![]() ![]() request a tutorial for a particular function or process (or you can PM me).For instance, Martin B has posted a bunch of excellent PhotoShop tutorials and in many cases PhotoPlus works in such a similar way that it would be a waste of time to post PhotoPlus versions an obvious example is stretching images using curves and levels… I think this is so similar that you can follow the PhotoShop tutorials in PhotoPlus without too much of a problem. I’m still learning the art of processing and I hope to post tutorials as I learn, but ONLY when the process differs in an important way from PhotoShop. My intention is to post a number of tutorials for PhotoPlus. That’s my recommendation so these tutorials are based around x4, but PhotoPlus 10 usually works in pretty much the same way. ![]() By all means practice astro imaging for free with PhotoPlus 10, but for quality astro imaging on a budget, spend a tenner and download PhotoPlus x4. It isn’t the most up-to-date version, but it does pretty much everything that PhotoShop does, it does it much more quickly than PhotoPlus 10, and – most importantly – it allows you to process in 16-bits. You can learn a lot using PhotoPlus 10 but it doesn’t really cut the mustard for astro image processing purely because of the 8-bit issue (GIMP – also free – suffers from the same limitation).Īt 10 quid, though, PhotoPlus x4 does pretty well for astro imaging. This severely limits the dynamic range of the image and, while I won’t go into details here, suffice it to say that this is not good for astro imaging. For example it will load 16-bit TIFF images, but you’ll only be processing them in 8-bits. However, the major disadvantage is that this software only processes 8-bit images. It has the layers, levels, curves etc., etc., that you’ll need to process astro images. However, some of the processes and filters are really, really slow (the Dust and Scratch filter, for instance, which can be used to make a starless layer in DSO processing is mind blowingly slow and if you are using a number of iterations of the filter… let’s just say it gets frustrating!). I won’t post a link because they change from time-to-time, but use your favourite search engine and you should be able to find it legally for free without too much of a problem. PhotoPlus 10 is great because you can usually get it for free. It is only fair to say that others have had bad experiences. My experience is that if you are clear on this from the outset then they do leave you alone. Serif have a hard won reputation for very aggressive marketing so if you are getting a free version be very firm that you do not want to be sold anything, added to any mailing lists etc. ![]() You can get PhotoPlus 10 for free (for example it is sometimes given away with Sky at Night magazine) and PhotoPlus x4 – a more up-to-date version for £9.99. That’s too much for me and I am vehemently opposed to software piracy (it’s theft, people, and therefore as bad as stealing someone’s telescope). At the time of writing the current version of PhotoShop (CS6) retails at $699. ![]() Also, most of the online tutorials you will find are for PhotoShop – most of the functions are very, very similar, but some are a bit different so the lack of ‘how to’ guides is what I want to address in a series of tutorials. PhotoShop is probably quicker it certainly has a variety of astro ‘add-ins’ that (as far as I am aware) are not available for, or compatible with, PhotoPlus. I haven’t used PhotoShop in a very, very long time (and thus I was using a very old version) but I suspect that current versions of PhotoShop are better for astro imaging than PhotoPlus. It is a reasonably capable graphics package that includes things like ‘layers’ (very useful when making adjustments to an image) and ‘levels’ and ‘curves’ – essential when stretching your image to bring out the hidden detail in stacked astro images. Serif PhotoPlus is a lower cost alternative to PhotoShop and PaintShop Pro. ![]()
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