Narrowband Imaging (Beginners Guide to the Hubble Palette!)

Narrowband Imaging Primer
Detailed Article: astrobackyard.com/narrowband-...
Narrowband imaging involves isolating and capturing specific wavelengths of light using filters. Deep-sky astrophotography enthusiasts are able to produce dynamic images of objects in space through their telescope with the help of narrowband filters.
The Hubble Palette is a popular choice when color-mapping images captured using narrowband filters. These "false-color" images were made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope.
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[@GarnettLeary]

The difference between 5 min subs and 10-20 min subs is less of a separation of men and boys and a much greater separation of an individual and their bank roll. :)

[@Mr77pro]

And quite typically men will have a larger bankroll than boys ; )

[@yansolty]

@@Mr77pro sweeping statement.... "men" older than me on the breadline. This hobby isn't cheap. Don't get into it if you can't afford it

[@Mr77pro]

@@yansolty still quite true... "Men typically have a larger bankroll than boys" Sweeping statement that happens to be accurate. Kind of off topic at this point....but hey, it's the internet😏

[@linkedwinters]

@@yansolty You know you don't need to drop thousands on this hobby to get good images. You just need to drop thousands to get great images, and I'm willing to settle for second best.

[@wesleybranson6110]

InstaBlaster...

[@jonnyspratt3098]

The quality of these vids is definitely going up and up

[@andreytyushin9920]

18:30 Dylan O'Donnell, Some Dude )))) I'm crying I am here on your chanell since it was 3k or 3.5k I dont remember, but during all the time it was cool. Your works and shots prompted me to start doing astrophotography and so much help me on my first steps. Thank you so much for all)

[@schwags1969]

Same here.

[@hasanaskari3839]

Ditto - except that I am relatively new...

[@rickbohart6788]

Thank you so much for what you've done and are doing. As old (78) beginner, your videos have been one of the best sources of info. Congrats on 100k doing Astrobackyard full time. You, Ashley and RUDY deserve the best of everything.

[@PierreJeptha]

Just picked up that the background music during the processing portion is from Mass Effect! "Probe Deployed" "Anomaly Detected!" Great game , great video! Thanks for the narrowband explanation and tips

[@AnalogMonoxide]

Haha, I'm playing the ME trilogy again lately, and my ears perked up at the background music. Thanks for the videos, great channel.

[@greglight5808]

So excited for the next clear sky night. You're vids are so informative

[@grahamhgraham]

You make this look so easy Trevor and I know by my own experience, it just isn't. All the fancy gear in the world won't fix high winds, cloudy skies & bloody annoying satellites. Ignore the haters & cockwombles, you're doing just fine. Looking forward to the next installment.

[@astroEnthusiast1]

Hey Trevor, as usual, your tutorials are super helpful! Thank you for doing this, I'm new to narrowband astrophotography. I really appreciate your work more than ever! Thanks again, Trevor!! Keep up the great work, much success!

[@greggbell]

Thanks for all the help, this weekend will be my first attempt at LRGB and narrowband in dark skies! I've had a few struggles in my bortle 7 non-polaris backyard but...your channel has been a big help on this journey! Thanks!

[@dezm0n679]

0:29 that's some great editing of colors and beats :)

[@ronmac1832]

Good stuff! As a beginner, I'm glad that I can see a future that includes even more tech (and $) involved.

[@thetelescopeyard9760]

Awesome work Trevor! So excited that you are full time now!

[@danbernt5967]

Hey Trevor......What a great intro to narrow-band. Full of essential information once again delivered with your punchy informative style. I always look forward to your up coming videos.

[@babakdayyani6836]

Love the drum kit at the corner of the room. Great job Trevor.

[@paulruemmele]

Just got a monochrome camera for Christmas, this was the exact video I needed! Thanks!

[@stuartbateman4374]

Really enjoy your channel Trevor, your videos are always very well put together and informative. I have learnt so much in the last 6 months after subscribing. Please keep it up!

[@Roymac01]

Great work (as usual) Trevor! Keep it up and thanks for sharing your passion!

[@branislavmikuska1907]

Great video Trevor. You are opening our eyes. Thank you!

[@jamesjohnston6765]

Although I am a newer subscriber I have been watching your videos for quite awhile. I am not an astrophotographer but am a photographer (nature/landscape) who is also a tech geek. videos like this fascinate and tempt me. Wonderful stuff, love the equipment you have gathered over your time here, as well as your processing skills. Keep it going.

[@stevecolwill9761]

Great stuff, Trevor. Wishing you all the best!

[@davidburchettephotography6513]

Joined August 14, 2015. You haven’t disappointed at any time. I’ve learned a great deal. Thank you Trevor!

[@Capsius]

Immensely appreciate your videos, Trevor! Educational, entertaining, frank, sharing of best practices, lessons learnt from past mistakes and oh those amazing pictures too! A newbie here @284K. Please keep up the great effort in making new videos for us all and may your channel (and your friends' channels too) hit and exceed the 1mln mark in the very near future! I lived in Canada for 5 years from 1990 to 1995 -- high school in Toronto followed by uni in Edmonton & Calgary. Love the 4 seasons in Canada.

[@KubiTheFox]

This is way above what I can do (at the moment) Since I am just starting out. But this will be perfect for the future! Thanks man.

[@sennew5646]

thank you very much for your work, i've purchased your guide and thanks to that and your tutorials I've got my first dso picture that i'm happy with. I subscribed 1 month ago more or less and I would have liked to discover your channel before. Keep going Trevor!

[@Annodite]

Thank you Trevor! Another wonderful video!

[@mattsmith010171]

Nice to see your a fellow drummer as well. Been playing for 20+ years and your the reason I got into astrophotography, keep up the great work Trevor. Might caught up with ya this year at CSSP. Clear sky’s to ya as always.

[@starman6092]

Love your channel, I've been with you since about 2K subs.

[@tacomaastro7462]

Just watched this again for a refresher, first viewed your channel at 78K... now you're at 222K and blowing the roof off of it... congrats and thanks for all the input ( short circuit ) :)

[@sacrossman]

Great work as always Trevor

[@cmelton.photography]

I remember watching your videos several years ago when I got my first "real" scope, but I never subscribed because back than I never subscribed to other people. I remember watching the setup video with the Meade DSI and the 80mm Triplet about a year after it came out. I subscribed around 20-30k, and this channel encouraged me to get into astrophotography. Though i still cant afford a good rerfactor yet, I use a newtonian on an Orion Atlas, and I am getting a TPO 6" F/4 Imaging Newtonian in the mail tomorrow, so hopefully I can get some amazing images out of that. I also am trying to get the ZWO 31mm narrowband filter set for my QHY9 camera, but my shipping address needs to be the same as my billing address, but I am in college and my billing address is back at home. It has been a great adventure, and I am glad I got into this hobby and have no plans on quitting. Thank you for your inspiration!

[@Ohmy1956]

Keep doing great videos, thanks so much for the encouraging attitude

[@jean-clauderoussil4830]

You are the best Canadian astrophotographer, clear sky mister Jone

[@AstroBackyard]

I hope you guys liked this one - it went long and there is still so much more to share about this topic. Did you see the upcoming trips for this year? :D

[@Marllynsalem]

Love San Diego! When I was 15, (long, long ago) I convinced my dad to take me camping up on Mt. Palomar. Beautiful place

[@daniels6552]

It is a great video for where I am at at this point with astrophotography. I have just recently began to question what exactly using hubble pallet means and how to do it. It gave newbs like me a better understanding on how narrowband can be used. Thanks Trevor!

[@saahilsinha5558]

Do the tickets on the star stuff page apply to San Diego?

[@stevekozlowski969]

Thank trevor for all the information about telescope and for information on the filters for the pictures and how to use them great information

[@brucehackenberg7357]

I have enjoyed your videos for a while and I've watched you progress. Especially you and your wife camping at Cherry Springs several years ago. I might have run into you and didn't know it. Keep those vids coming. Nice work.

[@Gabriel-hh1pw]

Thanks Trevor! I really wanted to see this. Thanks a lot

[@astronomybob]

Good explanation of narrowband images. Thanks Trevor

[@warrengarro]

Very instructive about the image processing that is required to enhance or isolate from the background the objects we want to see. I have to say one of the first impressions we get is that we can see every object in the sky using our naked eyes with a telescope and obtain the same quality view of the photos we see in books, documentaries, you name it. But once we see instructional videos like this, we also learn there exists instrumentation we can use to enhance our capacity to see beyond our nature given limits, the visible spectrum plus some personal visual acuity issues but it is always awesome and some times breathtaking what we discover at making it visible.

[@rdowding]

Excellent summary Trevor!

[@AstroPixUK]

This is another great video. You have inspired me to get more out my hobby. Thank you.

[@mageknight711]

I really appreciate the work that you do with this channel. It has helped me get such a solid start. Just got my first light on my AVX, ASI071MC pro redcat combo. Can't wait for my shots to rival yours. Might be a while but the good news is this is a lifelong hobby.

[@alejandrix0377]

Awesome video Trevor!!

[@dilipsharan8699]

I have been enjoying your videos since 2017. Also enjoy the contributions from Astro dog! He's so good around tripods and mounts. Know not to knock em over unlike some daft dogs

[@howardbond1583]

Hi Trevor Thanks I understand narrowband filters and their use so much better!! Clear Skies

[@DaringCreative]

Great video! Explains a lot I’ve been wondering about

[@hughmongus1233]

Like why is there suffering when god is all love?

[@captbuscemi]

Thanks as always Trevor, great vid and congrats on the 100K! See you at Byron in July! PS Speaking as someone who changed career to follow their passion, kudos on making the leap to doing AstroBackyard as your full time gig! I know the courage it takes to do that.

[@Ms_Dana]

Thank you for the good info, newbie to imaging but looking forward to learning and the challenges and rewards! Btw you and your wife are a cute couple! Congratulations on going full time with Astro Backyard!

[@tamartin7001]

Very helpful, thankyou - just moving into narrowband, so appreciate the tips🙂

[@dasimcoes]

Trevor , great video , very informative.

[@garycrumrine9538]

It is so nice to see your videos and not feel sorry for you dealing so much with the cold. Also like to see you smile now that you are married. It has been a great journey living the dream through your videos. I think as we grow old we put together a list of those we would love to meet... you are on that list. Dark Skies.

[@aubreykeddington8516]

I am doing a project on narrowband imaging and this helped so much!!

[@caioastrofotos268]

I love your videos, i learn a lot from them.

[@LynnChevalier]

I really enjoy the beginners guides! I've enjoyed the channel and its growth over time! April 5th is my birthday....hope to get our yearly picture at NEAF!

[@nagualdesign]

Not sure when I subscribed, maybe a year ago? But I do know that I've been using Photoshop since 2001 and I appreciate you sharing your techniques. I'd love to have a crack at processing your raw/dng files myself, if they're publicly available. _[Edit]_ And it's great to hear that you've been able to quit your day job to do this full-time! 👏

[@patrickguilfoyle8884]

I really enjoy your videos. I just found your site last month. I am coming to the realization that this can become VERY expensive when talking about monochrome CCD cameras with telescope & accessories. Keep up the good work.

[@ElPasoTubeAmps]

Your videos and images are fantastic. I try, and I can get beautiful images of the moon and M42 but that is pretty much the extent of my real accomplishments. Your videos are very encouraging and I do have some decent equipment but just not the energy to drag it to the desert as much as I would like. Keep up the excellent work and your KZbin channel and stay safe and healthy.

[@bcvlogs7658]

Thanks for the video Trevor, always wanted to get into narrowband imaging. Probably won't be able to just yet as I sold my bigger gear

[@AstroFarsography]

Nice workflow, I may retry my soul neb Hubble soemtime now. And "thanking my 70 subs", think I remember seeing that, and when you thanked for 1000 subs. Seems a lifetime ago now. What you do is Astrophotography goals, keep it up as always mate

[@evalaczko2718]

Thank you for sharing! It was very useful for me. 🔭🌌

[@wazigeralph]

Thanks for this tutorial. Really nice. Best regards.

[@jeffballphoto]

Great technique on purple fringe! Thanks.

[@user-hi3qg5nm1e]

Congratulations Trevor very useful video i love it❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️👏👏👏🙏🙏

[@Thunder_Dome45]

Congrats on 100k! I'm new to narrow band (about a month or 2) and I literally photograph SII and Ha under an interchange of interstates with towers of orange lights beaming down on me. I still get 4 minute exposures and they come out great as long as the telescope isn't looking almost right at the lights. I use the Astronomik 6nm 1.25" filters too. The OIII doesn't block as much of that light so I've moved to 180s exposures with that filter. My OIII causes areas of sky colorization with the SHO combination. I'm sure Pixinsight helps a little with ABE, but it's still there. Despite that I am sure OIII just lets in more light pollution no matter who makes the filter. I am glad I bought Astronomik filters right up front. They aren't Astrodon, but I don't care. Those are way over priced and if you can afford them great. I had to buy Astronomik filters one at a time, but at 2.5 times the price, Astrondons aren't worth it, unless the images sale.

[@schmiedracing]

Upon hearing the ME music: "This is the best store on the KZbin Citadel!"

[@christopherridgway9692]

I know a few astro nuts who are also into drumming (myself included). I wonder if it's coincidence or if there is a predisposition scientifically for the way our brains work? Ha! In any case, I'm late to the party with respect to when I started following you. I've been doing this about a year now. In one of your early videos, you mentioned that it took you 6 months to produce a nice image. I thought that was crazy at first. I've been proud of every image I've produced. Until the next one. Then i looked back at my first images and understood what you meant. Keep up the great work. Love the informative videos. Super helpful! Clear skies.

[@atoms_dancing]

hey I missed that video, I was on a client shoot myself. Been a subscriber since 2017! cheers!

[@russellcartmell]

Hi Trevor, Watching your channel and seeing your stunning images inspired me to give it a go myself. I purchased a canon dslr, explore scientific ed80 and a used HEQ5 mount as you highly recommend these in your videos. I'm still waiting for a clear night here ( in rainy England) to try it out. Thank you for your excellent channel, keep up the great work!

[@Erika-fh7rc]

thank you was really helpful 🙏🏻

[@jcfickenscher]

love the vids i just got my first big telescope and i watch your videos and they are awesome

[@airandspaceart5746]

JC Fickenscher ur not

[@jcfickenscher]

???

[@pontikipsito46]

@@airandspaceart5746 ?

[@AstroQuest1]

Great video as usual Trevor and of course I learned something new - purple hues around stars. BTW I missed your request for how long we have been following you, I don't know exactly but it is at four years as I have a comment dating back to then under my original normal channel. I remember when you hit 10,000 so it was before that. I think I said it before, I would nowhere (in AP) without you and Chuck. Also, I think it is great that you found a way to do this full time. - Cheers Kurt

[@RaysAstrophotography]

Narrowband imaging is great!

[@AstroBackyard]

Thanks Ray!! Cheers man

[@jessetrail5330]

Great video on the tricky Hubble Palette. I look forward to your presentation in Byron Bay! (Hubby said I could go :-)

[@henrisaarejoe3182]

Just wanted to say thanks! :)

[@dasimcoes]

Trevor , started watching you about 3 years ago. I don't remember how many subs you had then , but i do remember the video. It was titled a night with a camera in my backyard or something similar lol

[@stavrosk9194]

Hi finally new videooooo

[@allenkonig8759]

It’s worth mentioning though, that one can image red, green and blue too with a mono camera. You’re not limited to narrowband, but it is more work than with a colour camera. Greta Videos. Keep up the great work.

[@N4GW]

Great video. I have so much light pollution, I do narrowband with a monochrome camera almost exclusively

[@stein3209]

great help to me as a beginner

[@piotrjakuc6357]

I'm a bit late to the party, but this is a great video! Very informative, but I still have a long ways to go for narrowband imaging!

[@movax20h]

There is another benefit of using narrowband imagining. That is ability to correct for chromatic aberration in software. It is not easy to do, but doable. This is because in each narrow band you are dealing with so narrow band that each band has no chromatic aberration on its own, but the fields of different band might be differently imagined. This can be compensated using various techniques in software, by doing distortions for each band independently and put back into perfect image. The main drawback of narrowband imagining is need to do a bit more acquisition, because you remove so much more of the signal. However, because most of the interesting signal is already in this narrow band, and you will use mono camera, and remove the night pollution all at the same time, it kind of offsets the issue and is manageable. Otherwise you would need to do 10x more time of exposure to get same signal.

[@jezrougan]

Think I subscribe to your channel back in mid July 2018... I have learnt so much from your videos and has inspired me to do more astrophotography... Just ashame my scope keeps crashing on alignment... Software/firmware update required but I just don't know how to achieve even though I've got all the instructions... It just bring my blood to the boil when the pc see's the scope plugged in but the software doesn't... Great content as always and clear skies

[@ToddChevrier]

Awesome Job! The more you show people the right way...the better the images will be. I don't know if you did a video on different lens, eyepieces and adapters to get the correct focal length? I love Rudy, such a beautiful lab.

[@alanhat26]

Great thank you 😀

[@MegaBrebis]

Useful video, thanks! When preprocessing narrow band images do you have to apply the dark/flat/bias frames to each image of the band or only to the stacked image of each band?

[@DominusObiscum]

Thanks Trevor, just need the narrowband camera now, still on a DSLR.

[@DoddyDoes]

Great video as always Trevor. Do you do separate calibration frames for each filter or just one set for all filters...? Thanks :)

[@wadehustad9447]

We wanna see you rock out on those drums one of these days!

[@razeezar]

You really must come on a trip down to Australia some time - There's plenty of places to find dark southern hemisphere skies down here! Edit : I just saw at the end of the vid that it's on your calendar :-)

[@Steve_The_Ignorant_Astronomer]

Hey Trevor thanks for explaining broadband and narrowband . I do broadband and think I am getting a hang of it I am pleased ... Question , what kind of filters can I use besides light pollution filters. Also are you going to be at NEAF again this year ? Met you there last year... And one more thing , how do you know when I subscribed to your channel ? I have a number under the name AstroBackyard of 103K but I thought that was how many subscribers you have. Thanks for all the posts I really enjoy them even the Photoshop even though I do not use it. But keep up the great postings Steve

[@AstroForumSpace]

Awesome content Trevor! The AP setup looks great. Do you record in a studio?

[@AstroBackyard]

Hey, thanks man! It's a "home studio" - aka my basement :D

[@edjones3390]

Great as usual! One question, how do you align the different narrow band data ?

[@Metaldetectiontubeworldwide]

My 'Astro sensei ' 🤗🤩🥰😘

[@MrGeert1972]

Hey Trevor, I like all your videos. I’m start looking for a astro camera and filters. Now I wonder what is better the 1,25” or the 2” filters? Or does that all depends on your refractor? I will use a filter wheel so I can use LRGB and Ha SII and OIII.

[@pparkitny82]

Hi Trevor, great video, I have just started narrowband imaging. I noticed that your stacked images are RGB, when I stacked my frames, the result was TIF in greyscale. Did you change any settings in DSS?

[@astrostar_clearski7041]

clear sky

[@caroliensche13]

~min 6: it's not just nebulae, it has to be emission nebulae (which includes planetary ones). important! Reflecting nebulae just reflect light, and this light is usually broadband.

[@VisibledarkAstro]

Informative video Trevor. Thanks for sharing. I did a video similar, discussing narrowband imaging from the city. I particularly like shooting just Ha for the details and its quick and fun to process this data. Although the black and white image lacks the wow factor a colour image seems to invoke with most people. We should get together sometime for coffee (not far from you) and I can bring you over to the dark side... try using Pixinsight for processing! ;)

[@wh0sthatgirl]

Trevor, can you do more videos on your mono work? I looked through your recent videos and didn't see anything on it, but now that your a man with an APOD, it's time :) I'd love to see your setup! Do you use an autofocuser? Which filters have you been liking for NB?

[@alandyer910]

As a further suggestion I didn’t see how you get your monochrome masters into the colour channels in PS. I might have missed that in an earlier video. Most people just Select All and then Copy and Paste. That’s crude and eats up your RAM, unless you use the little known Edit>Purge>Clipboard command. A more elegant way is to open up the three grey scale masters (assuming you have 3 and they are all aligned) in PS. Pick one then go to the Channels palette and in the rather obscure drop down submenu at right choose Merge Channels. Dialog boxes come up allowing you to select RGB and assign the monochromes to the colour channels as you like. It’s a hidden feature! Hope this is helpful. Cheers!