Image editing and processing

The Pleiades is one of those objects that looks deceptively simple. Point almost any lens at that bright little cluster and you’ll get something – but getting both the delicate blue nebulosity and natural-looking star colours in a light‑polluted sky is a very different story. Recently, I shot the Pleiades at 135mm and ran straight…

Editing astrophotography is extremely important if you want to transform your raw data into high quality images. Learning how to edit astrophotography will improve your pictures and this skill may be more than half of the work that goes into astrophotography. Why is it so important? Editing will bring out the fine and often hidden…

Hubble Palette color mapping is a popular technique in astrophotography that uses specific filters to assign vibrant colors to celestial objects, creating the iconic images seen in professional space photography. By mapping sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen emissions to the correct combination of red, green, and blue channels, this method highlights the intricate details of nebulae…

Recently, I’ve been seeking how to remove light pollution from my astrophotography images. In this post, I am going to compare several different techniques for doing this and try to decide which is the best. To improve your astrophotos, read on! I will compare the following: Two kinds of images The first type of image…

If you’re not familiar with the meaning of the term astrophotography calibration frames used in astrophotography, then you should be, because they can dramatically improve the quality of your astrophotos. In this post, I will explain what they are and why they are so helpful. If, on the other hand, you do understand what calibration…

Astrophotography mosaics are an incredible way to capture expansive views of the night sky by stitching together multiple images into a seamless, wide-field masterpiece. This technique is perfect for photographing large celestial objects, such as the Milky Way or sprawling nebulae, that can’t fit into a single frame. In this guide, we’ll walk you through…

Astrophotography is both an art and a science. Photographers capture the same data but process it in different ways. This is the creative part of astrophotography. To excel at this pastime, one must create good astrophotography flat frames. You’ll need to master scientific concepts and photographic techniques alike. In this post, I will explain why,…

One of the first things you will need to master before you are able to process astrophotography images is how to stretch an image in Photoshop. I remember how difficult I first found it was to get this right. So let’s take a look at this question and learn the basics of how this should…