{"id":42760,"date":"2023-03-23T09:52:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T09:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=42760"},"modified":"2023-03-23T10:15:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T10:15:56","slug":"processing-speed-up-your-workflow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2023\/03\/23\/processing-speed-up-your-workflow\/","title":{"rendered":"Processing: Speed up your workflow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
PROCESSING<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

Speed up your workflow<\/span><\/h2>\n\n

Save time by automating common processing steps like boosting contrast and reducing noise<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Chris\u2019s initial image of the North America Nebula (left) and the final processed image after using automated actions (right). These actions take some of the hassle out of common processing steps like making starless images, smoothing and enhancing colour <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The world of astrophotography can be daunting, and learning image processing can be a particularly steep learning curve. Any help that can boost our editing skills is a bonus. In Adobe Photoshop, \u2018actions\u2019 can help to overhaul your processing workflows. These are a set of steps that can be saved and replayed on future images to, for example, boost contrast or reduce noise. You can also purchase actions created by someone else. <\/p>\n\n

One such set is Annie\u2019s Astro Actions, a comprehensive set of 24 different workflows that can guide you through the editing process, from simple step-by-step guides, and combining mono images into RGB or the Hubble Palette, to stretching and star removal. A full list of actions is available to view at www.eprisephoto. com\/astro-actions prior to purchase. <\/p>\n\n

Once purchased, download Annie\u2019s Astro Actions to your PC and save it to a location of your choice. Open Photoshop and ensure your \u2018Actions\u2019 tab appears (see screenshot 1). If it doesn\u2019t, click on the Windows menu and tick \u2018Actions\u2019 from the list. Under the actions panel, click on the three horizontal lines at the top right and select \u2018Load actions\u2019 from the menu to open a file explorer window. Navigating to where you saved your actions file, select it and click \u2018Load\u2019. You will see all the actions appear as a list within the actions panel. <\/p>\n\n

We will show how we used Annie\u2019s Astro Actions to process our image of the North America Nebula, NGC 7000. The first action we applied was \u2018Star layer separate \u2013 automatic\u2019. This removed the stars from our image and created a duplicate image that contained just the stars. To apply the action, we selected \u2018Star layer separate \u2013 automatic\u2019 from the list and then hit the play icon at the bottom. <\/p>\n\n

With the nebula and stars separated into two images, we could work on NGC 7000 without bloating the stars. The separation process left some marks around where the largest stars were, so we used the spot healing brush to remove them. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Screenshot 1: \u2018Star layer separate \u2013 automatic\u2019 created the starless image above showing only the nebula ready for processing, and a duplicate image that contained just the stars <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Ready for action <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

All of Annie\u2019s actions are run by selecting the action from the list and then hitting the play icon. First we used \u2018Dynamic enhance\u2019 which brightened the nebula and added contrast. We then applied \u2018Brighten colour & sharpen\u2019 which further enhanced the nebulosity. <\/p>\n\n

\u2018Enhance dust lanes\u2019 brought out the finer details and sharpened the dusty areas. Sharpening the image added noise, so we then chose \u2018Noise reduction\u2019 to reduce this, followed by \u2018Smooth out image\u2019 which softened our nebula. The final action was \u2018Simple stretching\u2019. This action showed us, via helpful on-screen instructions, how to stretch our data and balance the colours using levels and curves. Screenshot 2 shows the effect of these actions. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Screenshot 2: The image after enhancing the nebulosity and dust lanes through smoothing, brightening colours, sharpening, reducing noise and stretching <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

With our nebula image now looking good, we clicked over to our stars image tab (highlighted, screenshot 1). As this image was separated before we applied colour correction, the star colours needed adjusting. We used \u2018Selective colour\u2019 to edit each colour channel separately (see screenshot 3). Adjusting the sliders under the cyan, magenta and yellow channels allowed us to create a more natural star colour. This needed to be done by eye. <\/p>\n\n

You may have to apply and then edit each colour multiple times until you are happy with the appearance of your stars. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Screenshot 3: Working on the stars image to enhance their colours with the \u2018Selective colour\u2019 sliders. This was done by eye until we were happy with their appearance <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Once both of our images were processed, we needed to recombine them. Starting on the image of our stars, we flattened the image (Layer > \u2018Flatten image\u2019), then clicked Edit > \u2018Select all\u2019 to highlight the entire image. With Ctrl + Cwe copied our image. We opened our nebula image from the top tab and pressed Ctrl + V to paste our stars. This created a new layer with our stars. We switched our blending mode from \u2018Normal\u2019 to \u2018Screen\u2019 and a combined image appeared. <\/p>\n\n

Our final image now contained the processed nebula and star images and, as a final task, we applied the noise reduction action one final time before saving. You can see the final result above. <\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

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

1. <\/strong>You can apply actions more than once. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. <\/strong>Create a new layer before applying actions (hold Shift + Ctrl + Alt, then press \u2018N\u2019 and then \u2018E\u2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. <\/strong>Apply the \u2018Star layer separate\u2019 action before applying the \u2018Simple stretching\u2019 action, to stop stars from bloating. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

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

Chris Grimmer is an experienced astrophotographer and photographer specialising in infrared images

<\/p>\n\n

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

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