Moon Processing Workflow (Affinity Photo)

Learn how to create a live stack for improved signal-to-noise ratio, manipulate colour detail and enhance structure to produce a high quality moon image in Affinity Photo.
Credits: Photography by James Ritson.

[@tucsondavehayes]

Your knowledge of Affinity Photo tools and understanding of how they adjust color and sharpening is amazing! You are the best!!

[@gwthomas52]

I redid some of my moon photos and your workflow dramatically improved them. I also tried using JPEG files and your method worked on them as well. Not as good as the TIF files, but still work well. Thanks for sharing.

[@cmeluzzi]

Thank you, James. Your videos on techniques are excellent!

[@nerrelloader4226]

WOW, I've wondered how some people get the colour into their moon shots, now I know. Thank you so much James!

[@PbA941]

Thanks James. I shoot the moon quite a bit and this will really enhance my photography. I just tried it tonight with 18 photos and the results were amazing.

[@JeffStudley]

Really nice, James! I wasn't too keen on the first one, but this one is really great! Thank you for posting this.

[@onegreenev]

Amazing. I wondered how folks got that sharp detail of the moon. Now to give it a spin to improve my Moon shots.

[@JoseLopez-sm2kj]

With that voice, have you ever considered to be the new Rick Astley ?

[@tomaswilde5481]

Also, FANTASTIC James !! Thank you so much.

[@user-uf3ur6cj3u]

Another excellent tutorial, thank you.

[@shubhayu69]

Thanks James sir Plz make video on milky way editing( star minimization, noise reduction , stacking and foreground blending)

[@lacardozarojas]

This is brilliant!

[@javiervvgarcia9650]

This is even better than the former one

[@bramelsheretan]

wow, amazing

[@jonbru1]

Thanks James, really helpful.

[@everydaylifewiththebensons285]

simply fantastic

[@claudiomanfre4869]

Excellent video!

[@geoffc1862]

Excellent tutorial, thanks.

[@neuvatn]

Wait a minute .. dejavu!

[@JamesRitson]

Yes, the original needed a bit of revision!

[@nevarj]

Hah, perfect timing! 🎉

[@chrislee8886]

James my camera shoots and saves images as Fit files. Do i just batch process these as Tiffs or can i work always in Fits but follow your workflow?

[@TV-tq5ed]

Is the movement of the moon due to the handheld shooting multiple shots in a blast? Removing the fringe was excellent in both vids, btw. However, creating the color bleed masks for two layers at the same time was awesome! I cannot remember seeing that before. Could this be done for macro, or is the depth of field too narrow?

[@chrisheyward6430]

FAB THANKS

[@bobniemann5503]

Did you use a mirror lens for the photos?

[@nealschneider6554]

This is an excellent video, James! At the 5:32 mark, you mention clicking on the cog icon and adjusting the “Underlying Composition Ranges” graph. I use Affinity Photo 2 for iPad and do not see the cog icon or underlying composition ranges. If I click on the Clarity layer and then the 3 dots to go to the layer options, there are “Source” and a “Dest” graphs. Is the “Dest” graph the equivalent of the Underlying Composition Ranges graph in the cog menu in the desktop version?

[@JamesRitson]

Hi, yes, Dest is the graph you want 👍

[@nealschneider6554]

Thank you very much, @@JamesRitson. I appreciate your quick response and all of your great tutorials.

[@paulcreedy5253]

Can I ask why you stacked processed TIF files instead of the original RAW files, and in what way did you process them?

[@JamesRitson]

Hi Paul, I pre-processed the TIFFs for better optical corrections and noise reduction. When you use RAW files in merge operations like Live Stack it uses a basic raw processing pipeline rather than the more advanced one in the Develop Persona, so you have no fine control over tones or corrections. It's just about maximising quality-hope that helps!

[@paulcreedy5253]

@@JamesRitson Thanks. Do you have a video on doing that and applying the settings to 40 images without having to do each separately?

[@fernandoscolletion]

It is fine... but can you assure me that this manual edition is better than a 1 second edition with AI? I use to spend a lot of time in edition... but «The Times They Are a-Changin'» ;-) ;-( difficult to mantain a learning curve if you can make it without effort

[@RishiRajKoul]

Why Tiff? Why not raw?

[@JamesRitson]

TIFF lets you pre-process the files: stacking RAWs directly in File>New Stack only applies a basic development for speed, whereas if you process via File>New Batch Job you get better demosaicing, noise reduction, lens corrections & more. Hope that helps!

[@RishiRajKoul]

@@JamesRitson thanks

[@MK-ni6gs]

Excellent video!