Astrophotography Tutorial - Create a HaRGB Composite Image

[@dmglakewood]

I have a quick tip for anyone that is trying to scale and align images in photoshop. Save all your images into their own image files. Then Open photoshop and go to File->Scripts->Load Files into Stack. Then load in all your image files from the previous step and make sure you tick the box that says "Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images". Now you'll have your image with all the layers scaled and aligned for you. This saves a ton of time.

[@chrissavaiano7906]

I love these videos. I did this workflow about 10 times using this video. HOWEVER, i was able to accomplish the same thing in about 1/3 of the time by just pasting my final Ha image over my RGB and made the Ha layer a luminosity layer and played with the opacity until I got it right. I ended up with the exact same result every time. I kept retesting this over and over. Thanks Trevor!

[@theultrarooster]

Nice to see your workflow. You explain things simply and effectively!

[@stevenmoore7123]

This is some serious rocket science, I get lost with each step but having fun!!

[@PESKYWAABBIT]

I used to make images like this and planets from scratch in Photoshop. I was unable to take photo's like this myself and didn't think anyone could other than with the hubble or a scientific telescope. I have been into space and the science of the universe for a while and now I have a decent telescope I want to try and take actual photo's of real life objects. Your series is astounding and I can't wait till I can grab images like this. Subscribed mate, hopefully I can show you what I capture one day. Thanks!

[@AstroBackyard]

Thank you! Good luck diving into this amazing hobby.

[@Beisswut]

You are one of the most likeable KZbin vloggers, and i have used the subscribe button. Thanks for your videos.

[@SpardaXVII]

This is so awesome, I just got my first telescope and I can't wait to get into astrophotography.

[@davidpickles8866]

Might be an old video Trevor but my god it’s a good one!! and with my recent filter purchases your past is my future. Great stuff!

[@rileykorbin5896]

I dont mean to be off topic but does anybody know a trick to log back into an Instagram account..? I somehow lost my account password. I love any tricks you can offer me!

[@josephchristopher4347]

@Riley Korbin Instablaster =)

[@rileykorbin5896]

@Joseph Christopher thanks for your reply. I found the site through google and im trying it out atm. Takes a while so I will reply here later with my results.

[@rileykorbin5896]

@Joseph Christopher It did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. Im so happy! Thanks so much, you saved my account !

[@josephchristopher4347]

@Riley Korbin You are welcome :)

[@pault5947]

Would love to see a side by side comparison of an rgb image and then with the ha added to actually see the extra detail. Great video btw.

[@tonyveroni3600]

Great RGB HA tutorial. Phenomenal image Trevor!!!

[@mikemardis]

Wow! Clear example of how to sharpen stars.

[@DarkArtsAstrophotography]

This was very informative. I'm sending off a camera for a filterectomy (full spectrum) mod shortly and will be adding an Ha filter to my toolset. This tutorial will come in very handy.

[@kevinwenrick7657]

Excellent tutorial as always. I'm looking forward to my first luminosity blend moment in my own images. Thank you for your dedication and gracious sharing of experience.

[@dreamingorca]

Wow-now I'm excited and ready to use my clip in full frame Astronomik Ha 12nm Filter!

[@Trequilly]

i thought u where gone but now im happy that there is a new vid

[@matteodonega618]

Awesome video as alway Trevor! Been following you for the last 6 months and I have learned so much! Thanks a lot for your fantastic work!!!

[@WigGame]

So inspiring to see your photos. Amazing work.

[@2badger2]

Great video! One thing that I do to make aligning easier is the stack the RGB photos first and write the name down of the highest scored photo because DSS using it as the reference photo that all of the other photos get stacked to. When I do the HA stacking, I include the best RGB photo and mark it as reference photo but don't check it, DSS will then stack the HA photos to that RGB reference photo stars but won't include it's RGB data. I was lucky that the photos were taken with the same camera.

[@potatogaming5684]

You should have way more subs than you have right now, your vids are both amazing and informative! Keep up the good work! 👍

[@wayneparker9782]

Thanks for all your hard work. so we can injoy the beauty that you bring to your images

[@Neodesmoclub]

Wow, watching your vids has made me want to attempt some shots. I have played around with normal photography and never really used photoshop before. You explain things very very well and this makes me think I could do it! I don't have an EQ mount only an alt-az with a celestron nextstar evolution 8HD. I think I can only do up to 30 seconds per exposure so I'll just have to see what I can get with stacking 30 second shots for now. Thanks for inspiring confidence and keep up the excellent work!

[@ujjwaldatta6713]

Trevor, excellent video. Do you have one for the summer or winter Milky Way by any chance? Thanks.

[@raymajrowski8046]

Great tutorial Trevor, I was looking for a method to enhance my DSLR images, I realised you can`t process RGB separately from a DSLR. So your tutorial of adding HA to RGB image seems the answer. I don`t have a HA filter, I have a L Enhance though, could I achieve a similar result with this filter, (although its not so good in bright moonlight.).

[@amacmedia3221]

This is a fantastic tutorial, I’m off to get one of these filters now. Would a wide field shoot be processed in the same way if using this filter for a Milky Way panorama with some foreground, apart from using deep sky stacker and use something like sequator for the stacking part?

[@MrMetalhead0124]

can you achieve the same results with filters that screw onto the two inch nose piece that mounts onto the focuser? astronomic filters are very expensive and I want to be able to change them quickly. great work!

[@rationalgazer]

yes you can :) - as long as the filter is in the imaging train, it should be good to go

[@J.53780]

This video has helped me out alot thanks for making it!

[@MrBengourben]

Thanks again for another great video. Very simply explained and very informative. cheers.

[@Jbulwer]

Fantastic tutorial. Thank you.

[@Butzemann123]

17:28 i dont get how you suddenly have the cropped and rotated rgb image to match with the pasted HaR image..

[@peterbucek2136]

Great video, please keep uploading, but I have one question. If you were to crop the image anyway, it really doesn't matter whether you scale up one or scale down the other one, does it? And btw, if you don't want to lose detail because of the rotation, you can use the warp tool and preserve the whole image in a canvas even though it was slightly rotated by warping the edges and corners.

[@tempusfugit6820]

Nice video!! Thanks for taking the time to do those. How much longer is the Ha acquisition time vs the RGB to get the same relative exposure on the histogram on the back of the camera?

[@aerozg]

Does it make sense to take darks, flats and bias frames with the Ha filter on, for the Ha stack?

[@Mikes-Mysteries]

Great tutorial Trev! I was wondering though, you mentioned you didn't had flat frames for your light frames, didn't you had flat frames for your new Ha files? Or did you left them out in DSS on purpose?

[@daviddorrance8296]

Hi great tutorial, you mentioned "Astronomy tools" in your actions dropdown menu, as I am new and beginner to photoshop are these something that you have compiled over time or bought them? Thanks

[@xDerDerx]

Another awesome video man!

[@AstroBackyard]

+xDerDerx Thanks buddy

[@tiny11231]

What dark sky location did you go to? The video is excellent! Please keep making them!

[@AstroBackyard]

+RalphMalf Its in a small town near Wainfleet, Ontario. The views South over Lake Erie are excellent.

[@TheAllroth]

I have a question concerning the estimated exposure time from DSS: does DSS actually add the exposure times of the individual images or is it an equivalent exposure time for the same signal to noise ratio?

[@donaldmcgregor8152]

Thank you! That was a great video. I am nowhere near your level, but well on my way thanks to your videos. Def going to mod a dslr and invest in a H-alpha filter. My rig isn't to shabby as is; CGEM, C11, st80, orion autoguider, t3i, 6 really good eyepieces (6mm to 40mm). Next purchase will be a guide mount for the st80 (piggyback the 11". Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again, godspeed .

[@ashpowell9451]

This often gives very strong green or cyan cast, unfortunately. Thoughts, Trevor?

[@jasonberkers2142]

Your vids are incredibly helpful, and easy to follow. Quick question, your t3i, it's full spectrum, but did u add a clear filter or anything to replace the IR stock filter? Thanks man

[@AstroBackyard]

+Jason Berkers Thank you! Glad to help. No additonal filters were added after the IR was removed. The camera has a LP or Ha filter protecting the sensor at all times. Autofocus does not work!

[@jasonberkers2142]

AstroBackyard thanks for your help. Again, ur vids are so straightforward, easy to follow. Keep up the great work, we all appreciate it 😁👍🏽

[@archiviloria]

This is much better than magic

[@cdh79]

great tutorial :) This would actually classify as HaRHaGB image, as you used Ha instead of L, but also blended Ha into R.. (if you think that sounds crazy, there's a guy in some of the FB groups i'm in who's doing incredible LRBHa-RHaGB images :P ) i like that you got some of the pink back out, as this is usually very prominent in Ha images.. (and i want to apologize if you get many notifications for comments at the moment. i just discovered your channel and am going through some of the videos :) )

[@orion54313]

Great tutorial! Thank you so much!!

[@krex51]

If i don't have a any filters can i just duplicate a true color image that I changed to black and white and do this to the layers?

[@robraum399]

Hi! I like your video, and I successfully combined some of my RGBs with HA frames. Does it work the same way with OIII?

[@Sol_Invictus98]

Really great video again

[@MrKingamaziah]

I have an un modified canon 7ti , is it critical to get it modified for this and if so who would be a reputable dealer to modify? $ ? Tnx!!!

[@MiguelGarcia-lz9dj]

Hi Trevor, thanks for the tutorial, I have followed it as is, but when combining Ha with RGB the stars are green and blue, do you know why that could be? Thanks greetings

[@ashpowell9451]

I get exactly the same result with many objects, it's not great.

[@ladyinky882]

Awesome Job!

[@ponapo9653]

Thanks man!!!

[@SuperAstrophysicist]

Beautiful Image!

[@JohnS916]

I must be a dunce and being new to PS doesn't help matters. It will take some time to grasp this. However, I decided recently to focus on learning PixInsight instead.

[@nettyvoyager6336]

to improve them greater set your camera to black and white and use bulb mode and a HA filter you will see 200 % results :)

[@thanasisliapis4556]

great tutorial thanks

[@MOKPT3]

Here is a really neat DSS trick for aligning your images. Run your 1st stack (say the Ha set) and note your ref frame. When you run your other stack (the RGB) take the ref frame from the 1st stack and add it to the 2nd stack. Use it as the 2nd stacks ref frame BUT uncheck it so it's only being used for alignment. I'm not sure how far the scaling can be changed, but give it a shot. I use this all the time. www.astrobin.com/users/Toxic_Coolaid/

[@AstroBackyard]

Thank you for the tip, I will try it out! See you on AstroBin:)

[@UNSCPILOT]

Gotta try that too, sounds like a major time saver

[@28gn]

This is a golden tip!

[@mariuszkmk]

nice tut :) thx

[@lousupino9236]

Great tutorial! Thanks REPLY

[@Herzyyyy]

What light pollution filter do you use with your T3i? I'm getting a full spectrum/modified T3i soon and I'm looking for some accessories to use.

[@AstroBackyard]

+Herzy VFX Nice! I use the IDAS lps clip-in filter from Hutech.

[@SidneyPratt]

Thanks.

[@KubaJurkowski]

Ditchernig man. Do you do it if yes, how?

[@AstroBackyard]

Yes! There is function within BackyardEOS to use it. Just turn it on and it communicates with PHD2 to make it happen.

[@sethfinley6337]

I laughed when I heard "We are almost at 3000 subscribers....." Oh boy, if only you knew!

[@wwaqashussain]

Watching in 2020

[@hillbillyphoto83]

wow looks really good but I'm now way more confused lol

[@geodezix]

what is ha....see right off the blocks, you're loosing us

[@AstroBackyard]

Sorry - Hydrogen Alpha. A specific wavelength of light isolated with the filter in my camera.

[@topoluc12]

MooOooOoOOoOooOOoooreeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pls

[@trainingwithlions]

Looks super complicated and not very encouraging for someone thats never done this

[@basilbcf]

I know it's just a matter of personal tase, and some people like them, but for me personally, I really don't like these H-alph enhanced images. They look fake, unnatural and over-processed to me.