Post by howie1 on May 20, 2018 6:17:30 GMT
I posted up the following on another forum and think it may help some on AVF ...
Hope the following tips might help those with both color Astro cams and modded DSLR's. And yes, hanging out for SC new version with DSLR support ... bring it on. But, the tips below definitely work and work well.
Using full spectrum modded Canon DSLR..... I have sent the frames from the modded cam to (a) Astrotoaster, (b) sent frames direct into just DSS_Live to "view" them, and © used neither AT, nor DSS_Live, but instead sent frames directly via auto import function in Lightroom .... and all work wonderfully with the modded cam. IE color balanced by one of the following ways ....
1. Newbies to EAA with a DSLR.... Why worry about another thing like color balancing when on such a steep learning curve? Even though everyone baulks at the idea, to start with shoot jpeg! Why? Jpegs will automatically apply in-camera custom white balance. Shoot a custom white balance using either a digital greyscale card, or if you don't have one, unfocus the camera and shoot down at the bitumen road surface in noonday sun. Select that "greyscaled" image as the one to use for custom white balance. More Ha is still getting to the sensor so you will still see more Ha nebulosity goodness... but the black background, blue's, grey's, browns etc will appear in your images without any RGB adjustments nor need for histograms on your part.
2. Experienced DSLR EAA'ers .... as you advance in skill, or you are really keen on the best quality EAA, then shoot RAW. But, you can still apply a custom White balance from shooting a digital greyscale card / pointing down at bitumen road surface. RAW is, well ... RAW, so it will not apply the custom WB info. But, it is still contained within the RAW data 'tags'. With RAW, you must specifically tell your processing software to use it. IE you have to instruct Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), or Photoshop (PS), or Lightroom (LR) or ... (!!!!) DeepSkyStacker (DSS)(!!!!!) ... to apply it. That last one (DSS) is important as if you use Astrotoaster then go into DSS and check the checkbox in Settings > Raw/Fits DPP settings > Use Camera White Balance. It will apply that custom WB data contained in the RAW tags. Once again you'll still have more Ha goodness, but it will also correctly color balance for black dark space backgrounds, the blues, the oranges, the greys, the browns, etc.
3. If you don't wish to use 1 or 2 above or you have a proper astro cam ... then for your first image shoot an object which has some blue, orange and white stars. You'll soon find some fav objects to use which is in your skies. As per earlier posts, if your app has histogram it's easy ... align the RGB channels and tweak slightly to your taste or to what you are trying to highlight in your "observing". If there's no histogram then adjust the RGB sliders in whatever app you process in .... until you see those same stars in your image being blue, orange and white. Much more of a balancing act ... and if like me you have RG color blindness ... a right royal pita! Hence I use methods 1 or 2 above! LOL.
Note ... if you shoot with filters then they will cast a color on your shots and so you need to take the digital greyscale shots with the filter attached.
Second note ... if you have astro cam or a DSLR ... then lower gain etc waaaaay down and take some video with your software (EG SharpCap) in the daytime. Looking to get the RGB green leaves, red roofs, blue sky, green cars, etc looking as close as you can to what you see with your eyeball and write the RGB settings down. Use them as a starting point at night and tweak to bring out whatever you are trying to observe or highlight in your images.
Third note ... if you use DSLR ... I've read but not tried that if you go to the back LCD (or in EOS Utilities) and on the screen menu go into WB you can change the RGB settings to r 0.73 G=1.0 B=0.88 for modded cam and it is supposed to work well.
The following link/article is from award winning AstroPhotographer Jerry Lodriguss. Most of the tips above (but not all) are from him. Its a good read ...
link
Hope the following tips might help those with both color Astro cams and modded DSLR's. And yes, hanging out for SC new version with DSLR support ... bring it on. But, the tips below definitely work and work well.
Using full spectrum modded Canon DSLR..... I have sent the frames from the modded cam to (a) Astrotoaster, (b) sent frames direct into just DSS_Live to "view" them, and © used neither AT, nor DSS_Live, but instead sent frames directly via auto import function in Lightroom .... and all work wonderfully with the modded cam. IE color balanced by one of the following ways ....
1. Newbies to EAA with a DSLR.... Why worry about another thing like color balancing when on such a steep learning curve? Even though everyone baulks at the idea, to start with shoot jpeg! Why? Jpegs will automatically apply in-camera custom white balance. Shoot a custom white balance using either a digital greyscale card, or if you don't have one, unfocus the camera and shoot down at the bitumen road surface in noonday sun. Select that "greyscaled" image as the one to use for custom white balance. More Ha is still getting to the sensor so you will still see more Ha nebulosity goodness... but the black background, blue's, grey's, browns etc will appear in your images without any RGB adjustments nor need for histograms on your part.
2. Experienced DSLR EAA'ers .... as you advance in skill, or you are really keen on the best quality EAA, then shoot RAW. But, you can still apply a custom White balance from shooting a digital greyscale card / pointing down at bitumen road surface. RAW is, well ... RAW, so it will not apply the custom WB info. But, it is still contained within the RAW data 'tags'. With RAW, you must specifically tell your processing software to use it. IE you have to instruct Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), or Photoshop (PS), or Lightroom (LR) or ... (!!!!) DeepSkyStacker (DSS)(!!!!!) ... to apply it. That last one (DSS) is important as if you use Astrotoaster then go into DSS and check the checkbox in Settings > Raw/Fits DPP settings > Use Camera White Balance. It will apply that custom WB data contained in the RAW tags. Once again you'll still have more Ha goodness, but it will also correctly color balance for black dark space backgrounds, the blues, the oranges, the greys, the browns, etc.
3. If you don't wish to use 1 or 2 above or you have a proper astro cam ... then for your first image shoot an object which has some blue, orange and white stars. You'll soon find some fav objects to use which is in your skies. As per earlier posts, if your app has histogram it's easy ... align the RGB channels and tweak slightly to your taste or to what you are trying to highlight in your "observing". If there's no histogram then adjust the RGB sliders in whatever app you process in .... until you see those same stars in your image being blue, orange and white. Much more of a balancing act ... and if like me you have RG color blindness ... a right royal pita! Hence I use methods 1 or 2 above! LOL.
Note ... if you shoot with filters then they will cast a color on your shots and so you need to take the digital greyscale shots with the filter attached.
Second note ... if you have astro cam or a DSLR ... then lower gain etc waaaaay down and take some video with your software (EG SharpCap) in the daytime. Looking to get the RGB green leaves, red roofs, blue sky, green cars, etc looking as close as you can to what you see with your eyeball and write the RGB settings down. Use them as a starting point at night and tweak to bring out whatever you are trying to observe or highlight in your images.
Third note ... if you use DSLR ... I've read but not tried that if you go to the back LCD (or in EOS Utilities) and on the screen menu go into WB you can change the RGB settings to r 0.73 G=1.0 B=0.88 for modded cam and it is supposed to work well.
The following link/article is from award winning AstroPhotographer Jerry Lodriguss. Most of the tips above (but not all) are from him. Its a good read ...
link