Deep Sky Astrophotography Editing - The Andromeda Galaxy from Light Polluted Skies!

[@zZola_Photography]

Would love to see a tutorial on editing a nebula like Orion

[@MattDieterich]

Stay tuned Michael as I have that video nearly finished up showing how to edit M42! I'll post that video in a couple days.

[@steppen57]

@@MattDieterich ha ha .. just reading this. I guess, I'll get another try at this!

[@MattDieterich]

@@steppen57 absolutely!

[@jrodewald2010]

Great job, Matt! I definitely don't do enough astro, I learned a load of stuff from watching you do this. Thanks so much!!

[@MattDieterich]

Happy you watched the video James! I'd be glad to help you out if you have any questions, hit me up on IG!

[@ChrisM541]

Really interesting video, thanks for this! I done a fair bit of work using audio tools e.g. SoundForge and a fair bunch of Waves etc plugins and I wonder, on the subject of noise removal, when I look at your final image we can all instantly see where the light (and detail therein) from all those galaxies and stars should be retained. If we then look at an area outside these galaxies (e.g. top and bottom of image) and then zoom is (as you did) we an intensity differential between the starlight you want to retain and the noise you don't. Does any software have a noise reduction plugin that makes use a user-defined brightness threshold that would allow the user to totally remove all that unwanted noise we see between the stars below a set threshold? Basically, noise reduction would kick in only below the intensity threshold you set, and you would set that threshold to a level that would retain all the light within a galaxy and surrounding all stars. I find the noise reduction employed in Photoshop etc (as seen here) very quickly has such a detrimental affect on all that detail you want to retain - when it really shouldn't since, in your image, the noise level is much lower than the brightness/intensity of practically every star and galaxy visible. A noise gate in the audio world generally includes user defined threshold where noise below the set threshold is completely removed. Replace that with an intensity threshold in Photoshop and you'd achieve the exact same thing. This would be simple to do by looking at the appropriate value/s in each pixel e.g. 8bit values would allow a threshold setting of 0-255, 0=zero intensity, 255=max intensity. You can easily modify this so that everything below the threshold can be reduced to a user-defined level, so that if you wanted to retain some intensity - but still reduce it - you can. I can't believe someone hasn't done this already? Of course, for this to work we mustn't have the noise level so high that it interferes/competes with the image. There are other audio tools that are e.g. very good in reducing old tape hiss from recordings. Here, a few seconds of the tape with no music(i.e. only hiss) is sampled and used to mask out the hiss from within the real audio/music section. This works really well, again, particularly where the hiss is low compared to the audio you want to keep. The same thing can be done with an image - select a suitable section of noise then the software will use that to remove the same noise from the whole image.

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching John and for the feedback. I tend to usually push images pretty hard to bring out the faint details. This one was definitely processed quickly and commonly masks are used now to target where noise reduction is performed. I definitely am shocked how much nebulosity was revealed from the suburbs.

[@miroslavk.5049]

Excellent and easy to follow Matt! Many thanks.

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks Miroslav!

[@victorperez2963]

that was great, thanks for sharing

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching Victor!

[@M31glow]

Super simple workflow, excellent post!

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching Walter! Feel free to let me know if you'd like to see another topic for a tutorial! I plan on making more deep sky editing videos.

[@samarthvedi4195]

Extremely helpful. Thank you so much and pls make more of these with other types of objects

[@MattDieterich]

Happy the video helped you! I'll have a M45 video out soon.

[@MohibKhan1989]

Excellent video man. Keep it up.

[@MattDieterich]

Happy you watched Mohib!

[@MohibKhan1989]

Very informational. I’ve to get started in pixinsight this great.

[@MattDieterich]

@@MohibKhan1989 PixInsight is crazy powerful! I'm excited to share my M42 video in a few days and blown away by how much faint dust was pulled out thanks to cleaning up the background in PixInsight with the DBE tool.

[@MohibKhan1989]

@@MattDieterich Looking forward to that as well Matt. Always find your photos and videos inspirational.

[@MattDieterich]

@@MohibKhan1989 thank you! Right back at you! Would love shoot together.

[@bluewhalestudioblenderanim1132]

you can also wiew this comparason as: true brightness , but only some color on display . VS . exadurated brightness , but All of the Colors on display so in a way both images have their own apeal making the "dull" image just as interesting as the shiny processed image

[@witte82]

Thx 😱 looks awsome

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching!

[@rvdxpress]

Amazing photo and amazing work!

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching Roscoe!

[@teigas84]

Great video. I am going to test andromeda when and if it clears up her in Norway. What focal length will the scope you used be if converted to a regualr dsrl lense focal lengt?

[@MattDieterich]

Scope was at 530mm FL and I used a full frame Canon EOS R.

[@dasimcoes]

Great video Matt , very informative and the back ground music was a nice touch. Thanks for sharing

[@MattDieterich]

Happy you watched Dave. Would love to hear if you have ideas for new tutorials :)

[@dasimcoes]

Matt Dieterich I'll think of something. Lol

[@MattDieterich]

@@dasimcoes awesome thanks!

[@dasimcoes]

Matt Dieterich how about a tutorial on how to get focused (with a ccd/cmos) camera and or how to calculate your back spacing for a scope and camera.

[@MattDieterich]

@@dasimcoes I think a backfocus tutorial would be great! I'll add it on my list of ideas!

[@aww100100]

Hi. I am struggling to convince myself shooting it at 3 minutes will not overexpose the photos. What ISO did you set at? I afraid 60s at F4 Iso800 is already too high as the histogram is alright in the middle.

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching Andrew. I used an ISO of 800, but indeed adjust this depending upon your local sky brightness. You can also reduce the exposure time as well if necessary to ensure you do not over expose the photos.

[@aww100100]

@@MattDieterich Thanks but reducing it further from 60s may limit further the signal the photos can collect. 🤔🤔

[@MattDieterich]

@@aww100100 correct that is true, so expose long enough that the histogram shifts about 1/3 to the right. That way you are adequately exposed.

[@robj144]

Awesome video. Your picture is awesome, but the background is blotchy. This is my problem when shooting galaxies in high LP without a filter. I'm looking for a method or tutorial to get rid of the uneven background after stretching and such.

[@MattDieterich]

Ya stretching the image hard can bring in a blotchy background. If you have an uneven background then it might be good to revisit your Background Extraction method if running PixInsight.

[@robj144]

@@MattDieterich Thanks. I'm currently using Siril for stretching and background extraction, but they are fairly similar for background extraction.

[@MattDieterich]

@@robj144 sounds good! I haven't heard of that one, but DBE in PI normally takes me a few tries to get the background evenly corrected.

[@KenshIRoyaleSaran]

I've never seen any video with such detailed explanation for the methods applied like you. Thanks a lot, from Chennai, India. I wish you hit more subscribers soon.

[@MattDieterich]

Glad you enjoy the video Saravanan!

[@InterplanetaryLuis]

Awesome!

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks Luis!

[@timurhant469]

Well done! Learned a lot

[@MattDieterich]

Thank you and I am glad you watched!

[@david_in_orbit8832]

Great video!!

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks David glad you watched!

[@cloudynights8796]

Did you used raw and how long was your exposure and what was it focal length . Which softwar is this is it free. Pls tell I m 13 yr old and I want to do astrophotography I have photographed the Pleiades so will I be able to do this. I can share Pleiades if u ask

[@MattDieterich]

Ya I shot RAW exposures focal length 530mm and ISO is in the beginning of the video I note the specs. Deepsky Stacker is free to do the image stacking.

[@cloudynights8796]

@@MattDieterich Thanks a lot would u like to see peiades captured by me plss

[@MattDieterich]

@@cloudynights8796 definitely send me your results!

[@cloudynights8796]

@@MattDieterich how

[@MattDieterich]

@@cloudynights8796 message me a link if you post it online :) Or send it to me on Instagram.

[@BBROPHOTO]

Nice work man! saw this posted on a few FB groups and checked it out. Something I've always wondered in all my M31 images is the background sky all seems to be blotchy. It's interesting how you kept it as I always thought it was 'colour mottle' from my DSLRs. I wasn't sure if it was also possibly stacking artefacts along with thermal issues. I actually really like how yours came out because of this inclusion as it seems natural

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching! Would love to see the photo you're talking about so I can see if there are any recommendations I can give. Feel free to email me the M31 photo [e-mail]. Really depends on the camera you're shooting with and how hard the image was pushed. I pushed the processing pretty hard as you can see in the background, but pretty amazing to see some dust back there from light polluted skies.

[@TheBardo24]

This is actually fucking insane and gives me hope for my own light polluted backyard. Instant sub!

[@MattDieterich]

Glad you watched! Whereabouts are you shooting from?

[@TheBardo24]

@@MattDieterich Northern New Jersey...possibly the worst spot of all time. But I try to get up north to the mountains when time allows. It's the stacking, tracking, and editing i'm brand new at and still trying to gather equipment.

[@MattDieterich]

@@TheBardo24 let me know if you need any help with anything! Have you been over to Cherry Springs State Park in PA? A lot of folks head there, but ya the stacking and editing can work wonders on light pollution filled data.

[@TheBardo24]

@@MattDieterich Wow thank you very much that is very kind of you! I will ask if I run into any trouble! I haven't hit up Cherry Springs yet but camping there is definitely on the list!

[@MattDieterich]

@@TheBardo24 absolutely hope you can get there because the Milky Way is very good there!

[@jimr9266]

What program did you stack your photos in?

[@MattDieterich]

I used PixInsight for stacking.

[@kleo.eternal]

wow?

[@steppen57]

Amazing! I live under bortle 9 skies and gave andromeda a try. Really sad results. This is inspiring, except that I would have to learn pixinsight. It look quite complex. Is there an easy guide to start?

[@MattDieterich]

I also felt overwhelmed by PixInsight at first, but there are so many good tutorials now that I really think it's worth the effort and price to order it. Even just the DBE tool to remove gradients is worth the cost! :) Let me know if you need any help and I'll be making more PixInsight tutorials here on my channel.

[@steppen57]

@@MattDieterich That's very kind of you. I am going to give it a try, and will reach out to you. Thanks!

[@MattDieterich]

@@steppen57 I am looking forward to hearing how it goes! Such a fun software to use even though I only use a few of the many tools PixInsight offers.

[@steppen57]

Hi Matt, I just tagged you on my IG feed. I tried it with an RGB set of M42 from telescope.live. It took me a while to figure it out. Also tried it with my own set of M42, but it's slightly out of focus and had problems with the final colors. Pretty much spent all day, but PixInsight is not a mystery to me anymore! Thanks again!

[@MattDieterich]

@@steppen57 awesome I'll go checkout the post you tagged me in! Keep at it because I still have tons to learn as well, but the practice absolutely helps! Even keeping a little work flow document for yourself is a great idea to learn the steps and improve.

[@paulradford6902]

Looks superb. I'm really struggling to get my M31 looking half decent. I haven't got PI, just Photoshop and it just looks horrible.

[@MattDieterich]

Happy to try and help Paul if you'd like a hand. Stretching in Photoshop is definitely possible with curves and levels adjustments, but I do believe it's trickier to keep the core from over exposing unless you have a short exposure to blend in. Layer masking is great for that if you have used them before to keep the M31 core subdued. Feel free to shoot me an email and I can try to help [e-mail] if you need a hand.

[@scottwilkins6966]

When I open the .tif in Photoshop, it looks nothing like what it did in PI. Assuming I had done something wrong while saving it, I opened it again in PI and it looks perfect. Why is PS displaying it incorrectly?

[@MattDieterich]

Hi Scott, does the TIF look very dark? Also, did you save the TIF as 16 bit? I am thinking you might have not applied the arcsin stretch in PI, but let me know what you find out.

[@scottwilkins6966]

No, I did 32 bit. When I tried 16 bit now, it looks MUCH better. :)

[@MattDieterich]

@@scottwilkins6966 glad to hear! Let me know how it turns out!

[@Johnnymagnet92]

Well you certainly know what you're talking about

[@beatriceheinze2294]

Nice video, Matt! Please, can you do a video about how to process M45 the Pleiades with PixInsight? I'm struggeling to get the background darker without messing up the blue nebulosity of M45. Thank you in advance. Clear skies! 🙂💫🌌🔭

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching Beatrice! The ArcsinH stretch in PixInsight can do wonders for bringing up the reflection nebulosity! I actually do have a M45 video I'll create, so feel free to subscribe and stay tuned!

[@beatriceheinze2294]

@@MattDieterich oh that's great, Matt! I still have a lot to learn regarding PI, so I'm not that familiar with using ArcsinH stretch. Your processing workflow seems quite interesting to me. Btw: I'm already a subscriber of your channel (and ❤ it) and a follower on your FB :-).

[@MattDieterich]

@@beatriceheinze2294 happy to help anyway I can so definitely let me know if you have any questions about the editing. I have a lot to learn myself!

[@deepskywest3633]

Don’t select stars within the DBE samples.

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching and the great point! From what I've seen, the DBE tool should not pick the star in the sample and the tool should mask them out to only grab the background. Have you seen otherwise? Always looking for ways to improve!

[@deepskywest3633]

Hi Matt, Great work sharing your knowledge. Unless something has changed in PI you will find that samples on bright areas ruin the background model and subsequently removes data instead of vignetting. Try it out. Use automatic sample placement. Make sure to purposely put a sample on a bright star or on part of the object itself. Execute DBE. Take a look at the background model, the original and the resulting DBE image side by side (arrange | tile). You will see bright “knots” on the DBE model. These correspond to the samples on top of the stars. This distorts the model and removes stuff you want to keep. Clear skies, ~Lloyd Co-Founder, Deep Sky West Remote Observatories

[@MattDieterich]

@@deepskywest3633 awesome Lloyd thanks for the tips and I'll definitely try that with a sample point on a bright star to compare the difference!

[@deepskywest3633]

@@MattDieterich outstanding. Always experiment ;-)

[@MattDieterich]

@@deepskywest3633 absolutely agree! The level of trial and error in PI is pretty serious ha :)

[@neilfpv]

WOW! I want but I don't have a telescope.

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching Neil! Do you have a longer telephoto lens like a 400mm?

[@neilfpv]

@@MattDieterich I only have 200mm Canon F4 😥

[@MattDieterich]

@@neilfpv ok no problem! Do you shoot with a full frame sensor, or crop sensor? 200mm would be pretty cool since you can get a lot of gas and dust that surrounds Andromeda!

[@neilfpv]

@@MattDieterich I have a Canon 50D which is a crop sensor at 1.6. I also have a didymium filter but I'm not sure if it useful. I also don't have a tracker yet but I'm planning to build a diy barn door. Not sure if it's also useful.

[@MattDieterich]

@@neilfpv I remember making a barn door tracker, but I definitely would recommend one of the small electronic trackers from Skywatcher or Ioptron. The 200mm lens with the 50D on a tracker will be an amazing combo! Feel free to send me an email and I can send direct links to some gear ideas if you'd like [e-mail]