Astrophotography Image Processing Tutorial (Photoshop)

[@brendanforward7322]

This was a real treat to watch. You have such a patient way of working with the data you acquire from a session. Ultimately you can see the benefit in the end product. Thank you for what you bring to the community. Clear skies!

[@christianhenke3314]

Took me an entire evening to go step by step and follow along but it was really worth it. A little bit slower would be nice but I would have stopped every few seconds anyway to listen twice and try to understand things rather than just copying every click. Thank you so much, I got really hooked up!

[@obafgkm30108]

Thank you, this was very helpful!

[@MissileGuidance]

Amazing tutorial! 🔥

[@anthonylanahan9902]

I watched this a while back but not closely enough. I revisited this recently and what a difference! I thought I had a lot of bad data due to my light pollution, but it turns out I just sucked ad processing it! Thanks x a million. This made a world of difference for me.

[@AstroBackyard]

Hey thanks Tony!!

[@mesample1705]

Exactly, Anthony. Trevor. state every menu level as you go through them and I recommend you click on each level so the viewer can see where your mouse is. Most of your viewers are trying to learn this rather than review your content. We learning are having difficulty following you. Think how you would want a teacher to tutor.

[@shaunjackson6366]

This has helped me a lot - i don't always follow the steps 100% - but i found it very useful to learn techniques - my images are significantly better now than when i first started post-processing

[@lynn-kaichao1348]

how did you determine that 248 was the right point to set for all R G B white points?

[@ronbaldwin6382]

When doing a stretch using curves, you need a little headroom so the RGB values don't get slammed (clipped) at 254.

[@maciejzmuda1339]

I might be 247, doesn't really matter. What matters, you have to set the same value for all the channels.

[@andrewkemp70]

Thanks Trevor. I just copied 1 image of omega Centauri I took last night 16 times, did a few darks and biases today and this process worked a treat on that 1 image! Cheers from a noob 👍

[@kevinwenrick7657]

I think your video has provided tremendous insight into the depth of image processing. Seeing how you do it in Photoshop was an added bonus as far as I'm concerned. Seems to me the rest is up to those of us who want to explore it by doing, not by being taught. I know I'm stoked. Thank you very much for sharing some of your experience. Well done, sir.

[@owenequinox6]

Now done with my 5th ever image. This tutorial is so dang helpful, all 3 successful images look as good as I think they could be with the gear I have. Thank you so much!

[@sabinroman]

Amazing tutorial, followed it step by step on the West Veil nebula and for the first time I actually get a picture that starts looking like a proper astrophotography :) Thanks so much Trevor!

[@cronufc]

Coming from Lightroom, I'm still getting my head around alot of this but this video was really great. Thanks for sharing

[@kevinwenrick7657]

Trevor, just one last thank you for this excellent tutorial. You provided more than enough for a first time PS user like me to explore Photoshop by applying your techniques, and to confidently adventure forward to find my own methods. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had no clue how to go about this. Today I have my own pre and post processed images of M31 and M33, both from my Bortle 8-9 backyard. They are far better than I ever imagined my fist images could possibly be.

[@rocknuts]

Thanks so much Trevor for this tutorial. You have nailed it for me. THE best in depth tutorial I have found. I followed your workflow and Bingo! I know how to process properly my DSO images. Thanks once again mate. - Craig M

[@angelsalas7884]

This is a really good tutorial. I don't have the Astronomy Tools Actions Set and yet by following the curves, levels, saturation and vibrance steps on my backyard astrophoto it improved like 200% Thanks for your good tips and good pace in the video. Clear Skies!!

[@NG-VQ37VHR]

I know this is an old video of yours, but thank you for taking the time to post this tutorial. This makes me want to go back through all my old data and redo everything.

[@Xcron]

This past weekend I finally achieved a long time goal of capturing and processing my first astrophoto. I just wanted to say thanks for all the content you put out, Trevor. This video especially helped me learn techniques and ideas for editing my shot of M42. Just wanted to spread some good news in all the chaos of the world.

[@James-gg7un]

Yeah, Same!

[@SrikanthSridhara]

Hi Trevor, Thank you for providing such an awesome tutorial. I am blown away by how much I learnt from this. It completely transformed my attempt at capturing Orion!

[@DirkVoortmans]

I'm just a beginner but this tutorial is just amazing... Seeing the stacked image always looks like a disappointment to me but than I follow your steps and ..boom there is the detail.

[@astrodad656]

Well...2 weeks ago I could not make sense of this. Since playing around with PS and watching various other tutorials I am able to follow. Your work flow is artistic, which I like. Thanks.

[@MitchrZ101]

Thanks so much for this video dude. Took my first shot at astrophotography two nights ago and I edited mine along with this, and it looks incredible.

[@jamesdinan1109]

can't thank you enough Man!! thought my image was useless but after following this, i couldn't be happier!

[@ClausTuxen]

Dear Trevor/All....at index 5:52 the white point is set at 248. I was wondering where that so specific number came from. Please be so kind to explain.

[@GarySizer]

I literally just paused the video and came to the comments to see if anyone else was asking and/or explaining where the 19 and 248 came from.

[@AnindyaMukherjeeTheGamer]

Thank you soo much for sharing this invaluable knowledge

[@alessandrocernuzzi]

Thank you Trevor! I just got my first successful deep sky image and this tutorial made my day!

[@danieprinsloo6153]

Thanks Trevor, most helpful!

[@marinaamgad5781]

This video as dramatically improved my photoshop skills...thanks! 🤩

[@paulabrierley7979]

Thank you Trevor. This is just what I need for processing my DSLR RAW files. Forecast is clear tonight in my corner of the UK. So I will be having ago at IC 1848 with my 80mm and EOS 1000D

[@insidethemoment5226]

very nicely you explained. I tried doing it with a click I had, was my first try. But I'll try to practice more. your tutorial was really nice and it helped me get a nice processed image.

[@paulmotta7019]

Thanks for sharing. Going to watch it again and again.

[@sidbr9720]

This video was amazing, explained very very good. As amateur im and I was trying to bring my 1 h data but almost I couldn't bc of noise and not enough data on my pic and while I was watching ur video I was able to bring a lot more better Amazing tutorial

[@patrickstevenson8305]

Trevor, you obviously have a real grasp on using CC for processing, but you have two significant areas you really need to address when doing a tutorial. First, you need to tether your mouse to your table! I know what is happening. While you are talking, you just have to have your cursor racing around. It's nearly impossible to follow your workflow because I can't tell when you are talking about where the cursor is or you are just thinking out loud. Second, you race from one step to the next so fast that I can't tell what you are wandering past, and when you are clicking on something. Many years ago I wanted to learn how to play a 12 string guitar. So, I bought a 12 string guitar album by Glen Campbell. I started and stopped the record every few seconds so I could duplicate the notes he was playing. That's what I have to do with your tutorial. Instead of learning how to use CC, I am constantly starting, stopping, reversing your video. I spend more time and energy trying to follow you than learning. Please understand: Your tutorial is the best on KZbin, so it's worth the time and effort, BUT slow down (don't think out loud), and control your cursor. Now, back to the video.

[@CsTvInc]

I know this is an older video, but this helped me so much on editing my first longer stack of data, i really appreciate you putting out these kind of videos. ill have to try out those astronomy tool set when I have some extra cash to spend that you suggested we use. I can definitely see where it would help me if i had those tools

[@limbofilmed7023]

If anybody's on Mac and wondering the shortcut for the "stamp" he mentions at the 7:00 mark it's: Shift + Option + Command + N + E. Took me a bit to figure it out :)

[@marcthomas9831]

I was desperately trying to work that out, thanks!

[@viennacentervienna9160]

In MAC it's Shift+Option+Command+E :)

[@svaphrodite]

@@viennacentervienna9160 Exactly -- Correct!

[@JH-oe6yo]

thank you very much, I was going crazy

[@danieprinsloo6153]

You are awesome!!!!!! I was just about to throw my whole astro rig in the bin.

[@DavidZappala]

Amazing tutorial !!! Thank you very much !!! 🤘🏼😆

[@fabiocanna85]

Amazing Tutorial! Thanks and I will share soon my image!!!

[@xtm123]

Trevor, please do another tutorial on processing. Slow it down a bit with more commentary on why you pick a certain function and what it does to the photo. Thanks!

[@BackyardAstronomy2018]

@AstroBackyard- I processed the data and posted it on my facebook page with the hashtag #AstroBackyardChallenge. Those plug ins work exceptionally well. I have only been doing astrophotography for about 6 months so far. I have an old Canon EOS Xs Digital SLR camera that I modified myself for astrophotography. I have never messed with any cameras and I will admit it was a bit nerve racking as I tore into the camera as soon as I bought it. I didn't use it any before I done the mod. All I did was test it out and make sure everything was in good working condition as I bought it used for a really good deal. I am pretty well satisfied with the camera. I like 1000x better than my Nikon DSLR I had when I first started. But it's all in what you like I guess. Thanks for posting this video. You do some amazing astrophotography and you are inspiring to me and make me wanna keep going and keep learning and improving. Clear Skies! -B.A-

[@Andyportervt]

Great Tutorial Just bought Astronomy action set Because of this video

[@marcthomas9831]

Great tutorial, I have so much more to learn. Thank you for sharing this.

[@2245tomtom]

Awesome tutorial! So many tricks that I didn't know about. Great resource for someone relatively new to the hobby.

[@dcarmageddon]

Thanks for the tutorial. I'm just starting so this will help a lot.

[@mdawgwhite]

I always love your videos. This one was awesome as well but as someone just learning to use photoshop, this was not something I could keep along with. Still enjoyed it. I just need to find a more beginner course video. Cant complain tho, it was very informational

[@SZ_Fotografia]

Hi! thanks a lot for this video. What light pollution filter did you use?

[@davidemascoli1982]

Very interesting tutorial!

[@llamarvasquez1803]

Thank you very much Trevor... Awesome video and tutorial! Your very talented bro

[@djnishu]

It would be great if you would mention why are you doing what. Like what are you trying to achieve and how.

[@73hendrix73]

Thanks for this very helpful tutorial ! And beautiful result !

[@bradwanik3255]

This is exactly what I needed. Thank you!!!!!!

[@narathipruksa]

Very useful tutorial Trevor

[@wildlaborg]

Great tutorial and great help. From image that looks bad, to beautiful image, that is excellent. I had similar problems on night sky timelapse with IR cut filter removed. Now I know how I can help bring more details. Thanks.

[@AstroBackyard]

+wildlab.org Thank you. I am glad you found this useful!

[@Metaldetectiontubeworldwide]

This will be an objective for me in 2018..mastering photoshop and image stacker ...great tutorial mate ...althought im gonna put in my favorites 😎😀...because i'm gonna view this one alot of times 😉😊

[@sangej01]

Metal Detecting Southern Netherlands h

[@ravendhar.r1664]

thanks for the tutorial bro, it is a great help also what is the name of that nebula in terms of ngc number

[@kristoferstoll587]

Wow... great stuff man! I love your channel!!!

[@AstroBackyard]

Thank you Kris!!

[@youngbaeseo3302]

I was impressed with your video. I have a question At 5:09 in this video, you adjusted the black slide bar in histogram to 19 Why 19? Is 19 always right? Or is it because you thought 19 is right just in this image?

[@ClausTuxen]

At 5:52 the white point is 248...Where did that come from ???

[@trewhoffman4517]

I believe he chose 19 to get close to the peak of the data, but not so close that he would risk clipping it. I usually set my black point closer to the peak of the data, but 19 seemed to work well for his image. It's mostly opinion based, though.

[@GoOnBerlin]

this technique is very interesting. thank you!

[@laidbackobs]

That's what happen when you really put attention to the process...you even notice the file names haha. Fantastic video Trevor.

[@AstroBackyard]

+Jairo Vrolijk haha oh man I was waiting to see if anyone noticed. Thats funny. Thanks Jairo

[@JABERDIVE]

great tutorial! really usefull! congrats!

[@JustinWolffPhotography]

15:36 There's a file titled "holysh*t" lol😂😂

[@davysmith8759]

Camera Crashcourse Makes you wonder what’s in that folder haha

[@Nonosquare2000]

Maybe it is a file with all the surprisingly amazing photos he took.

[@avadheshmishra8291]

Congratulations for 11k subs astrobackyard from india

[@AstroBackyard]

+Avadhesh Mishra Thank you Avadhesh! Clear skies my friend

[@rishinatarajan8757]

Can u please re upload the stacked soul nebula . I really want to practice editing

[@senseigord1]

The funny part is I’m new to this and I had a friend who recommended your video this one in particular I certainly don’t know how in the name of God he would expect me to be able to grasp all of this at the speed it’s going

[@Rapidnews_se]

Nice Tutorial :) Iam total newbies on astrophoto so i gonna follow u and learn me more about this.

[@mikem5933]

Hi Trevor, loving the videos. This is an older one but it's helping me...question though. When you were moving your slider around and setting values, what made you decide specifically on "19" for the black & "248" for the white (around 5:00 on video). Very curious why you chose those specific numbers.

[@mikem5933]

Trevor!! Nevermind, I should have read the other questions & replies. I kinda figured it was to give a little bit of a buffer as to not clip the white & black.

[@wesprince599]

I appreciate the noveria planet theme 👌

[@NetThink]

@4:08 - Not making sense to me. My darkest spot on the image is 0,0,0 and my brightest spot is 255,255,255 -- isn't that how most images are?

[@josephluciani5531]

This is such a valuable tutorial, I wish you could slow down the process by at least 50% and explain more fully each step.

[@Mikes-Mysteries]

Did the whole tutorial to see how it would affect my own procedures, was great!, image I was working on is way better then before. I also imaged this nebula, I called it the embryo nebula 😂

[@eeliashar5190]

thanks for this informative video. have also downloaded your PDF. i have a question though. all my recent stacks with siril or ASIstack have produced a tiff that upon openning it in PS to follow your steps, there is little to none space to the left of the histogram. meaning i am unable to even begin the threshold level step. it seems to me that DSS is doing some stretch? thanks

[@PimcheGringoRanch]

Great tutorial, thanks a ton. any chance you have one for milky way processing?

[@chuck942]

Wonderful but crazy!!! I say crazy because my mind is fried now after watching that... I have so much to learn on the processing side of it all, going to give it my best shot though. Is it possible for you to provide us greenhorns a tutorial on basic astrophotography image processing in photoshop, a sort of stepping stone approach for those, like me, who need to get started with photoshop on a beginner's level. It would sure help me but I realize that may be a crazy request also..........love the channel.

[@devilmastah]

This was great, just improved some older photos big time! Keep the work up, awesome channel!

[@AstroBackyard]

+devilmastah Glad to hear that, thank you!

[@wimnelissen6230]

Dear Trevor, Thanks very much for your video ! I almost have seen all your videos and looking at them is very encoraging ! I just started overnew looking to the stars. Have my equipment running and made a first picture. I used Deep Sky stacker for stacking the pictures and now I need to buy some software to play around and finaly make a picture. Is it true that Adobe itself does not sell the Astronomy Tool ? Can it be bougth anyware else ? Many thanks for your reply. Wim Nelissen, The Netherlands

[@fotoschublade]

Great Job! I'd like to see more! 😊

[@AstroBackyard]

+Hartmut S. Thank you!

[@kristofcappoen43]

Hi I love this workflow and I bought your book, but what do I do when my Histogram is glued to the left side of my box?

[@tomsharman3136]

That is usually a sign that you need to take longer exposures with your lights. Or as a temporary measure on the data you already have, take the file into Photoshop, adjust levels and slide the white triangle from the right to the left a bit, without letting the grey triangle touch your data stream. That should move the histogram data to the right a bit, repeat a few more times.

[@EDGCOMBE7]

Thank you this was so helpful for a newbie to photoshop and astrophotography I learnt so much.

[@AstroBackyard]

You're welcome!!

[@StevesharpphotographyCoUk]

Hi Trevor Great video - can you or anyone tell me - when using the colour sampler tool you select a black and white point - how do you select each one separately when adjusting? - I can adjust the RGB TO 19 on the blacks but no chance of adjusting the Whites to 248 like you show in your video?

[@StevesharpphotographyCoUk]

sussed it now

[@thecozmic69]

What’s your settings in photoshop as the video confusing me from the start as my settings are different to yours and can’t follow along 🙆🏼

[@SkydivingKiwi]

Thanks a lot for this mate! Love your channel. I got a bushnell scope about 10 years ago, but never got to try some deep sky photos with it. Inspired by your channel, I’ll give it a go with my a7sII. Hope it works :)

[@markusschwabenland3487]

heyo, did anyone notice which keys he is pressing in 7:05 ? I dont know and i thought this is important. so pls captain

[@Eichetheking]

Awesome! Great tutorial, thank you for that! Do you know a workaround for the gradient terminator?

[@paulcooper1280]

Hi Trevor, videos are great! A question... in a curves layer you pick a point on the line and can move it up/ down or left or right. I get what the up/down movement does but what is the effect of moving a point left/right? Can't find the answer anywhere.

[@Calzune]

any answer about that 248 question...?

[@ErikVariable]

Some one please help. I can set the white and black points using the colour sampler tool. Using the levels I can adjust the black point and in the info panel I see the RGB change. At 5:52 Trevor miraculously creates another level and starts changing the white point and the #2 RGB numbers change.... what did he do the select that sample point? Everything I try just affects the #1 sample point. Thanks

[@danno1374]

@astrobackyard File name: HOLYSHIT I just laughed so hard at that! Thanks for the videos. I just bought photoshop in January and following your videos is helping tremendously!

[@cmelton.photography]

I saw that. Lol

[@drandrewclarke]

great vid but I would love to know how one gets to this level of knowledge

[@Martinreij]

Hi first of all thanks for making the effort. But I am a beginner and I can't follow al your swift moves. You need to slow down man. I hope you will make a slower version because I could learn a lot . Please in your comment mention the how and why about the numbers. Cheers for now. Waiting for a slower version. I really tried to keep up with pauses and playbacks . There is just no way I can keep up. Martin

[@jfmaniac5118]

Super tutorial!

[@AstroBackyard]

+jfmaniac Thanks man

[@benjamindbaker69]

I saw Trevor mention an illuminated reticle he uses for aiming his telescopes. Anyone (or Trevor) know which one it is? I have found a few online, but they seem to mostly be fairly high mag, which would be so highly magnified on my 1000mm 8" newtonian. Thanks!

[@aglns1582]

Nice vid very helpful thnx a lot ;-)

[@NickBergstromACE]

Quick question: around 5min-6:30ish in, when you are balancing the individual color channels to "set the black and white points"...The two sample points you took are giving you values. But for the blacks you just randomly announce "we are going 19 accross the board", and then for whites your stating "we want 248". I couldn't quite figure out where you are getting those numbers or the methodology used. Very possible it's experience and your eyeballing and knowing that number may work, but it's a little confusing. Most people describe bringing in the sliders to the edges of the registered signal/peak in levels. While you are more or less doing this, you are kind of randomly short of the histogram signal on the first color, and then just seem to say this is THE value for the 2 next channels regardless of where the slider ends up. Not a criticism in the slighest. In fact, I really like that approach instead of just going with a single RGB stretch. But when trying to apply the process to an image of my own, I'm left wondering where exactly I'm supposed to pull that number from? Especially the white value. If I may add one more question: when using this workflow with a galaxy, do you suggest masking out the core and/or stars from the very start?

[@baugham2]

Excellent video. I hope to get back to Astrophotography again soon.

[@AstroBackyard]

+Stan Baugham Thanks Stan!

[@astrophoto2169]

So once you oped the dss.tif and edit in ps. Can you then reduce the image size and save as a Web based image. My tif won't allow me to reduce or save as a Web image.

[@alexchong1979]

where to get all though plugin? so usefull !

[@TheP3NGU1N]

The stamp thing seems... wrong. Wouldn't something like smart objects or grouping w/ clipping be a better option? The Only reason I can think of doing it that way is to prevent conflict with filters commands.

[@carbondax2544]

I am really enjoying all your videos. When you sample a point, your info panel RGB seems to have two numbers against each colour which are separated by a slash. My info panel only has one and I'm not sure of the significance of this difference in trying to follow what you are doing. Any ideas why mines different? Googling hasn't solved it for me yet...

[@abpho207]

Thanks for the tutorial.

[@AstroBackyard]

+ab pho my pleasure

[@AstroBackyard]

+ab pho My pleasure

[@chivukulavirinchi8124]

please suggest something for manual mount users as we cant get 5 hrs of exposure.

[@jabisanz]

is this only for deep sky or can use also for editing milkyway shots? Thanks in advance

[@connorrimo2730]

Hey Trevor, probebly one of your newest subscribers! Great videos. (and images) Your passion is undeniable and shows in every video. I have a question about photoshop, are the features like "Astronomy tools" standard on photoshop or something that's an additional feature?