Sunday, December 31, 2017

Combining Astronomy Images in Photoshop: Waxing Gibbous Moon-Pleiades-Aldebaran

Thought this would be an interesting image - the waxing gibbous moon, Pleiades, and the orange giant Aldebaran.  They were in this arrangement Friday 12/29. Fortunately I did not have to be outside for very long since it was so cold.  To get this shot I did a 2-second exposure for Pleiades and Aldebaran but the moon was overexposed so I took another 1/4000-second exposure to get the detailed moon. 



I wish I would have taken longer exposures as I believe the star field would have been richer, but I was not sure how much overexposure would have compromised the star field.

Details in Photoshop:
2-second image:

1) create second layer same as 1st
2) select Filter > Noise > Dust and Scratches. I used a radius of 25 pixels, with a threshold of 0.
3) select and copy this layer and apply to original layer. Use subtract function.
4) adjust the newly created background star layer as needed.

1/4000-second image:

1) adjust the moon as needed.

Combining:1) copy moon using the Magic Wand or Lasso on to the background star layer.
2) you may have to line it up if it does not show up in the proper location.
3) do final adjustments.

Moon-Pleiades-AldebaranLocation: Home Monroe, CTDate: 12-29-17
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a)
Lens: 50mm Canon f/1.8 (nifty fifty)
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 50mm
f/3.2
Focal Reducer: none
Mount: fixed
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: none
Exposure: 1 x 2s, 1 x 1/4000s
ISO: 1600
Temp: 8 F, -15 C
Post Processing: Photoshop.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/

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