{"id":56587,"date":"2024-03-30T09:33:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T09:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/c2f244ef-0903-4a5c-bd10-efd89a682390"},"modified":"2024-03-30T10:08:23","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T10:08:23","slug":"how-to-process-your-solar-eclipse-images-to-maximise-coronal-detail","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/how-to-process-your-solar-eclipse-images-to-maximise-coronal-detail\/","title":{"rendered":"How to process your solar eclipse images to maximise coronal detail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elevate your eclipse photos and see the full majesty of the Sun\u2019s plasma aura. <\/p>

By Daniel Lynch\n <\/p>

Published: Saturday, 30 March 2024 at 09:33 AM<\/p>

\n\n

If you want to make your images of a solar eclipse stand out, you\u2019ll have to go the extra mile, and a bit of image processing can really help make for a dramatic eclipse photo.<\/p>

If you stack your images of a total solar eclipse<\/a> you can enhance detail in the Sun\u2019s corona, and in this guide we’ll show you how.<\/p>

Editing each frame before stacking can make a huge difference to detail; on the left is an untouched still, right the same frame after minor editing<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Capturing the corona<\/strong><\/h2>
The corona is made up of the bright inner corona and the dimmer outer corona.<\/p>
While our eyes are excellent at handling the difference in brightness, cameras are not.<\/p>
This difference in brightness is called dynamic range.<\/p>
Here we outline a method to achieve high dynamic range (sometimes abbreviated to HDR) for your eclipse photos using three photos taken in Libya in 2006.<\/p>
They were captured using a Canon EOS 20D DSLR attached to a Bresser 70mm refractor.<\/p>
We shot in RAW mode<\/a> to achieve the best image quality.<\/p>
The telescope wasn\u2019t motor-driven, which adds to the challenge of stacking<\/a> the images, but we\u2019ll also show you how to align your photos in Photoshop to overcome this problem.<\/p>
$\"The$
The total solar eclipse of 2017. Credit: John Finney Photography \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Process eclipse images individually<\/strong><\/h2>
Choose several photos of solar eclipse totality that have different camera settings.<\/p>
Preferably, you want images of the inner and outer corona.<\/p>
It is a good idea to process each photo individually before stacking them.<\/p>
Our recipe for preparing each image starts with opening them in Adobe Bridge.<\/p>
Right click on your first image and select **Open in Camera Raw<\/strong>.<\/p>**
**Set the clarity slider to 75 to show the finer detail of the corona and the shadow slider to 10 to enhance it. <\/p>**
ave the file by clicking **Done<\/strong> and repeat for all the photos you will be stacking.<\/p>**
**Already you should see a big improvement in each of your individual photos.<\/p>**
**Now we are ready to stack the images to bring out even more detail.<\/p>**
**$\"Solar$**
Solar Corona by Andr\u00e9 van der Hoeven, Teton Village, WY, USA. Equipment: Nikon D810a, Nikon 300mm, Skywatcher Star Adventurer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Get stacking<\/strong><\/h2>
Open Adobe Bridge and select each of the prepared images by holding down Ctrl and left-clicking each image.<\/p>
Click Tools > Photoshop > Load Files<\/strong> **into Photoshop Layers<\/strong> to open them in Photoshop.<\/p>**
**They will be visible on the right-hand side as separate layers.<\/p>**
**In the layers tab on the right-hand side, highlight each layer by holding down the control button and single-clicking them.<\/p>**
Make them smart objects by clicking **Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object<\/strong> \u2013 doing so preserves the original photos and allows us to edit the images without reducing their quality.<\/p>**
**We are now ready to stack.<\/p>**
Click **Layer > Smart Objects > Stack Mode > Objects > Mean<\/strong>. We have now stacked the images and taken the average of the exposures to give the best result.<\/p>**
**If your photos were captured with a setup that included a driven mount, they should be perfectly aligned. You\u2019re done!<\/p>**
**If your setup did not track with the motion of the sky, then you will have a clear problem. The stacked images won\u2019t line up over each other.\u00a0<\/p>**
**Aligning the layers<\/strong><\/h2>**
$\"Photos$
Photos taken with untracked mounts will not line up properly \u2013 but this can be fixed<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Thankfully there is a way to fix this alignment issue.<\/p>
It can be a little tricky to follow, but it\u2019s easier than lugging a tracking mount halfway across the world.<\/p>
In Photoshop\u2019s layers channel, highlight each layer by holding down Ctrl and left-clicking it.<\/p>
Above the highlighted layers, in the Blending mode drop-down menu (which is Normal by default), select **Difference<\/strong>.<\/p>**
**This will guide you in lining up your images.\u00a0<\/p>**
$\"Setting$
Setting the layer blend mode to Difference will help when you align the solar discs<\/figcaption><\/figure>
In the layers channel, turn off the visibility of every layer except for the top one.<\/p>
You can toggle visibility of any layer on and off by pressing the eye icon beside it.<\/p>
Highlight the second layer from the top only (hold Ctrl and left click) and then make it visible. The difference between the pictures should now be apparent.\u00a0<\/p>
Use the move tool (find it in the toolbar on the left) to drag this second layer over the top one so as to leave no difference.<\/p>
You can also do this by holding down Ctrl and using the arrow keys.\u00a0<\/p>
$\"The$
The solar discs aligned, but the blending mode is still Difference; that needs changing<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Repeat the process for every layer. Make sure that only the top layer and the layer you are moving are visible.<\/p>
Also make sure that the layer you are moving is the only layer highlighted.<\/p>
Once every layer is aligned, select each one (hold Ctrl and left click) and change the Blending Mode back to **Normal<\/strong>.<\/p>**
**Finally, you have the eclipse image you were looking for.<\/p>**
***Have you captured an image of a total solar eclipse? Don’t forget to send us your images<\/a>!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>***
***This guide appeared in the September 2017 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n***
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