Summer in the City

In order to warm up this mid winter season I decided to share a Photo of Yonge Street in Toronto taken in July 2016 from the Toronto Islands Ferry.

Vega & Schedar - Stellar Photography

These are a couple of years old now but I noticed it has been a while since I posted anything. Took these on August 2015. Both were taken with a Nikon 3200 attached to a 6" Celestron Nextar 6SE. The first photograph is a stack of 19 x 10 second exposures of the star Schedar (α Cassiopeiæ) is a orange giant star about 230 light years away. It's 4-5 times more massive than the Sun and 42 times as big! (-Wiki-)

The second photograph is a single 15 second exposure of the star Vega (α Lyræ) only 25 light years away . It's just over 2 times the size of the Sun both in terms of mass and radius. Notably Vega was the North Polar Star about 12,000 years ago. (-Wiki-)

Little Brown Mushroom

Little Brown Mushroom in the undergrowth

Rawtherapee Profile for Nikon D3200

I've been using Rawtherapee to develop my Nikon D3200's .NEF raw files for a few months now, but I've never quite got the same results as the off the camera jpegs. That is until now!

I've decided to bite the bullet and spend some time trying my best to create a profile within Rawtherapee that most closely approximates the great results I get straight from the camera on properly exposed photos. So here are my results (click for full resolution 6000x4000):

First the camera processed jpeg (top) vs Rawtherapee's "Default"  (bottom) profile:

The camera processed jpeg (top) vs my best attempt (bottom):

The camera processed jpeg (top) vs the my profile plus some tone mapping (bottom):

Below is the contents of the pp3 file (wordpress won't allow for non media files to be uploaded...). You must change the  "LCPFile=" parameters (I've highlighted it  in red) to fit the directory where you keep your lens correction files.

[Version] AppVersion=4.2.208 Version=323

[General] Rank=0 ColorLabel=0 InTrash=false

[Exposure] Auto=false Clip=0.02 Compensation=0 Brightness=0 Contrast=0 Saturation=0 Black=500 HighlightCompr=0 HighlightComprThreshold=0 ShadowCompr=50 CurveMode=Standard CurveMode2=Standard Curve=1;0;0;1;1; Curve2=0;

[HLRecovery] Enabled=true Method=Color

[Channel Mixer] Red=100;0;0; Green=0;100;0; Blue=0;0;100;

[Black & White] Enabled=false Method=Desaturation Auto=false ComplementaryColors=true Setting=NormalContrast Filter=None MixerRed=43 MixerOrange=33 MixerYellow=33 MixerGreen=33 MixerCyan=33 MixerBlue=30 MixerMagenta=33 MixerPurple=33 GammaRed=0 GammaGreen=0 GammaBlue=0 Algorithm=SP LuminanceCurve=0; BeforeCurveMode=Standard AfterCurveMode=Standard BeforeCurve=0; AfterCurve=0;

[Luminance Curve] Brightness=0 Contrast=0 Chromaticity=0 AvoidColorShift=false RedAndSkinTonesProtection=0 LCredsk=true LCurve=0; aCurve=0; bCurve=0; ccCurve=0; chCurve=0; lhCurve=0; hhCurve=0; LcCurve=0; ClCurve=0;

[Sharpening] Enabled=true Method=usm Radius=0.90000000000000002 Amount=250 Threshold=20;80;2000;1200; OnlyEdges=false EdgedetectionRadius=1.8999999999999999 EdgeTolerance=1800 HalocontrolEnabled=false HalocontrolAmount=85 DeconvRadius=0.75 DeconvAmount=75 DeconvDamping=20 DeconvIterations=30

[Vibrance] Enabled=true Pastels=40 Saturated=40 PSThreshold=0;75; ProtectSkins=false AvoidColorShift=true PastSatTog=true SkinTonesCurve=0;

[SharpenEdge] Enabled=false Passes=2 Strength=50 ThreeChannels=false

[SharpenMicro] Enabled=false Matrix=false Strength=20 Uniformity=50

[White Balance] Setting=Camera Temperature=5848 Green=1.089 Equal=1

[Color appearance] Enabled=true Degree=83 AutoDegree=true Surround=Average AdaptLum=16 Badpixsl=0 Model=RawT Algorithm=ALL J-Light=0 Q-Bright=0 C-Chroma=0 S-Chroma=0 M-Chroma=15 J-Contrast=25 Q-Contrast=25 H-Hue=0 RSTProtection=0 AdaptScene=3.6749999999999998 AutoAdapscen=true SurrSource=false Gamut=true Datacie=false Tonecie=false CurveMode=Lightness CurveMode2=Lightness CurveMode3=Chroma Curve=0; Curve2=0; Curve3=0;

[Impulse Denoising] Enabled=false Threshold=50

[Defringing] Enabled=false Radius=2 Threshold=13 HueCurve=1;0.16666666699999999;0;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.34699999999999998;0;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.51366742600000004;0;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.66894457100000004;0;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.82877752459999998;0.97835991;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.99088838270000001;0;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;

[Directional Pyramid Denoising] Enabled=true Enhance=false Median=true Auto=false Luma=0 Ldetail=50 Chroma=20.73 Method=Lab LMethod=SLI CMethod=MAN C2Method=AUTO SMethod=shal MedMethod=33 RGBMethod=soft MethodMed=Lab Redchro=9.1999999999999993 Bluechro=-3.2999999999999998 Gamma=1.7 Passes=1 LCurve=1;0.050000000000000003;0.5;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.55000000000000004;0.040000000000000001;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998; CCCurve=1;0.050000000000000003;0.5;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.050000000000000003;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;

[EPD] Enabled=false Strength=0.5 Gamma=1 EdgeStopping=1.3999999999999999 Scale=0.29999999999999999 ReweightingIterates=0

[Shadows & Highlights] Enabled=true HighQuality=false Highlights=0 HighlightTonalWidth=80 Shadows=0 ShadowTonalWidth=80 LocalContrast=0 Radius=40

[Crop] Enabled=false X=0 Y=0 W=6026 H=4004 FixedRatio=false Ratio=3:2 Orientation=Landscape Guide=Rule of thirds

[Coarse Transformation] Rotate=0 HorizontalFlip=false VerticalFlip=false

[Common Properties for Transformations] AutoFill=true

[Rotation] Degree=0

[Distortion] Amount=0

[LensProfile] LCPFile=--whatever-dirctory-you-use--\\Nikkor_18-55mm_f3.5-f5.6.lcp UseDistortion=true UseVignette=true UseCA=false

[Perspective] Horizontal=0 Vertical=0

[Gradient] Enabled=false Degree=0 Feather=25 Strength=0.59999999999999998 CenterX=0 CenterY=0

[PCVignette] Enabled=false Strength=0.59999999999999998 Feather=50 Roundness=50

[CACorrection] Red=0 Blue=0

[Vignetting Correction] Amount=0 Radius=50 Strength=1 CenterX=0 CenterY=0

[Resize] Enabled=false Scale=0.14999999999999999 AppliesTo=Cropped area Method=Lanczos DataSpecified=3 Width=900 Height=900

[Color Management] InputProfile=(camera) ToneCurve=false BlendCMSMatrix=false DCPIlluminant=0 WorkingProfile=ProPhoto OutputProfile=RT_sRGB Gammafree=default Freegamma=false GammaValue=2.2200000000000002 GammaSlope=4.5

[Wavelet] Enabled=false Strength=100 Balance=0 Iter=0 MaxLev=7 TilesMethod=full DaubMethod=4_ ChoiceLevMethod=all BackMethod=grey LevMethod=4 DirMethod=all Contrast1=0 Contrast2=0 Contrast3=0 Contrast4=0 Contrast5=0 Contrast6=0 Contrast7=0 Contrast8=0 Contrast9=0 Chroma1=0 Chroma2=0 Chroma3=0 Chroma4=0 Chroma5=0 Chroma6=0 Chroma7=0 Chroma8=0 Chroma9=0 ContExtra=0 HSMethod=with HLRange=50;75;100;98; SHRange=0;2;50;25; Edgcont=0;0;0;0; Level0noise=0;0; Level1noise=0;0; Level2noise=0;0; ThresholdHighlight=5 ThresholdShadow=4 Edgedetect=80 Edgedetectthr=20 EdgedetectthrHi=0 ThresholdChroma=5 CHromaMethod=without Medgreinf=none CHSLromaMethod=SL EDMethod=CU BAMethod=none TMMethod=tm ChromaLink=0 ContrastCurve=1;0;0.25;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.5;0.75;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.90000000000000002;0;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998; Pastlev=0;2;30;20; Satlev=30;45;130;100; OpacityCurveRG=1;0;0.5;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;1;0.5;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998; OpacityCurveBY=1;0;0.5;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;1;0.5;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998; OpacityCurveW=1;0;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0;0.34999999999999998;0.75;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.59999999999999998;0.75;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;1;0.34999999999999998;0;0; OpacityCurveWL=1;0;0.5;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;1;0.5;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998; HHcurve=0; CHcurve=0; WavclCurve=0; Median=false Medianlev=false Linkedg=true Lipst=false Skinprotect=0 Hueskin=-5;25;170;120; Edgrad=15 Edgval=0 ThrEdg=10 AvoidColorShift=false TMr=false ResidualcontShadow=0 ResidualcontHighlight=0 ThresholdResidShadow=35 ThresholdResidHighLight=65 Residualchroma=0 ResidualTM=0 Residualgamma=1 HueRangeResidual=0 HueRange=-260;-250;-130;-140; Contrast=0

[Directional Pyramid Equalizer] Enabled=true Gamutlab=false Mult0=1.3 Mult1=1.25 Mult2=1.2 Mult3=1.1499999999999999 Mult4=1.1000000000000001 Mult5=1.05 Threshold=0.20000000000000001 Skinprotect=0 Hueskin=-5;25;170;120;

[HSV Equalizer] HCurve=0; SCurve=0; VCurve=0;

[Film Simulation] Enabled=false ClutFilename= Strength=100

[RGB Curves] LumaMode=false rCurve=0; gCurve=0; bCurve=0;

[ColorToning] Enabled=false Method=Lab Lumamode=true Twocolor=Std Redlow=0 Greenlow=0 Bluelow=0 Satlow=0 Balance=0 Sathigh=0 Redmed=0 Greenmed=0 Bluemed=0 Redhigh=0 Greenhigh=0 Bluehigh=0 Autosat=true OpacityCurve=1;0;0.29999999999999999;0.34999999999999998;0;0.25;0.80000000000000004;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;0.69999999999999996;0.80000000000000004;0.34999999999999998;0.34999999999999998;1;0.29999999999999999;0;0; ColorCurve=1;0.050000000000000003;0.62;0.25;0.25;0.58499999999999996;0.11;0.25;0.25; SatProtectionThreshold=0 SaturatedOpacity=0 Strength=50 HighlightsColorSaturation=60;80; ShadowsColorSaturation=80;208; ClCurve=3;0;0;0.34999999999999998;0.65000000000000002;1;1; Cl2Curve=3;0;0;0.34999999999999998;0.65000000000000002;1;1;

[RAW] DarkFrame= DarkFrameAuto=false FlatFieldFile= FlatFieldAutoSelect=false FlatFieldBlurRadius=32 FlatFieldBlurType=Area Flatfield FlatFieldAutoClipControl=false FlatFieldClipControl=false CA=true CARed=0 CABlue=0 HotPixelFilter=true DeadPixelFilter=true HotDeadPixelThresh=100 PreExposure=1 PrePreserv=0

[RAW Bayer] Method=lmmse CcSteps=0 PreBlack0=0 PreBlack1=0 PreBlack2=0 PreBlack3=0 PreTwoGreen=true LineDenoise=0 GreenEqThreshold=0 DCBIterations=2 DCBEnhance=true LMMSEIterations=2

[RAW X-Trans] Method=3-pass (best) CcSteps=0 PreBlackRed=0 PreBlackGreen=0 PreBlackBlue=0

I hope you find this helpful and let me know if it works for your pictures!

Amateur DSLR Astrophotography

I've decided to put up a quick tutorial on taking some nice pictures of the night sky in less than perfect light polluted conditions. The results won't be anything like some of those amazing shots obtained from dark sky sites but they will still provide some nice shots. Like this one:

Tools you will need:

• A camera on a sturdy surface (a DSLR on a tripod works best) that can shoot in RAW format (jpegs won't look as nice and are usually to noisy) and shutter speed can be set manually.
• A way to take a sequence of photos in a row (an Intervalometer of some sort)
• Deepskystacker
• Rawtherapee
• Gimp

Steps:

1. Locate your target. In this case I aimed my camera at the the Milky Way around the constellation Cygnus.
2. Take a couple of test exposures using the rule of 600 and the highest ISO that you can without getting too much noise (a small amount of noise is OK since the stacking will take care of it). Tip: focus on a faraway street lamp with the camera's auto-focus and turn it off, this will get you a focus onto infinity.
3. In my case setting the focal length to 27mm and the f-stop to 5.6, ISO 1600 and 10s shutter and daytime white balance, yielded the following result:Not bad some of brightest stars can be seen and they are in focus!
4. Set the camera to take a large numbers of exposures in a row (These are your Light Frames). Use an Intervalometer, or in my case I connect the camera via USB to my laptop (using digiCamControl) or my android phone (using qDSLRDashboard). In this case I set the camera for 30x 10sec exposures giving a total exposure of 5 minutes.
5. Once the camera is done taking the photos take a few dark frames, by taking 3 shots with the SAME SETTINGS but put the cap back on.
6. Finally take a bias shot by keeping the cap on and increasing the shutter speed to the highest your camera is capable of (usually 1/4000 or 1/8000)
7. Both the Dark and Bias frames MUST be done at the time your Light Frames are taken
8. Now upload the photos to a folder and launch DeepSkyStacker
9. Click on Open Picture Files… and load your light frames
10. Click on Dark Files… and load the dark frames
11. Click on offset/bias files.. and load the bias frame
12. Go to RAW/FITS DDP Settings and Check Auto White balance and OK
13. Click on Check all
14. Click on Register Checked pictures…
15. The default setting are OK, you can later play with them or look at some other tutorials on how to tweak them.
16. Hit the OK button, sit back and relax. Depending on your number on Pictures and hardware this could take quite a while, my case took around 35-40 minutes on a not to fast laptop. Your mileage will vary!
17. When DeepSkyStacker finishes it will create this:Umm not much to see…
18. Open the Autosave.tif in Rawtherapee
19. Play with the sliders until you get something like this (a future tutorial will deal more with this in detail):
20. Hurray, you are almost there. Save it as an 8 bit tiff.
21. You probably notice the colour is not quite right and the edges are fuzzy. To fix this develop and save 3 of your best exposures from the set and load them on Gimp.
22. Using the G'MIC plugin, blend the 3 photos as layers using the median option to get rid of the stars.
23. load the saved 8bit tiff from above as a layer over this one and create a grey scale layer mask. (You may need to do some tweaking to the layer mask's contrast to get better results.
24. That's it! You should get something close to this: