CCD IMAGING COURSE - ORION/APAA
(BRAGA - July/September 2008).

Conducted by Pedro Ré, António Peres Gomes, José Pedro Canela and João Vieira.

Observatory
Observatory
Observatory
Observatory
Observatory
Paramount ME
Paramount ME

Group photo (20080726)
Group photo (20080727)
CCD Imaging Course
CCD Imaging Course
CCD Imaging Course Poster (PDF File)

CCD Imaging Course

Basic CCD Imaging

  • CCD Cameras

  • Paramount ME (Hardware)

  • Imaging Software

  • CCD Imaging Techniques

    • Basic Imaging Processing

  • Basic Image Processing (Noise)

  • Image Calibration/Reduction

  • Image Calibration, Flat-Field

  • Image Processing fundamentals

  • Image Processing software

    • Hands-on Pratical Imaging Sessions

  • Imaging the Sun

  • Imaging the Moon

  • Imaging the Planets

  • Imaging the Deep-Sky

    • H-ALPHA AND LUMINANCE PROCESSING FLOW

    Calibrate, align and combine CCD images (Maxim DL)

  • Calibrate raw images

  • Do any de-blooming repair prior to alignment and combination (e.g. New Astro DeBloomer for Maxim DL)

  • Use manual or automatic alignment operations

  • Use SDMask for all combination operations

  • Perform a DDP-style stretch on the H-alpha combined image (Don't do any sharpening as part of DDP. This is accomplished by selecting the "user" kernel filter, and setting the filter coefficients to 1.0 in the center, and zeros elsewhere)

  • Save the image (FITS format 16-bit)

    • Final Processing (Photoshop CS2, CS3)

  • Load the FITS DDP-stretched image into Photoshop (using Fits Liberator)

  • Use Shadow & Highlight (50:50:10, 50:50:10) or Levelizer (Starizona Photoshop Plugin Package)

  • Use Curves to ajust contrast and brightness

  • Use (if necessary) Neat Image Photoshop plug-in to remove grain

  • Save the final 16-bit TIF file

  • Convert to 8-bit and save JPG file

    • LLRGB PROCESSING FLOW

    Calibrate, align and combine CCD images (Maxim DL)

  • Calibrate raw images

  • Do any de-blooming repair prior to alignment and combination

  • Combine images for each channel (L, R, G, and B) (use SDMask for all combination operations, use manual or automatic alignment operations)

  • Perform color balancing for each color channel (e.g. SBIG ST-10XE RGB= 1.0, 1.1, 1.9)

  • Combine the images into an LRGB image in Maxim DL

  • Perform a DDP stretch on the Luminance image

  • Perform a DDP stretch on the LRGB image

  • Boost saturation after DDP if needed (save in 16-bit TIFF format)

    • Final Processing (Photoshop CS2, CS3)

  • Load the Luminance FITS DDP-stretched image into Photoshop (using Fits Liberator)

  • Use Shadow & Highlight (50:50:10, 50:50:10) or Levelizer (Starizona Photoshop Plugin Package)

  • Use Curves to adjust contrast and brightness

  • Use (if necessary) Neat Image Photoshop plug-in to remove grain

  • Load the LRGB 16-bit TIFF file

  • Align L and LRGB images

  • Combine L and LRGB images (LLRGB) (Change the blend mode to "luminosity", change the opacity to ~50%, Flatten image)

  • Save in TIFF or JPG format