How to do Astrophotography: Image processing Orion

In this video I will take you start to finish from a stacked file to a finished image process completely in photoshop. You will need a stacked astrophoto of M42/Orion to follow along with this tutorial. I will take you step by step my workflow on processing this image.
My Link Tree - linktr.ee/avastronomy​​​​​
Links to my other videos that explain layer masks, camera settings, Collimation and image processing in more detail.
• How to process Astroph...
HLVG - www.deepskycolors.com/archive...
Gradient Xterminator - www.rc-astro.com/resources/Gr...
OPT telescopes and Agena Astro have a tremendous inventory of astrophotography gear and great service. You can check them out here through my affiliate links. This is the setup I currently use.
Agena Astro - bit.ly/3D3U8id
ASI AIR PLUS - bit.ly/46BTfej
IOPTRON GEM 28 MOUNT - bit.ly/3O2QpGX
WILLIAM OPTICS Z61 - bit.ly/44v5Hv7
IOPTRON IGUIDER - bit.ly/44AXRzv
ASI 294MM CAMERA KIT - bit.ly/46Clqd3
Links to helpful astrophotography items that can be purchased directly through Agena Astro.
TELESCOPES
Redcat71 APO telescope - bit.ly/3D6cT4s
Sky Watcher 8" Dobsonian reflector telescope - bit.ly/3XGYwNy
ASTRONOMY CAMERAS
QHY 600M - bit.ly/3rbHgno
ZWO ASI533MC Pro OSC camera - bit.ly/3XPlzpx
ZWO ASI2600MC pro camera - bit.ly/3pDJFHg
MOUNTS
ZWO AM5 Mount - bit.ly/44eHUzn
Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro pack - bit.ly/44gXXMV
Sky Watcher EQ6 R pro mount - bit.ly/3riYbVc
Sky Watcher EQ8 (for heavier payloads) mount - bit.ly/3D3UFkd
Celestron CGXL mount - bit.ly/3O2u6lQ
FILTERS
Optolong Luminance Pro (broadband light pollution filter) - bit.ly/46FIdEJ
Optolong L-extreme(vary tight/narrow dual band light pollution filter) - bit.ly/3NLwrjJ
Optolong L Ultimate - bit.ly/3NIHABV

[@astrospeedcuber]

This has been the most helpful tutorial I've seen so far as a beginner to astrophotography, thank you so much!

[@ProppedNutFPV]

I’m doing this on a budget so Siril and Gimp are my to go to’s. But most everything at my level is translatable. Just many more steps and bouncing back and forth between them. This will be my second Fall season. Last year’s edit had the blow out core. I think I can do this . Great video. Easy speed to follow. Now that I have the basics I can follow a video like this. Thanks

[@mantownmedia78]

Very helpful - and not too fast in your explanation - I am going to retry my processing.

[@adityakarade8034]

Thank you again your video help me a lot and I have captured m42 430 light frames on 2 second exposure got nearly total 15 minutes exposure time and image turn into a miracle running man nebula also visible happy with your post processing tutorial help a lot

[@AVAstronomy]

You’re welcome! I’m glad you found it helpful. I’ve got some other tutorials on my channel. You might find useful as well.

[@Tony-Elliott]

Excellent tutorial Aaron thanks for sharing your work mate

[@AVAstronomy]

You’re welcome, Tony! Glad you found it helpful.

[@siegfriednoet]

Great tutorial Aaron, thanks for sharing

[@AVAstronomy]

You’re welcome!

[@marlapinaire944]

Thanks Aaron! Very clear and easy to follow. I will drag out some old data and re-process to see how it improves with your workflow. Well done!

[@AVAstronomy]

You’re welcome! Hope it gives your data an improved result.

[@avt_astro206]

Great Tutorial Aaron! Love the Image!

[@AVAstronomy]

Thank you!!

[@nightscapejournals]

Thanks Aaron and amazingly timed - I’m just running a final set of h-alpha subs to add to a load of 180s, 30s and 15s exposures I’ve been capturing on M42 over the last week. Tomorrow I try to blend it all together, so this is a great method to try (I had no idea you could copy a layer onto a mask to create a very detailed mask - that’s genius!). Nice to have you back on the airwaves too (but no pressure - life gets busy!). 😊

[@AVAstronomy]

Sounds like a nice strategy Paul. It’s good to be back. Hoping to be putting out a lot more videos this year. Good luck with the project. Looking forward the end result.

[@nickwilliams8524]

Great video- thank you.

[@AVAstronomy]

You’re welcome

[@Rainy78]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing your editing skills. I will try doing it this way using my DSLR and a few lenses. Im yet to buy an astro rig. Think Im going to start with a Redcat 51 👍

[@AVAstronomy]

You’re welcome! The red cat 51 is an excellent choice!

[@MikhailProskalov]

Final image looks nice, but the processing is really needs some improvements. Firstly, its better working on an adjustment layers instead applying curves into the stacked image. Later, blending will be greater improved with blend if function. You just need to cut away the dark information from the second image

[@stevenrobinsonpictures]

I like your workflow and use a similar one. It produces high quality results; but does not take 4 days to complete.

[@AVAstronomy]

Photoshop is definitely capable of producing high quality results. Thanks!

[@theoverseer4700]

For some reason I am unable to do the subtract part, any idea why?

[@user-qu7dv9jd9w]

Hello, please tell me your version of Photoshop at the time of processing

[@suzannebeers6238]

Thanks Aaron! Great video, as always Quick quesrion... When I try to do the alt-backspace after the color picker I get a mask the color of my current color selection, not what the picker selected What am I going wrong??

[@AVAstronomy]

Hmm.. can you tell me step by step how you’re doing it and maybe I’ll be able to identify what’s a miss?

[@arielmario2952]

hello, i dont speack much english i will try to u understend me haha i have a question, i have a camera canon modificated, and the camara change filter UV IR for filter BAADER BCF1 then it filter (bcf1) take all emision H- ALPHA THEN when a take a picture of orion, my camera becouse this filter make see arion only reds and pink colors, non blue non other color. then i would like to know if i can do something about it in photoshop- i try alot things in photoshop , but its impossible, can u help me please can i send u some way my orion picture then u can see what im talking about?

[@adityakarade8034]

Sir i have stack Orion Nebula image from deep sky stacked in tiff format but when I load Orion Nebula into photoshop the image is load but curves are not working but with other format it work but it’s not working with tiff file what to do

[@AVAstronomy]

Hmmm… Make sure it’s in 16bit format in photoshop.

[@henrydrake1717]

Is it possible to stack stacked images in DSS?

[@AVAstronomy]

I mean, I suppose you could but don’t think there’s be much benefit. Better off just adding the additional sub frames to your imaging plan and stacking them all at once.

[@stevenrobinsonpictures]

I am staying away from pixinsight as i feel i can produce good results with PS, what are your thoughts on it?

[@AVAstronomy]

I think the results people get with pixinsight are awesome. I’ll probably eventually use both but for now Ps works for me.

[@stevenrobinsonpictures]

@A.V.Astronomy true no denying that. Ie found starnett is good for faint dust and nebula. Lovely shots and processing keep up the work. Love your ethos.

[@doka777-3]

is there another thing i can use besides photoshop

[@AVAstronomy]

Yes, there are several programs out there that you can use to process your Astro photography images. Siril, astro, pixel processor, and pixinsight to name a few.

[@doka777-3]

@@AVAstronomy thank you I will check them out.