Star-gazing Guide to Photoshop Astrophotography Image Processing.

Dave Eagle, FRAS, astrophotographer, author and astronomy tutor, has been running a number of successful hands-on astronomical imaging workshops and outreach for many years. Following on from this success, he has converted some of the contents of his workshop tutorials into these handy guides. Photoshop image processing software can transform your images when the tools embedded within it are used effectively. Unfortunately, the power of Photoshop software is also its biggest downfall. The software can at first be quite intimidating, due to the complexity of the software. It also has a very steep learning curve. This second edition of Dave's Photoshop step-by-step guide has been re-written and now doubled to 70 pages. It shows, in easy step-by-step workflows, how to use Photoshop in as simple a way as possible. The workflows shown include: Curves. - To stretch the image to reveal the faint data. Levels. - Similar to the above, and to help balance the image. Layers. - Using layers to build up an image, and the use of luminosity Layers. Saturation. - Revealing colour from within images. Plug-ins. - Some free and paid for plug-ins that are definitely worth-while investing in and will help get the very best out of astronomy images. This latest edition has also been updated to include details of: Layer Masking. - Using a layer mask to prevent the bright areas of objects from becoming over-exposed as the image is stretched. Unsharp Masking. - Using an unsharp mask to reveal more detail within the objects captured. All the images that have been used in this guide can be downloaded from the authors Web site. Following the instructions within this guide will soon get the keen astrophotographer on their way to producing their own stunning images of astronomical subjects.