Editing Comet Neowise with Photoshop

[@CanArmyGuy]

If you are using DSS to stack the comet, in "Stacking Parameters" there is a "Comet" Tab. Within it, there are three settings, 1st. is the default setting "Standard Stacking" - Comet position is ignored. the comet will be fuzzy", you will get an image as Peter mentioned at 8:50 of the video. the 2nd parameter is "Comet Stacking " - Comet position is used. The comet will be sharp and the stars will have trails and the 3rd parameter "Stars+Comet Stacking" Comet position is used, the comet and the stars will be sharp.This process is twice as long. To find it, go to the left side of the panel, under " Options " select "Settings" select "Stacking Setting" and select the "Comet Tab. Hope this Helps.

[@DustinTheNow]

This guy is the “Bob Ross” of comet editing! Great work!

[@arielrglaze]

oh dude, you beat me to it.

[@Metaldetectiontubeworldwide]

Just discussing it 😆🤣

[@Metaldetectiontubeworldwide]

@@arielrglaze damm third 😁🤣

[@ChrisMosner]

OMG! The "difference" method for aligning is an epiphany! Thank you so much, Peter!!!

[@hollylynnoverin6126]

This is a very good lesson and you don't talk too fast which is much more relaxing for a tech challenged person like myself. Thank you! It is great to see the comet.

[@brianwalton3016]

Another very useful ,informative video with the explanations on why you do certain things. Many thanks.

[@tedlee2013]

This is the best photoshop astro stacking video on KZbin, the adjustment on comet is brilliant, great tutorial.

[@MikeD606]

Aw, lawd, grant me one clear night before the comet is gone! I got all the tools, including this awesome detailed tutorial (thanks a million, Peter!!!), all I need is one clear night! Fingers crossed!

[@BRP42]

Thanks Peter! This is a much more sensible workflow than any I've seen to date. Definitely not just "another" tutorial.

[@DalsPhotography]

what an amazing tutorial, so clear, soft voice and with no complicated stuff in it ! THANK YOU !!!!!! Best for you Nico.

[@Keavon]

One way to improve the stacking alignment (when you set each one to Difference and use the arrow keys): after aligning each one as you go up the stack, do it in reference to the bottom image each time instead of the previously aligned layer, that way you don't accumulate inaccuracy along the way and you stick to a single point of reference. Unfortunately if you don't have an equatorial mount, everything will end up rotating over time so some rotation might be necessary in addition to arrow key adjustment.

[@sethshaffer8592]

i read your comment 1.5 hours too late....lol

[@carmenspratt7290]

Just got home from shooting NEOWISE and saw this video. My images just finished loading and I’m excited to give your workflow a try. Thanks for taking the time to do and share this great video!

[@kylezeringue5673]

Thanks much, Peter! Going to rework a few sets of stacked comet images based on your tutorial. This makes a lot more sense to me that what I’d done based upon tutorials from others. Keep this up and I will have to look at some of your other lessons!

[@marklowry4431]

DSS has a couple modes for comets. Ones is to align the comet, the other is to align the stars, and the final is to try to align both. Usually, what you can do is align the comet, then align the stars, and then blend the two photos together.

[@chargersina]

I wish the comet mode worked but it does not work for color images. I tried everything to keep the comet and sharp stars (third mode) I think it only works for B/W images. Ultimately I had to settle for a B/W result. Bummer.

[@marklowry4431]

@@chargersina hmm... I've used comet mode with color images before. I wonder what I did? I'll see if I can find out.

[@jamespeirce2582]

Bob Ross of photographs. Love it. Haha. Thank you for the tutorial. I can contribute one small tip. When manually aligning in Photoshop like this it is best to pick one reference frame/photo and manually align each other image to that specific frame, rather than align each new frame to the previous aligned frame. That ensures alignment won’t be able to drive a small amount due to accumulated sub-pixel variation between frames as each image was aligned to the same reference, in effect normalizing any variation between frames.

[@austinkaiser7190]

Wow, really nice shot Peter! Very helpful and I learned a lot so thank you! I know if you're looking to get better manual star alignment in Photoshop you can go into Edit > Free Transform and click the warp mode icon at the top. That way you can drag on any part of the image so it all lines up and "disappears" when in the difference blending mode! Takes awhile, but worth it. It also helps to turn the visibility of each layer off after it's aligned before you move to the next layer. That way you are always aligning a layer to the bottom layer rather than compounding any alignment errors when being aligned to the previous one. This all adds more time but might help get finer details in the comet's tails!

[@anna_maer]

Wow, this is absolutely mind blowing! Here in Estonia sun doesn't go down completely, we have white nights. It's impossible to see the comet but I tried to photograph it a couple of days ago, pointing somewhere below Big Dipper, but nothing turned out... only when I edited it the comet was barely seen (if you didn't know where it's located, you wouldn't even notice), but the fact that it's there makes me feel happy! Such a unique astrological event! Thank you for the video!

[@jaymzthrasher]

So great! Except it is astronomical 🤪

[@dankahraman354]

Stunning imagery Peter. Superbly done.

[@kalasag9113]

Such a labor-intensive work. WOW!

[@timreaves3921]

One thing to consider: when you’re manually aligning, pick one frame as a reference for all the other frames in “difference” blending mode. If you keep aligning each frame to the one before it, you risk propagating errors.

[@PeterZelinka]

Good thinking!

[@poloroller]

Great tutorial, thanks, and a fantastic final image. Because the comet is moving with respect to the background stars, to keep the comet as sharp as possible in the stacked image, shouldn't the stacking be done such as the comet disappears in the difference image (as you briefly had at 13:08), not the stars? As you have a great set of long exposures, the comet is going to move significantly along its orbit over the whole sequence, so the final stack will have some short star trails, but due to the motion of the comet, not the rotation of the Earth.

[@masonwhite3728]

I can confidently say your finished photo is better than mine

[@andelkoloncar4791]

Great job Peter by all means!! No less than IMPRESSIVE!!!!

[@specialized415]

Brilliant.. detailed without the fluff - clear skies man 🪐✌🏻

[@WildPhotoShooter]

Great process, it takes more time but great results.

[@jacblue2002]

Thank you! Your instructions are always so easy to understand.

[@Millriver1]

Lovely photo Zelinka! Hoping to get out this weekend, had no idea the tracker would work with this!

[@hootsmon13]

Another excellent video Peter. I have just been out and shot it so you timing is perfect. Once again, thank you.👍

[@Sunshineleroy]

Your teaching method is excellent. Thanks!

[@paulrob86]

Amazing final image. Thanks for the tutorial, I took loads of images of the comet last night so now off to give this method a try....

[@gabrielperano]

Wow nice photo! Loving that blue trail

[@howdepressing2495]

This guys voice is like those in audiobooks, even better

[@MrGChuff]

Nice image and editing techniques very useful thanks👍 when I’m back working I’ll be sure to check out one of your courses.

[@bja5150]

Great work and tons of great information

[@fiorinidaniele]

Peter you used the exact same approach I used for alignment in Photoshop. I did for two sequences of 20 pictures each. A bit too long but works pretty well

[@theunlearnedastronomer3205]

Thanks - can’t wait to try !

[@remipig985]

Deepskystacker now has a comet mode, which aligns the stars and the comet core at he same time, it works very well! You now have sharp stars and a sharp comet on the same stacked shot ^^

[@Maotharp]

Some great information. The transformation of the layers requires rotation as well as vertical and horizontal moves to align them. That is why your end result was not as good as it could have been. I'm using your techniques now on a comet landscape that requires layer masks to seperate the sky from the land. The stars move but the land doesn't. It's an interesting project. Thanks for the great tips!

[@kevinjack5184]

Thanks. Even without a tracker this improved my image.

[@Mr09260]

Great Image & video Peter

[@jacobrichards8359]

Beautiful shot!!

[@keithleong1483]

Great Tutorial!👍

[@thepacketnarc7634]

great tutorial. Peter can you please do one for the absolute rookie at PS / CC apps on setting up the app for the first time, and installing actions, etc. ?

[@PeterZelinka]

I do cover that in my Astro Post Processing Course. I've got a full module dedicated to beginners, including setting up the interface so you can easily follow along.

[@StephanJansson]

Thank you Peter, you helped me very well!

[@AstroQuest1]

Nice Peter. Thanks for your Photoshop techniques. - Cheers Kurt

[@aphex4000]

Beautiful work!

[@rusmiller816]

An alternative to click/dragging the eyeballs to turn all the layers off is to alt+click the eyeball of the layer you want to solo.

[@MLCS239]

This was great, well spoken! thanks so much!

[@GregK8625]

Actually, you can easily remove sky-glow from the image by creating an artificial dark frame and use it to substract the gradient from the image.

[@ChuckleChuckleVision]

just a thought Peter, have you tried aligning only in sequator and just repeating your PS work flow but with sequator aligned files? I had attempted this with my comet stack but mine aren't as clean as yours so sequator really struggled!

[@iah48]

Deep sky stacker has comet stacking in the stacking settings!

[@bertraml292]

Thanks very much for that! It worked fine for me.

[@2010craggy]

Great video on using Photoshop for Astro imagining. I was wondering if it’s possible (not as in a good idea, or best practice) as I managed one good image of the comet on Tuesday evening here in the UK between passing cloud. Could in theory I duplicate this one image but make small tweaks to the exposure in each image to create a stack? Obviously it won’t be able to remove unwanted artefacts or aircraft transiting across the scene as every image would be identical still but would blending a series on the image bring out any greater detail? I’ve done similar creating HDR images in Lightroom by in effect creating a bracket of three images 1, 0 and +1/2 EV around the same image. The image I took myself I wasn’t too bothered by keeping the shutter speed under the /500 rule for the focal length of the lens I was using, nor was I using a tracking mount. As a result my stars are just very slightly elongated, but the image is sharp and I took this as an acceptable trade off for a better image of the comet’s tail.

[@joeshmoe7967]

If shooting wider without a tracker 10 sec works ok. For my close ups I tracked at 30 sec. Going out again to a darker spot will try tracking longer

[@mikelanghorst]

Very helpful, thanks for sharing.

[@mathiasb9703]

Your voice has a soothing Bob Ross style in this video xD "just a lil bit contrast here, add a lil white there..."

[@douglaskealoha2232]

Thanks for the great tips for editing and using start trackers. Comment: I can never "align" my camera (DSLR) to what I want to shoot with my SGP. You mention rotating after releasing the clutch...but if I align the SGP with Polaris and shoot the Milkyway behind me...rotating simply doesn't work unless I place a ballhead on it. Any advice for what to do...thanks.

[@maxclaret]

Question how come when I follow this technique I am getting streaking in my stars after performing the stacking?

[@nigelorr7938]

Coming to this very late but the stacking issues are entirely normal with a comet such as Neowise that was moving with respect to the star field over the hour or so of the imaging session. Comet specialists track the comet rather thsn using a standard siderial rate or stack using the comet s nucleus as the reference. Short trailed stars are thus normal.

[@alanatwood7995]

Peter - I have just returned from my comet trip. I saw this video before I left, and followed your directions...fairly well. I processed my first batch tonight, and although I got most of it to work, I ended up with a rather odd set of artifacts in the tail which are quite annoying. The process you show here does work, but this is on issue Id like to clean up. I tried Sequator and Deep Sky Tracker, and those results were not pleasant. Im wondering if you could possibly lend a minute of your time if possible. Thanks!

[@fireislandmavic5939]

amazing shot

[@ynsam]

What star tracker do you recommend for a hobbyist?

[@photoggenes7443]

I use Ioptron Skyguider pro. I think Peter uses it as well. but any tracker will do as long as it can support the weight of your camera, lens and accessories don't exceed the weight limit and counter balance of the tracker.

[@jonwatson654]

Nice one. Keep on keeping on good man.

[@rockhounderct5181]

Hi Peter, this was excellent. I'm having one issue though. Most of my images have satellite streaks (the sky is busy now) and when I stack the images using "Median" the streaks are reduced in the final image, but not gone completely. If I zoom in, I can see faint traces of all of them from the individual source frames. Is there a better stack mode that will completely get rid of these? Thanks! ~Chris T.

[@cw7243]

Very good, thanks!

[@Niroki]

Did you stacked all the shots on the comet manully on CS!? My God... read a manual of DSS :D

[@barryklein1023]

My tripod shots even 10:30pm, from a tripod, look like those in the first 30 seconds of this video - bright background. I am in south Orange County against the mountains, but I'm thinking taking an image of a minute or more on a star tracker or not would result in a wiped out image. Is there a filter I should use (180mm F2.8 lens, D700 or D3400 cameras). I have a sky-watcher adventurer but every time I got set up the sprinklers came on and I had to move out of the area quick! You say the comet is moving more into the upper sky so more distinctive - I thought it is getting dimmer each day and the best days were like 13th and 14th, no?

[@cruikshank]

With a Star Tracker your can increase your shutter time to say 30 seconds and lower your ISO to give you clean files. I'd start at 400, then increase to 800 & 1600. You can do just as well to shoot for 15 seconds at 800 and then use Deep Sky Stacker or Sequator to get stacked files with low noise. If possible drive 30-60 minutes to get away from city lights, that will help much. It is getting dimmer but is closest to earth today the 23rd. You still have a few good days left. It's getting dimmer but your camera will pick it up even if your eyes can't. I thought I missed it entirely the other day and came home, downloaded the files and there was the comet. Good Luck. It's getting higher each night, out of the muck and closer to the bowl of the Dipper.

[@Ben-zn2it]

did i miss it? if anybody knows if it can be seen in Colorado on July 22nd, i'm going to try tonight with my Newtonian 128mm equatorial mount telescope but, if anyone has any info on if it really can be seen this late in its passing lemme know (ASAP)

[@DarkOscilator]

Hi Peter! What speed settings did you set for the startracker? Just the 1x speed or 0,5x?

[@PeterZelinka]

I just used 1x

[@AstronomyLiveChannel]

Excellent job - thanks for sharing. Besides your competence, I can't help envying your sky conditions (see the poor low-contrast picture posted on my channel that I was able to obtain after struggling for 4 days).

[@arkkitekktura]

Star tracker? What is that a software or hardware? Any links?

[@andelkoloncar4791]

www.amazon.com/Star-Adventurer-Pro-Pack-S20512/dp/B07NY44782 - It is the best to take pro pack and also tripod ball head in case you gonna use camera and just normal to wide angle lens. For ball head it could be www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/ioptron-ball-head.html or www.amazon.com/TH3-Capacity-U-Shaped-Switching-Vertical/dp/B00MGJH5U6/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XFKR9NFF8Z1CY9M11VP2

[@ArsenijeRadenovic]

Just in time. I'm heading for the mountains in three days to see and photograph this comet. I hope the skies get clear by then. Thanks for the video! Edit: Just finished watching the video. Photo looks amazing! I am new to astrophotography, although not new to photography. This was a very straightforward video and I find that this method is very simple but effective. Question: Should I shoot multiple photos without skytracker and try to manually align them afterwards? I have a 70-200 f2.8, do I need to stop it down to f4 or should I shoot wide open? Again thanks for the video, I hope I get a glance at this comet soon!

[@techdata_channel]

If you have an star-tracker, you can shoot f4 - you will compensate light with time exposure (up to 4 min for example), if no ST - shoot at wide open to get more lights. Also keep in mind wide open lens usually has 1. big vignette (when you correct it in post, edges become lighter and edge noise become more noticable) 2. Big coma 3. Sharpness only in center

[@ArsenijeRadenovic]

@@techdata_channel Hey thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I don't have ST. What do you think, should I shoot multiple photos and try to stack them with out ST? I could stop down a bit because I could compensate with higher iso (it shouldn't be a problem for D4)

[@januszabr]

@@ArsenijeRadenovic ISO will not help. It only helps you to see it on the screen. Only time and aperture can increase signal to noise ratio. I took 200 frames at 1.6sec (135mm, ISO1600I) and stacked them in DSS - no problem.

[@ArsenijeRadenovic]

@@januszabr thanks for the reply. I kinda went crazy with iso. At least I saw the comet and I am happy with my first try with astrophotography.

[@josefigueredolopez]

Thanks! It was amazing!

[@howkre8ive]

I can't seem to get the blue tail. I have the tail but it isn't blue... Both are pale white.

[@Limax7]

Hi, how did you have Comet and stars alinged ? This Median Stack do that job? At beginning this movie Comet was like a short line.

[@JMECO73]

hey bud. on a previous vid you mention that you don't need to be super aligned on scope for wide field. true. I've gone 6 min long w.o. trail. how long can you track just using the " Polaris over tracker head" set up w.o trail in 100mm or so?

[@PeterZelinka]

There's a pretty rapid fall-off as the focal length increases. With a rough polar alignment you'd be lucky to shoot 30 seconds at 100mm+, in my experience.

[@JMECO73]

@@PeterZelinka thanks man. i actually went out and worked my alignment. easier than i feared lol. also a tip for you..maybe you know but didn't mention on your tutorial. when you were aligning your comet. after you get the comet head nice and aligned use the warp tool. it lets you get the stars really good. and keep up the good tutorial. its good to see straight forward, honest and no bs vids!

[@llamarvasquez1803]

Hi there what camera did you use?

[@henkstraatmanmyportfolioNL]

Super mooi !! Peter TOP....................

[@amaar1646]

Nasa Apod potential for sure!! Congrats

[@lagg2380]

Man you're the best :)

[@pandaoofer7855]

What camera you used and what lends? I’ve been trying to take Photos of the night sky with my rebel cannon but it isn’t really good but you can see stars just barely. Any help or recommendations I’m really trying and can’t find helpful videos.😓

[@cruikshank]

you can capture the comet with your rebel. Is it a Digital Rebel, DSLR? I have a basic Nikon DSLR and captured the comet lenses from an 11-20mm 2.8 superwide, 35mm 1.8 Prime, 50mm 1.8 Prime, kit zoom 18-105 5.6 and a 55-200 5.6 zoom. The key is first getting a good focus. Autofocus won't work on Astrophotography. put your lens on Manual focus, then focus on a light source far away like a street light or Radio Antenna light. I suggest using a wider setting like 35mm and aim it in the direction of the comet which by now is very near the big dipper. Set your camera to Manual, your F stop to the widest available on the lens, and your shutter to 6 seconds to start. Set your ISO to 1600. That should work. If you're using a 35 or 50mm lens or equivalent on a zoom you can try as long a shutter speed as 10 seconds. If this works you can try zooming in closer, but the longer the lens IE: 100mm, 200mm the shorter your exposure must be or the comet and stars will blurr from the earth's movement. I'd try 5 seconds. if the comet is too dark then up your ISO to say 3200. Make sure you have a Steady Tripod and a remote release to avoid shake. If you don't have a cable release set your cable to self timer where you push the shutter and it goes off 3-10 seconds later. Good luck, I hope this works and the clouds work in your favor. Best if you can get to an area with darker skies away from the bright lights of the town or city.

[@kevinjack5184]

I ordered the Skyguider Pro... But it's on back order. It's been foggy here anyway. How much longer is it viewable?

[@photoggenes7443]

It's under the Big Dipper, still viewable but getting dimmer as it travels away.

[@shivercanada]

Thank you and God bless!

[@josefalopezgracia4438]

Thank you

[@bluebarronphoto90]

That was Halo music at the end, you can't fool me

[@Benjamin-mz1mb]

Thank you!

[@theamazingworldoutthere]

They say this comet is visible with the naked eye. I cant even find it using star walk. I live in south florida

[@chargersina]

Sorry, you need a dark sky. Now we have a bright moon though. I had the same problem until I left the city.

[@rajanrao]

now its kinda hard to find, shoulda tried a week ago :p

[@arielrglaze]

You're the Bob Ross of Astrophotography.

[@inthemountainswithmeachum3256]

I never got to see it because it's been cloudy the past few days in upstate NY

[@chargersina]

Dear peter, nice work but ultimately you lost detail in the comet by not correcting for the motion of the comet. I wish there was an easy way to keep the stars and the comet. DSS does it but only for B/W images. Keep up the good work and thanks.

[@pemongillo]

Hi Alyn. This is kind of related to the comet. I was out two nights ago to photograph the comet. I have a Nikon 17 to 35 mm F2.8 and have never really liked it Milky Way photography. It really stretches the stars out in the corners. Well, I was removing it from my camera on site the other night and I accidentally dropped it and it landed on the rear element scratching it badly. So it is finally time to move on. Recommendations on a lens that I can you replace this with that does not have the distortion issues in the corners.

[@kingwolfjm8500]

Did you do any photo stacking on this, or is this just one picture?

[@stewsmith9236]

Clearly you haven't watched the video if you're asking that

[@JLawL]

Going to practice this until this comet comes back around on my 6835th birthday.

[@kevlarV2rocketRSV]

As always from you, a beautiful final image. Just way too much for me to comprehend at this point, regarding editing. I refuse to pay for Photoshop so I'm trying to learn Darktable. Apparently it's comparable to PS. Still taking singles and playing with exposure, contrast, highlights, etc. The basic stuff. Maybe when this comet comes back in 5000 years I'll have a tracker and better editing skills🤣🤣. By the way. I hope the hurt from your lens homicide has worn-off a little.😞😩

[@Sincerit]

Sounds like Bob Ross photoshopping 😆

[@sethshaffer8592]

i either get star trails or a glob of comets I have to choose between the two.

[@shamihor2930]

Nibiru ?

[@alansach8437]

The whispering is driving me crazy. Must be trying not to wake up his wife!

[@GreenRC24]

This video is a secret.

[@davidwhite1963]

Bruce sees all, much more interesting!

[@peteralexandercmp9648]

haha, I agree, the Camera Raw interface is now ruined in my opinion. I had such a quick workflow with it. LOL

[@HeavyMetalRuinedMyLife1971a]

It's a window in the firmament