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PHOTOGRAPHY SECRETS › ›<br />
saturated with stars at the end of the Photoshop process. Before wrapping up, I shot ten “flats” at each shutter speed, twelve “darks”<br />
at each shutter speed, and ten “bias” frames for the pre-Photoshop processing in software that “stacks” the images together.<br />
“Flats” are images taken by covering the end of the lens with a white T-shirt and shining a flashlight on it. They’re used by the<br />
stacking software to correct any difference in brightness in the main images. “Darks” are images taken by covering the end of the<br />
lens with the lens cap. Half of the darks are taken at the beginning and the other half at the end. Darks correct the dark signal<br />
flaws in image sensors. “Bias” frames are images taken with the fastest possible shutter speed the camera can shoot and the lens<br />
cap on. They contain only the noise generated by the camera’s electronics on the sensor. This noise is subtracted from the data in<br />
the darks to identify the true sensor noise. These extra images are time-consuming but they’ll allow you to create the best possible<br />
final image.<br />
Learning To Run<br />
Adding more sophisticated equipment, such as a bigger telescope and mount, will yield larger, more detailed images of your targets.<br />
For comparison, here are images of the nebulae in Orion taken through a 4" Takahashi refractor on a Celestron CGEM mount. The<br />
equipment investment is now in the $3,500 (used) to $5,000 range (new). The targets are much larger in the frame with more detail.<br />
Horsehead and Flame Nebulae in Orion<br />
› › photoshop user › february <strong>2016</strong><br />
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Running Man and Great Orion Nebulae