018X\u2019 on the keyboard as a shortcut to switch between them. Once the area of the mask is mastered (see Screenshot 2), it\u2019s time to move on to the sky image.<\/p>\n\n

Back in Lightroom select the sky image, with the foreground masked out (see Screenshot 3). Within the \u2018Develop\u2019 module you can correct the \u2018Whites\u2019 balance with the \u2018Basic\u2019 section. By boosting the \u2018Saturation\u2019 slider to maximum, you can see if the image is too warm or cold, and tweak until you get a neutral white balance. After sliding the \u2018Saturation\u2019 back to normal, right click and select \u2018Edit in > Edit in Photoshop\u2019.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Screenshot 3: By using the sky mask in Photoshop, adjustments can be made to bring out the detail of the Milky Way<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Back in Photoshop, the next task is a star reduction to make the Milky Way stand out in the sky image.<\/p>\n\n

Start by creating a duplicate layer of the original: select \u2018Layer > Duplicate Layer\u2019. Then, in the \u2018Layers\u2019 panel, select \u2018Channels > Select\u2019 and drag the RGB channel to the \u2018marching ants circle\u2019 \u2013 the selected marquee area \u2013 which will load the layer as a selection. Now hit \u2018Select\u2019 in the top menu, click \u2018Modify > Expand\u2019 in the dropdown options and input a value of 1 pixel. Choose \u2018Select\u2019 from the top menu again and click \u2018Modify > Feather\u2019, inputting 0.5 pixels. Back at the top menu, select \u2018Filter > Other > Minimum\u2019 and input 0.4 pixels. Now the star reduction is complete, toggle the \u2018Opacity\u2019 level of the layer on top to meet the desired result. Next, create a \u2018Brightness\/Contrast Adjustment\u2019 layer to raise contrast levels, and a \u2018Curves Adjustment Layer\u2019 to raise bright tones and lower dark tones. You can also create an \u2018S curve\u2019 on the tonal range graph.<\/p>\n\n

Now the sky is ready to blend with the final foreground image. To do this, select all the layers to be merged in the \u2018Layers\u2019 panel by holding down the Ctrl key, and then right-click with the mouse to show the \u2018Merge Layers\u2019 option. Then copy and paste this sky layer beneath the foreground layer. Once done, the sky is revealed behind the castle, and all that remains to create the final image is to move it into the correct place.<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

3 QUICK TIPS<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

1. <\/strong>Check out the sky replacement tool in Adobe Photoshop; it\u2019s great for beginners who are getting into blending skies and foregrounds together for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. <\/strong>For reflections of stars on water, expose no longer than you normally would for a sky. Try a small stack too, to reduce noise (unwanted artefacts).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. <\/strong>With bright lights or objects on foregrounds, try shooting in the blue hour, or doing an HDR (high-dynamic range) stack.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Benjamin Barakat <\/strong>is an experienced astrophotographer who runs workshops in Switzerland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was shortlisted in the APY in 2021 in the \u2018Skyscapes\u2019 category with his image \u2018Ch\u00e2teau de Chambord\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

ALL PICTURES: BENJAMIN BARAKAT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Processing an image to showcase the sky and a foreground<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":30198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"78","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"78","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_78-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_78-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"April-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"April-2022","purple_external_id":"April-2022-78-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"April-2022-78-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086551||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086551||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.203","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.203","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.203","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.203","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/03\/7c1cf7f2-6581-4b30-bf3f-327930eea7d8.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"6","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/03\/7c1cf7f2-6581-4b30-bf3f-327930eea7d8.jpg",1397,1164,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/03\/7c1cf7f2-6581-4b30-bf3f-327930eea7d8-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/03\/7c1cf7f2-6581-4b30-bf3f-327930eea7d8-300x250.jpg",300,250,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/03\/7c1cf7f2-6581-4b30-bf3f-327930eea7d8-768x640.jpg",768,640,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/03\/7c1cf7f2-6581-4b30-bf3f-327930eea7d8-1024x853.jpg",800,666,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/03\/7c1cf7f2-6581-4b30-bf3f-327930eea7d8.jpg",1397,1164,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/03\/7c1cf7f2-6581-4b30-bf3f-327930eea7d8.jpg",1397,1164,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Processing an image to showcase the sky and a foreground","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30204"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31474,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30204\/revisions\/31474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}