I’ve been toying with the idea of getting into astrophotography, but watching other people’s processing videos has always left me a bit intimidated. This was fantastic, and seems very accessible. Thank you for taking the time to make this tutorial. Earned you a subscriber.
One of the best. Had been struggling from past 3 days to process my Andromeda. This video made it a cake walk. Very impressed by the results after following this process.
Thank you so much for this tutorial. Before watching, I was struggling with other applications to process my images. Now I am processing in under an hour with Siril and PS and my images are stunning. You are a great presenter and you explain things very well. Much appreciated!
Thank you for this Scott!! I'm new to this craft but have found some many different tutorials on how to stack and stretch! All of the ones I watched never broke it down with a flow that works well! I appreciate your time on making this video! Clear Skies!!! :)
I found out about Siril in my search for software to better handle my Astro shots. Didn't want to deal with Deep Sky Stacker or Pixinsight. I have been using Sequator. This has got to be the best instructional processing video I have come across for astrophotography. Great video Scott and a big Thank You ! ! !
It is really fantastic. Both the method and the way you explain things. Some people demonstrate their knowledge, but you teach giving time for us to understand the method. I am successfully using the method with the difference that sometimes I stretch photos on Photoshop using hyperbolic stretching. Thank you very much!
Scott, although that was using photoshop and I have bought affinity photo, I have to say your explanation was extremely helpful since you not only explained how to do what you did but why. Many do not include the why or at least not very clearly.
Argh. I just spent hours watching and taking notes on the fantastic old video only to download and open Siril and see a very different GUI. Maybe there's a heads up given on the old video that I missed. So glad I stumbled across this new video. I am subscribed to your channel now.
Yeah I can only put a headsup in the video description. But I will try and find a way to add a card or some other kind of headsup in the older video itself.
@@DenimSuitPhoto No worries. I think you're awesome. I just posted a link to your video in a Facebook group. You actually have me doing layers now which were a complete mystery before, despite watching other people's videos. I like how I can follow your cursor as you explain what you're doing. I'm so grateful to you for sharing your knowledge. You helped me process my first DSO image. (I captured M45 with a SGP.)
@@DenimSuitPhoto Hi, Scott. Been using your techniques for months and now I can't make it work. Must have changed something in Ps. Been looking at every part of your screen in the vid to see what's different than mine. Can't find any. When I control J the Select-Mod-Color Range-Shadows step, the image layer looks black & white and takes no changes in Camera Raw Filter. Also, when I select expand, it now contracts. I reset all Ps preferences in case that helps. It doesn't. Can't find the answer on the net. Help please!
Thanks Scott! I am a frequent visitor to this tutorial, think I have it more or less memorized by now! Managed to get a much better result on a image of North American/Pelican nebula when following your workflow. I live in a bortle8 area, use a Nikon d7100 unmodified with a Tamron 150-600mm on a small SA2I. Was surprised what could be pulled out with just 30sec exposures for a little more then 2 hours!
Hi Scott. Thanks for the updated video, it's improved my Siril processing no end! Something useful I stumbled upon today, was that when doing Background Extraction, right clicking on a green square cuases it to disappear, but if you keep on right clicking, a wider and wider area of green squares gets deleted from around where your cursor is positioned, so when doing M42, for instance, just click in the middle of an area of nebulosity, then keep the cursor in the same position and right click away until the green sqares are gone from the area you're pointing at, then move the cursor and keep at it. Much easier than clicking on every square :-)
Oh, and when doing Histogram Transformation, the top left field in the dialog box (which starts as '1' ) is a magnification factor for the chart, so increasing it stretches the chart out and makes it much easier to finely manipulate the stretch controls, so that you can really fine tune the black point clipping, for instance. HTH :-)
Thank-you Scott for a fantastic video. I have only just discovered Siril and was a bit overwhelmed. However I was able to follow your tutorial easily and re-processed Orion photos that I took last month. I am much happier with the version I got this time round.
Great SiriL update ! You have a knack for explaining and teaching, this is so understandable, I appreciate your considerable skill. It also helps to have good data to start with - and that in and of its self should not be overlooked. SiriL is an unbelievably powerful tool...keep up the great work !!
Scott, thank you SO much for this superb video! I recently started using SiriL and have been struggling a bit. But you have explained things brilliantly. You've also taught me plenty about Photoshop too! Subscribed!! 😃
This is an awesome tutorial. Today was my first time with Siril and I would have been so confused without this. Already processed my favourite image yet of Andromeda. Thanks so much.
Nice video! I would personally do the Asinh stretch first to preserve color saturation. When you do the automated Histogram Transformation stretch first, you really lose a lot of color data.
Simply a FANTASTIC video, and your a great teacher. Your audio is great, the steps were clear and concise. All the links to the software were provided. Just wonderful. If I were to nitpick, I'd love for you to have included a link to download your actual raw images, which you would have to be ok with doing. I'm just trying to figure this stuff so having images to work with would be a plus.
@@DenimSuitPhoto Hi Scott!. No, what I was thinking was, it would be great if you could have released the full image data set (lights frames, dark frames, and bias frames) that you were working on in the video. I'm not presently doing astrophotography and don't have image data I can process. I get it though, photographers as a rule, don't like to release raw image data, especially when its your full time job like I'm assuming it is for you.
Scott! Absolutely amazing tutorial. Your previous one plus this one are my absolute goto for guidelines and workflow framework. I've learned to embrace Color Calibration and Asinh Transformation because of your tutorials!
Great video, thank you. This is now my new workflow for processing. At the end of the video you mention opening Lightroom so that the further enhancements with sliders is non destructive. You can do that in Photoshop by flattening your image, duplicate your image, then CTRL+SHIFT+A to open camera raw filter. Now all changes are on the duplicated background layer, so you can make a change, then toggle its visibilty on and off, or delete that layer if you don't like the result. Duplicate the layer again, to try again.
Agreed. For my workflow, I import everything into Lightroom anyway, so being able to make non-destructive RAW edits any time after the fact (days or months even) is why I mentioned that.
Hi, thanks for your great video, I think it's one of the best ever on Siril. Unfortunately, I often encounter problems probably because I'm just starting out, but since yesterday I don't know what to do. I put the folders with the biases, darks, flats and lights (all raw files) in the working folder and it is fine until the last folder of the lights. At this point the script stops and these lines of text appear on the right window: 12:33:09: Running command: cd 12:33:09: Setting CWD (Current Working Directory) to 'C: \ Users \ Massimo Tosello \ Pictures' 12:33:09: # Convert Light Frames to .fit files 12:33:09: Running command: cd 12:33:09: 'lights' No such file or directory 12:33:09: Error in line 54: 'cd'. 12:33:09: Exiting batch processing. 12:33:09: Setting CWD (Current Working Directory) to 'C: \ Users \ Massimo Tosello \ Pictures' 12:33:09: Script execution failed. What should I do? can you help me? many thanks and congratulations for your work
"12:33:09: 'lights' No such file or directory" this error message that the "lights" folder either doesn't exist or spelled incorrectly. Those folders need to be named exactly, otherwise the script will not work. Double check your folder names are named correctly. lights darks biases flats
@@massimo541 also, it looks like your working directory is the “pictures” folder. Is that where all your other working folders are? If you haven’t established a working directory, ie the correct place for SIRIL to look for the working files, it will just assume that everything is In the “pictures” folder. So make sure you are telling SIRIL to even look in the right place.
Congratulations for this super tutorial. You changed my Workflow. I will be change DSS to SIRIL. I want to recommend you make a tutorial using Tony Kuiper panel to do the luminosity masks because I suppose that is better in way to obtain more powerful masks. What do you think about Noel Carboni Astronomy Tools Panel? I think that it is an option to do some tasks more easily don’t You?
The reason I didn't include actions, panels or any other add-ons was because I wanted people to be able to do these basic tasks without having to spend extra money and download extra tools. This way, they know that just Photoshop, Gimp, or even PhotoPea can do everything they need. For the luminosity masks, its not any better than selecting what you want using the color range selection tool. Especially for the stars, you cant do that with a luminosity masks generator. For the Carboni stuff, I love what they have been able to do for people. But its just not for me, Like I mentioned, if I can do it in Photoshop with the basic tools, thats the way I prefer to do it, also because thats the way I prefer to teach it.
Hi Scott . Stumbled across this Video much like I did with your first Siril Video which got me started with my Astrophotography . Glad you've done a followup . The new trend seems to be using the Asinh "before" Histogram stretching . Interesting . Wish I had some Data to try this on . Pretty bad year for Astro . Cheers ./SRK
Hi Scott, big thanks for the tutorial - I have booked marked it for later. Would be able to do a similar tutorial for planetary image processing show the steps for using captured images and video? Cheers
First of all: Nice video! I do have a question tho: A friend and I ran into a problem where we can't find a preset in the photometric colour calibration tab for orion nebula. Do you know why it is not working? Do you need any specific scripts for that? Cheers
Thanks for the video, i was searching for something to get my flats…all i could find was stuf around 300€. Thanks do you i just bought an LED Pad for around 40€ Clear skies!
Wonderful, helpful video on Siril and processing! Regarding your final image, pre-lightroom/photoshop; is it normal to keep the back ground grey rather than dark black for that contrast pop. It may be my computer screen, but it displays darker blacks than present in the background of your final image. It seemed deliberate on your part, so I was wondering if that is some sort of convention or something. I'm very new to processing and AP so I'm the unschooled heathen, for sure. I was simply wondering about the back ground and the level of darkness. But, really great video! Definitely bookmarked. Look forward to watching your other videos.
Fantastic video, and thanks so much for sharing your workflow! I know it's a personal thing but I would probably miss the star minimisation step. Can't wait for some clear skies to get out and get some images to practice on! Subscribed!
@@DenimSuitPhoto it's preference Scott. If I froze for 2 hours to take those stars, I dont want to minimise them. I can see how doing that makes the subject pop, but the other stars are there, they do exist :) The technique is very interesting, and I will definitely give it a go, I might be persuaded...
great video, just one question in the color calibration, in image parameters is orion nebula but it doesnt show right ascension and declination numbers thank you very much
Nice catch, the RA and DEC numbers are irrelevant when using the search function in Photometric Calibration. It will input the correct data automatically.
Hi Scott. This an excellent update to your earlier SIRIL tutorial; which I still follow when I process my astro images. I don't have PS, but GIMP has worked well for me. Have you toyed with GIMP at all? It would be great to see you do a session using GIMP in lieu of PS. Just thinking about keeping things 'free' for us folks who have spent the bulk of our astrophotography budgets on good gear. Thanks for your very thorough tutorials.
Along with GIMP, It would also be interesting to see how you would change your settings for those of us in light polluted areas. Unfortunately it takes a good hour and a half if not more to get to semi dark skies. Very nice work with Siril brother!
@@Ghostflyer63 I am going from a Bortle 8/9 to a Bortle 4/5 in 35 minutes. Unfortunately, if your skies are heavily polluted, you would want to use filters like the Optolong L-Pro, L-Enhance or L-Extreme. I currently use an L-Pro 100% of the time under the 4/5 skies I get. I would maybe try narrowband imaging under severe light pollution.
@@Ghostflyer63 I hear yah. I have to travel pretty far to get to a dark site as well. I only have to travel 30 minutes east or south to find half the light pollution though. I am sure you could find the same around Houston. You dont need Bortle 1 or 2. Just Bortle 4/5 makes a huge difference.
This tutorial is absolutely great, Scott!! Thank you so much. Do you ever recommend doing some minor adjustments before stacking, e.g., in Lightroom for slightly overexposed images, and then saving the files as TIFFs with exactly the same dimensions as my original Canon raw (CR3) files, or is it best just to process what I have in Siril first and work out the adjustments later in Siril/Photoshop? Thanks again for providing a step-by-step, well-paced tutorial I could actually follow! Great job on this, and hope to see more like this.
Great question. I never pre process the raw files before SIRIL. The only thing I do is remove the bad/unwanted/test images from the lights folder before proceeding to stacking. As for overexposure, I would try including those files and stacking, and removing those files and stacking just to compare the differences, if any.
Just starting out! and....compared to you, I am using a toy! Seestar S50! FITS are akready stacked! What part of this tutorial should I/we hone in on(if any?) Great work from you, nice n simple! Great work!!
Great video sir, I'm so happy I found this I was finally happy enough with my image to realize it on Instagram, and I've been doing Astro for about a year and a half now. I've always enjoyed shooting but sucked at post and more specifically stretching and color calibration. I have a Nikon d3500 which is very unforgiven compared to other DSLRs. But I was finally able to process a good image lol.
Hi Scott. I was wondering if you had noticed any specific thing about this newer SIRIL, which is better over the older version; of which you did the first tutorial? Other than being able to work on just one window for the processing, I just see some of your work flow (image processing sequences) has changed. There is photometrics on both and as long as you remember to crop first (if needed) then the photometrics work well. I was going to upgrade versions of SIRIL, after watching your latest updated workflow tutorial, but now I'm not so sure. I guess my question is really about processing the same image in both SIRIL versions to see which one give a better result. Unfortunately, you can only have one version of SIRIL on your PC at a time, according to their installation instructions.
You are correct in your assumptions, there are no major differences between either version other than GUI. You can look through the release notes of the prior versions to be a stickler, but there are no major added features, just tweaks and patches. My workflow has changed with experience of finding and testing new techniques (mostly in photoshop), and with the determination of processing in SIRIL in the order the designers had intended. The process workflow - in SIRIL - is nearly identical to the guide they provide with their latest version. You most definitely can have two versions of SIRIL installed at the same time. Provided you rename the directory of one of the versions, so it doesn't overwrite the files from your previous install. I just renamed the install directory, "SIRIL2" So it was entirely possible for me. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@DenimSuitPhoto Does it come with all of the same scripts as the earlier version, which you used for the first tutorial? Those scripts are perfect. I am thorough in my astro sessions, in that I take the necessary calibration frames (darks, flats & biases) and SIRIL does a nice job on those sorted files utilizing those built in scripts. Thanks again for your great tutorials.
@@febsat It comes with all the same scripts as previous versions, and you can download more from the same place on their website. All linked in the video description.
You have to use a companion program called SIRILIC. which is basically a program with a different GUI that allows for the creation of complex scripts, which are then used by SIRIL. I was going to do a video about this in the past, but many serious issues arose in the compatibility between the two products. Since SIRIL is now technically out of beta, I will try again soon. Please keep a look out!
@@DenimSuitPhoto thanks Scott, I'll look forward to it as I've heard the stack from siril is better than dss and if possible I generally image over 2 nights or more 👍
Nice. I tried Siril before but it was bit overwhelming to say the least. I guess with the new UI and your tutorial here i can start moving away from using only Photoshop adjustment layers and Lightroom to a more elaborate processing workflow. Thanks!
Hi! Sorry, I'm a newbie in Photoshop: at minute 50:10, you copied the selection in a new layer with CTRL+J.Ok.But the new layer didn't maintain the selection. You said "ops" and then the selection came up again. How did you do that?
Great video. Your siril workflow matches mine almost exactly. The only additional step that i recently started using is Siril's Contrast-Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization tool. It really works wonders on the nebula detail. I think it could replace the "enhance dso" step that you did in photoshop
Great video! When I tried to do the color range adjustment when I was in photoshop it wouldn't let me do the changes like you did. The settings you had were not there. I tried 8bit as well but still not there. My photoshop is CS2 so its older and must not have those settings. Is there anyway you can do a video of these changes in Gimp?
Thanks for watching! I am not at all experienced in GIMP so unfortunately cant help there. I tried to keep the processing in Photoshop as basic as possible but it seems like CS2 is just too far out of date. Is the color range selection the only part that didnt translate?
Thanks, Scott I also remember your first Siril tutorial and referred to it many times. Glad you are doing an update on the new Siril which I downloaded the other day and was struggling a bit. I now shoot with a dedicated Astro Camera instead of my DSLR where I shoot only Lights, Darks, Flats, and Dark-Flats but no Biases. How do I use Siril now that there are no Biases - I am assuming I can't use the RGB processing script anymore. Is there a script to download for dedicated color 1-shot Astro Cameras? I also use GIMP and would love to see your tutorial on best practices, especially for masks. One last item - the use of StarNet++. I would like to get 2 images; one with just the nebulosity and the other of just the stars to composite in GIMP. I think I can use the starless, duplicate, and subtract from the original to get just the starts, but would like you to take a stab at it and show us a how-to. Once again, I thank you for all your efforts and energy to create these for us.
Great Question. To my knowledge, Dark Flats are very nearly the same thing as Bias frames. So they are interchangeable in terms of SIRIL processing. I would just put the dark flats in the biases folder and run whichever script you were already using. Any script labeled OSC is for One Shot Color cameras. You are the second person to recommend I take a look at GIMP. So its officially on the list. As for Starnet++ I'll have to look into that, I haven't had very much luck with it yet, but thats because I shoot with a DSLR still. Star bloat is pretty awful so it makes no sense to Starnet++ for me yet.
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thanks for the response. I shot with a Nikon D7500 all last year and found that moving the picture from the linear world to the non-linear world with 1st good stretch allows you to remove the stars, process without bloat, and add the stars back in at the end of the process. I think it would be effective to have a finished composite of the nebula and stars on 2 layers, both adjusted for perfect results. Thanks again!
Hi Scott, great tutorial. I did not hear of Siril before but I would like to try. Since I usually capture Milky way or other wider shots with foreground included, can Siril mask out foreground/earth part of the image (like Sequator) and if not, would it be a problem for Siril if I would upload such images? Ty
Hi can you tell me I use sony A7III and the images are ARW should i convert to tiff first as ARW isn't compatible or is there a better type to convert to before i try processing in siril. thanks
Sony A73 files should be acceptable in SIRIL. I just worked with someone who was using a Sony A7RIV and we had no trouble using the RAW files straight from the camera using the newest version of SIRIL 0.99.10.1 If thats still not working, the best way is use Lightroom to export the RAW files as DNG (camera raw 11.2) or use Adobe DNG Converter helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/using/adobe-dng-converter.html (free download) to convert them using the Camera Raw 11.2 preset
Hi! Thanks for this tutorial! I have an issue I can't find the solution to. When I try to do the Color Calibration I get the error "Plate Solving failed. The image could not be aligned with the reference stars". I've tried to manually select stars via the "pick a star" option and "detect stars" option to select a bunch of stars. I've tried to upload the results file to astrometry for plate solving and entering the RA/Dec info into Siril, but nothing works. This is an image taken with a DSLR and a 150/750 scope of M51. So i've tried to use the "get metadata" and also entered 750 as focal length, but no go. However another picture I had taken with just a photo lens of M101 also got the same error but that one worked when I selected the stars manually and the whole guide worked just flawlessly which resulted in an awesome picture. Any tips for this issue? :)
Sometimes the stated focal length of lenses isn’t exact. I use a 360mm scope and I often get the plate solver to correct that to 377mm. Make sure you don’t enable drizzle, that will change the parameters of plate solving also. The next option is to do manual color correction. My older tutorial on SIRIL has a section on manually color correcting.
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thank you so much for tour reply :) I forgot I used the barlow with my camera, so the focal length would be 1500, not 750. I entered that and it changed it to 2063.4 instead. Now I don't get the pop-up error like before, but the console's last sentence now says "No valid stars found". So one step closer haha, any idea whats wrong this time? I will watch your other video as well and try the manual color correction too :) Thanks again! :)
Just found your chanel as I am considering astrophotography as a sideline without going too deep. Some years ago I used to own a telescope and took some reasonable images of Jupiter and Saturn via the telescope and web cam footage. Now I would like to get back into it it without a telescope and I consider myself an absolute newby at taking astro pictures with my camera. Do you have any vids on the basics of actually getting the images you have on this one.....before getting to the processing stage? Thanks
Welcome aboard! Yes I have 2 other videos on my channel about Lights and Calibration frames. Youll find the information you want in either of those two videos
Excellent vid... Quick question. All my files are in .fit to begin with. Siril wont load them. Error message says must be in raw format. Any advice for a mac user ?
According to SIRIL the scripts that are provided with the latest releases should work on BOTH raw and fits files. free-astro.org/index.php?title=Siril:scripts
Hi Scott. I have a few more comments and questions. You seem to be so well versed with the functions of SIRIL that I find myself directing questions to you, rather than to the SIRIL team. Hope you don't mind. My first question relates to processing multi-night data sets. After reading the SIRIL documentation, it is certainly doable and I was wondering if you could make a tutorial to show us exactly the steps that need to be followed. The other question relates to bias frames and dark flat frames. I know that I queried you on this in the past, but there seems to be more SIRIL documentation discussing the advantages of Dark Flats over regular bias frames when using DSLR cameras that have CMOS. My understanding is that a Dark Flat is actually the same as a Bias Frame, but it matches the settings (ISO, shutter speed etc.) of the Flats. I don't think that there are any scripts for SIRIL which would cover this method of processing. Dark Flats would need to be subtracted from Flats, but if the Dark Flats are placed in the Biases folder, then SIRIL would subtract them from the Light Frames. One SIRIL document states that Flats must match the Light Frames, but another SIRIL document then states the Light Frames should be set to the lowest possible ISO to reduce the introduction of noise and as a result, the matching Dark Frame (Bias frame for CMOS) must match the Flat Frame settings. Very confusing. I can try to send you the links to those SIRIL documents if you'd care to read/comment on their statements. Thanks for all of your tutorials and technical know how.
Quite Alright! To my knowledge, you can put Dark Flats in the Biases folder and process normally. In the latest release, the scripts have Bias frames being subtracted from the Flats "preprocess flat -bias=bias_stacked" So again its okay to put your dark flats in the folder labeled Biases. And yes Dark Flats are exactly the same settings as Flats, but with the lens cap on. Whether dark flats are better than biases is something you will have to experiment with though. And now onto multi night sessions. Youll want to look into SIRILic here: siril.org/docs/sirilic/ Its basically a script generator for SIRIL, allowing one to do some pretty amazing automations. But for me, I cant get the current version of Sirilic to work with the current version of Siril, so until they get that figured out I wont be doing a video.
This was a very helpful video. You helped me transform my image of the oron nebula i made recently. I disagree with your comment about how doing camera raw filters in photoshop burns the changes in permanently. If you convert the layer to a smart object you can go back to the filter settings and change them without having to remake the whole filter. it make it non destructive
Hi Scott thanks for this tutorial. One question how do i download the extra scripts ? I have tried via get extra scripts but cannot workout how to upload into Siril
Any specific raw conversion tips? A DeepSkyStacker workflow can handle raw files, but if I understand correctly Siril cannot, so they need to be converted to TIFFs first. I use RawTherapee -- Should the conversion be a neutral as possible so that Siril and PS / GIMP in post processing handle 'improvements' to the images? Or should I try to improve them in RawTherapee during conversion? Where is that line? Thanks!
It depends entirely on the age of your camera. I have both a Canon 80D & 5DIV and my raw files are fine. So if you are unsure, just open a RAW using Siril and see what happens. If it opens and you actually see the data, then you're fine. Otherwise you can convert them to DNG 11.2 in Lightroom or Bridge, that usually works best. I would not convert to TIFF personally (too large & not RAW). If you don't have an Adobe product to downgrade your RAW files to an earlier version, you can always download the Adobe DNG converter is always free: helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/using/adobe-dng-converter.html Just convert them to an earlier DNG version like 11.2. The Free DNG converter from Adobe works in batches too.
@@DenimSuitPhoto I have a Canon T8i (850D) which came out only last year so I should be good. Prior to that it was an ancient Rebel XT (from 2007) and low-light imaging wasn't its forte, to say the least! :-) I thought TIFF and FITS were the only formats supported by SiriL, but I've just barely started looking into it. Time to read... Thanks.
Hi Scott - Thanks a ton for doing this and doing it so well!. I have a question. I have all four folders with the appropriate files in them. However, when I do the first step of converting them I get a message that it failed because 6 of the flats were the wrong size but they are all the same size, all horizontal, all just the same as all the other files. Do you have any idea why that might be and/or would you suggest I just get rid of the flats and add the appropriate scripts. Thanks so much for your time.
Did you convert your files first? It shouldn't matter that files are vertical, or horizontal. If they came straight out of the camera it shouldnt be an issue. The only issue I've ever had with it failing was back when I used to process my images first in Lightroom, before I stacked them. Now I just use the RAW files straight out of camera. They shouldn't be different sizes right out of camera. The program script is pretty basic, so if its saying the files are different sizes, they are. You just gotta find which ones.
I think the error you are getting is referring to the line of code on the script. Line 18 is different in all the scripts. So check which script are you getting a line 18 error, open that script in something like notepad++ or just find line 18 and see what it is. If line 18 says something like "cd lights" and youre getting an error, then the program cant find your "lights" directory
I need help. My dataset is about 5gb. Lights Darks Flats Biases If I have 60 gb free it will get all the way to almost the end of the processing and then says it can't write to file/folder not enough room.... Says it needs 120gb! So I clear a bunch of space to give it 140gb. Same problem but now it wants 160gb. So I give it 200gb!!! STILL WANTS MORE!!!!????? WTH is going on?
The way SIRIL works is that is has to convert all your raw files to FITS, which dramatically increases the hard space required to complete the processing. My local disk (C:) usually has 500GB free at any given time. But the requirement is dependent on the number of images in your data set, as each FITS file can be 140MB+. If you are running out space, you can choose to make your home directory on ANY drive with lots of free space. It doesnt have to be your (C:) drive. I just like using my (C:) drive because its an NVME. If you are constantly running into issues, with space, you might consider using Deep Sky Stacker to integrate the images and SIRIL to process the output file, which you can change to FITS in the DSS preferences. DSS does not convert your files, so the space requirement is obviously much much lower.
There are four reasons for failure 1) incorrect item in the search bar 2) Incorrect focal length (do not convert the focal length 1.6x if you shot with a crop sensor camera) 3) Incorrect sensor pixel size (pixel pitch is interchangeable) 4) Did you drizzle? If so you must multiply the focal length by the drizzle factor
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thanks, Scott. I'm using a Canon 600D on a WO Z61, but with a field flattener that's also a 0.8 reducer, all on an HEQ5. I should be able to get a similar image with my setup, although the camera isn't quite as nice. I've been imaging mostly at ISO1600, but shorter exposure times (30s) and maybe 100 exposures. I've been learning pixinsight recently (or I should say trying to), maybe I'll tale a look at SIRIL next.
@@jimwitte8785 You should be able to get near exactly the same results as me with that setup. My field flattener isnt a reducer combo, but other than that, both setups are nearly identical
Asinh tranformation never works for me. I do exactly what you do, but the image remains almost completely black (with just the odd star). Then the histogram transformation auto-stretch has no effect. It's as if doing the Asinh first has stopped it working. I've tried this on several images now and I can't get it to work like you do. So I just do the histogram autostretch without doing Asinh first.
I usually get something after doing a 150X stretch in Asinh for the first stretch. Remember that its trying to preserve color data, so even though you might not see what its doing (in your case) you might not be aware of the results until your further along in the processing.
I’ve been toying with the idea of getting into astrophotography, but watching other people’s processing videos has always left me a bit intimidated. This was fantastic, and seems very accessible. Thank you for taking the time to make this tutorial. Earned you a subscriber.
thank you so much!
One of the best. Had been struggling from past 3 days to process my Andromeda. This video made it a cake walk. Very impressed by the results after following this process.
Glad it helped! thanks for the positive feedback!
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thank you too for the video Scott!
Paul Spaaij
Very good and clear explanation. Helps me a lot, to start with Siril and Photoshop. Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Thank you for making a video that finally helps me understand not only how to use SIRIL better but how SIRIL actually does the things that it does.
thanks for watching!
excellent video Scott. I often recommend it to beginners on Cloudy nights. well done.
Thank you! Sincerely Appreciated!
Thank you so much for this tutorial. Before watching, I was struggling with other applications to process my images. Now I am processing in under an hour with Siril and PS and my images are stunning. You are a great presenter and you explain things very well. Much appreciated!
thanks for watching!!
This video has transformed the way I process my images and they look SO much better. Thank you so much!!
Nice! Thanks James!
Awesome tutorial. I can’t wait to get home to try out those steps to see how some of my existing images come out.
Thanks so much and Good luck!
Thank you for this Scott!! I'm new to this craft but have found some many different tutorials on how to stack and stretch! All of the ones I watched never broke it down with a flow that works well! I appreciate your time on making this video! Clear Skies!!! :)
Glad it was helpful! Thank you so much watching!
I found out about Siril in my search for software to better handle my Astro shots. Didn't want to deal with Deep Sky Stacker or Pixinsight. I have been using Sequator. This has got to be the best instructional processing video I have come across for astrophotography. Great video Scott and a big Thank You ! ! !
thanks so much!
Brilliant tutorial Scott. Learned lots of new commands in both Siril and Photoshop. Thanks for the great video.
Very welcome!
Thank you, a brilliant tutorial. I'm a new user of Siril for post processing 👍
You're very welcome!
The only one tutorial you need for Siril. Got stunning results learning from your video. Thanks a lot!
WOW! Great to hear! Thank you for the kind words!
It is really fantastic. Both the method and the way you explain things. Some people demonstrate their knowledge, but you teach giving time for us to understand the method. I am successfully using the method with the difference that sometimes I stretch photos on Photoshop using hyperbolic stretching. Thank you very much!
thanks so much!
Scott, although that was using photoshop and I have bought affinity photo, I have to say your explanation was extremely helpful since you not only explained how to do what you did but why. Many do not include the why or at least not very clearly.
You're very welcome!
Argh. I just spent hours watching and taking notes on the fantastic old video only to download and open Siril and see a very different GUI. Maybe there's a heads up given on the old video that I missed. So glad I stumbled across this new video. I am subscribed to your channel now.
Yeah I can only put a headsup in the video description. But I will try and find a way to add a card or some other kind of headsup in the older video itself.
@@DenimSuitPhoto No worries. I think you're awesome. I just posted a link to your video in a Facebook group. You actually have me doing layers now which were a complete mystery before, despite watching other people's videos. I like how I can follow your cursor as you explain what you're doing. I'm so grateful to you for sharing your knowledge. You helped me process my first DSO image. (I captured M45 with a SGP.)
@@safinsd6612 What! Thanks man! I appreciate the love and the share!
@@DenimSuitPhoto Hi, Scott. Been using your techniques for months and now I can't make it work. Must have changed something in Ps. Been looking at every part of your screen in the vid to see what's different than mine. Can't find any. When I control J the Select-Mod-Color Range-Shadows step, the image layer looks black & white and takes no changes in Camera Raw Filter. Also, when I select expand, it now contracts. I reset all Ps preferences in case that helps. It doesn't. Can't find the answer on the net. Help please!
Really great tutorial! Thanks. The result is beautiful.
Thank you! 😊
Thank you for this video you and Siril have taken my astro photographing to the next level.
Wow, thank you!
The best workflow I've seen so far. I am going to redo some of the processing I've done on my raw data. Thank you
thank you so much!
Great level of instruction for this total beginner. I don't have photoshop available, but will try similar steps in Luminar.
LOVE your vids. Best I've viewed for astro processing.
Thank you so much!
Thanks Scott! I am a frequent visitor to this tutorial, think I have it more or less memorized by now!
Managed to get a much better result on a image of North American/Pelican nebula when following your workflow.
I live in a bortle8 area, use a Nikon d7100 unmodified with a Tamron 150-600mm on a small SA2I.
Was surprised what could be pulled out with just 30sec exposures for a little more then 2 hours!
Fantastic!
Bravo. Superb tutorial about using Siril and Photoshop. Siril is very nice software for stacking and preprocessing astropictures.
Many thanks
Hi Scott. Thanks for the updated video, it's improved my Siril processing no end! Something useful I stumbled upon today, was that when doing Background Extraction, right clicking on a green square cuases it to disappear, but if you keep on right clicking, a wider and wider area of green squares gets deleted from around where your cursor is positioned, so when doing M42, for instance, just click in the middle of an area of nebulosity, then keep the cursor in the same position and right click away until the green sqares are gone from the area you're pointing at, then move the cursor and keep at it. Much easier than clicking on every square :-)
Oh, and when doing Histogram Transformation, the top left field in the dialog box (which starts as '1' ) is a magnification factor for the chart, so increasing it stretches the chart out and makes it much easier to finely manipulate the stretch controls, so that you can really fine tune the black point clipping, for instance. HTH :-)
Great tip Michael , I,ve been doing one by one which was frustrating to say the least as you say on Andromeda.
Excellent Tips Michael!
Very helpful! I've watched tons of tutorial but this really helped me! Thanks!
Great to hear!
outstanding tutorial, well done. Thanks so much this helps a new astrophotographer very much.
Impressive work, friend!
Thanks a lot!
Thank-you Scott for a fantastic video. I have only just discovered Siril and was a bit overwhelmed. However I was able to follow your tutorial easily and re-processed Orion photos that I took last month. I am much happier with the version I got this time round.
Further question, can you delete the Process folder after the image is stacked? It is quite a big folder, would you need it again?
Yes! Just make sure you take out the result.fits file or the result.tiff file first!
You're very welcome!
Great SiriL update ! You have a knack for explaining and teaching, this is so understandable, I appreciate your considerable skill. It also helps to have good data to start with - and that in and of its self should not be overlooked. SiriL is an unbelievably powerful tool...keep up the great work !!
Glad it was helpful! That reminds me of a saying used in Programming, "Garbage In, Garbage Out"
@@DenimSuitPhoto That is also a queuing method in the Cisco world---GIGO lol. Great tutorial!
@@C1sc0M4n thank you!
Scott, thank you SO much for this superb video! I recently started using SiriL and have been struggling a bit. But you have explained things brilliantly. You've also taught me plenty about Photoshop too! Subscribed!! 😃
Awesome to hear Stuart! Glad you liked it, hopefully be coming out with some new stuff soon. Maybe planetary?
excellent vid! recently got back to AP and been only heard about Siril yesterday! but this explains a lot! thank you!
You are so welcome! I'm glad I could help!
I got into Siril thanks to you! Thanks! This vid again, contains nice little Photoshop tips that I did not yet know.
Happy to help!
Thanks so much! I just reprocessed an old M42 (just the Siril part) and its far better than my old attempt. Beautiful master class!
thank you so much!
This is an awesome tutorial. Today was my first time with Siril and I would have been so confused without this. Already processed my favourite image yet of Andromeda. Thanks so much.
Great to hear!
Excellent video. I was inspired and made 1 minute tutorial to Siril!
Nice video! I would personally do the Asinh stretch first to preserve color saturation. When you do the automated Histogram Transformation stretch first, you really lose a lot of color data.
Simply a FANTASTIC video, and your a great teacher. Your audio is great, the steps were clear and concise. All the links to the software were provided. Just wonderful. If I were to nitpick, I'd love for you to have included a link to download your actual raw images, which you would have to be ok with doing. I'm just trying to figure this stuff so having images to work with would be a plus.
Hi John,
I can provide a stacked FITS image from SIRIL if you are still interested. Just let me know. Thanks for the kind words!
@@DenimSuitPhoto Hi Scott!. No, what I was thinking was, it would be great if you could have released the full image data set (lights frames, dark frames, and bias frames) that you were working on in the video. I'm not presently doing astrophotography and don't have image data I can process. I get it though, photographers as a rule, don't like to release raw image data, especially when its your full time job like I'm assuming it is for you.
At 50:15 after a ctrl-j you said oops and id something, what did you do? trying to follow along and am new to PS. great work!
Nice catch, CMD-J was an incorrect step. When I said ooops, It looks like I quickly hit CMD-Z (CTL-Z for PC) and continued on.
@@DenimSuitPhoto thanks scott, learning astro photography and PS is a load on my feeble old mind.. thanks for these videos.
Would you please show us how to use Gimp to do the same things in this video as you demonstrated in PS, please ?😊
oooh I dont know if thats gonna work. I'd have to learn how to use GIMP first.
amazing video, so helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Another great tutorial Scott! Are you able to produce another workflow PDF to accompany this updated version?
Send me an email at scott@scottdonschikowski.com and Ill send it to you!
Thank you for this!! I remember watching your first video using Siril that was super helpful! Love your videos!
Thank you for watching!!
Scott! Absolutely amazing tutorial. Your previous one plus this one are my absolute goto for guidelines and workflow framework. I've learned to embrace Color Calibration and Asinh Transformation because of your tutorials!
You're very welcome!
Great video, thank you. This is now my new workflow for processing. At the end of the video you mention opening Lightroom so that the further enhancements with sliders is non destructive. You can do that in Photoshop by flattening your image, duplicate your image, then CTRL+SHIFT+A to open camera raw filter. Now all changes are on the duplicated background layer, so you can make a change, then toggle its visibilty on and off, or delete that layer if you don't like the result. Duplicate the layer again, to try again.
Agreed. For my workflow, I import everything into Lightroom anyway, so being able to make non-destructive RAW edits any time after the fact (days or months even) is why I mentioned that.
Hi, thanks for your great video, I think it's one of the best ever on Siril. Unfortunately, I often encounter problems probably because I'm just starting out, but since yesterday I don't know what to do. I put the folders with the biases, darks, flats and lights (all raw files) in the working folder and it is fine until the last folder of the lights. At this point the script stops and these lines of text appear on the right window:
12:33:09: Running command: cd
12:33:09: Setting CWD (Current Working Directory) to 'C: \ Users \ Massimo Tosello \ Pictures'
12:33:09: # Convert Light Frames to .fit files
12:33:09: Running command: cd
12:33:09: 'lights' No such file or directory
12:33:09: Error in line 54: 'cd'.
12:33:09: Exiting batch processing.
12:33:09: Setting CWD (Current Working Directory) to 'C: \ Users \ Massimo Tosello \ Pictures'
12:33:09: Script execution failed.
What should I do? can you help me?
many thanks and congratulations for your work
"12:33:09: 'lights' No such file or directory" this error message that the "lights" folder either doesn't exist or spelled incorrectly. Those folders need to be named exactly, otherwise the script will not work. Double check your folder names are named correctly.
lights
darks
biases
flats
@@DenimSuitPhoto The "lights" folder exist and is spelled correctly. I wrote Lights and also lights but nothing.
@@massimo541 try removing the scripts and reinstalling them
@@massimo541 also, it looks like your working directory is the “pictures” folder. Is that where all your other working folders are? If you haven’t established a working directory, ie the correct place for SIRIL to look for the working files, it will just assume that everything is In the “pictures” folder. So make sure you are telling SIRIL to even look in the right place.
Congratulations for this super tutorial. You changed my Workflow. I will be change DSS to SIRIL. I want to recommend you make a tutorial using Tony Kuiper panel to do the luminosity masks because I suppose that is better in way to obtain more powerful masks. What do you think about Noel Carboni Astronomy Tools Panel? I think that it is an option to do some tasks more easily don’t You?
The reason I didn't include actions, panels or any other add-ons was because I wanted people to be able to do these basic tasks without having to spend extra money and download extra tools. This way, they know that just Photoshop, Gimp, or even PhotoPea can do everything they need.
For the luminosity masks, its not any better than selecting what you want using the color range selection tool. Especially for the stars, you cant do that with a luminosity masks generator.
For the Carboni stuff, I love what they have been able to do for people. But its just not for me, Like I mentioned, if I can do it in Photoshop with the basic tools, thats the way I prefer to do it, also because thats the way I prefer to teach it.
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thanks Scott. I Follow you. Greetings from Colombia
Thank you for this. Your tutorial and explanations are easy to follow, especially as I am somewhat of a beginner. Subscribed. Great job.😀
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Scott . Stumbled across this Video much like I did with your first Siril Video which got me started with my Astrophotography . Glad you've done a followup . The new trend seems to be using the Asinh "before" Histogram stretching . Interesting . Wish I had some Data to try this on . Pretty bad year for Astro . Cheers ./SRK
Thanks for stopping by Scott! Hopefully you’ll get some clear skies soon!!
Hi Scott, big thanks for the tutorial - I have booked marked it for later. Would be able to do a similar tutorial for planetary image processing show the steps for using captured images and video? Cheers
That’s next on my list!!!
@@DenimSuitPhoto Excellent, can’t wait.
Thank you for doing this video. Very informative and learned a lot from your video.
Thanks so much!
First of all: Nice video!
I do have a question tho: A friend and I ran into a problem where we can't find a preset in the photometric colour calibration tab for orion nebula. Do you know why it is not working? Do you need any specific scripts for that?
Cheers
Are you searching for Orion using the photometric calibration window and getting no results? Try using its catalog designator M42 and try again?
@@DenimSuitPhoto Hey Scott! Sorry for the rather late answer. After restarting my PC it worked out fine. I appreciate your help tho! Cheers!
Thanks for the video, i was searching for something to get my flats…all i could find was stuf around 300€. Thanks do you i just bought an LED Pad for around 40€
Clear skies!
Glad I could help
Wonderful, helpful video on Siril and processing! Regarding your final image, pre-lightroom/photoshop; is it normal to keep the back ground grey rather than dark black for that contrast pop. It may be my computer screen, but it displays darker blacks than present in the background of your final image. It seemed deliberate on your part, so I was wondering if that is some sort of convention or something. I'm very new to processing and AP so I'm the unschooled heathen, for sure. I was simply wondering about the back ground and the level of darkness. But, really great video! Definitely bookmarked. Look forward to watching your other videos.
Fantastic video, and thanks so much for sharing your workflow! I know it's a personal thing but I would probably miss the star minimisation step. Can't wait for some clear skies to get out and get some images to practice on! Subscribed!
What about that step doesn't work for you? Is it a technique thing, or a preference thing?
@@DenimSuitPhoto it's preference Scott. If I froze for 2 hours to take those stars, I dont want to minimise them. I can see how doing that makes the subject pop, but the other stars are there, they do exist :)
The technique is very interesting, and I will definitely give it a go, I might be persuaded...
very helpfull video! thank you
You're welcome!
great video, just one question in the color calibration, in image parameters is orion nebula but it doesnt show right ascension and declination numbers thank you very much
Nice catch, the RA and DEC numbers are irrelevant when using the search function in Photometric Calibration. It will input the correct data automatically.
Hi Scott. This an excellent update to your earlier SIRIL tutorial; which I still follow when I process my astro images. I don't have PS, but GIMP has worked well for me. Have you toyed with GIMP at all? It would be great to see you do a session using GIMP in lieu of PS. Just thinking about keeping things 'free' for us folks who have spent the bulk of our astrophotography budgets on good gear. Thanks for your very thorough tutorials.
Thanks for the comment! I guess I’ll have to try Gimp now!
Along with GIMP, It would also be interesting to see how you would change your settings for those of us in light polluted areas. Unfortunately it takes a good hour and a half if not more to get to semi dark skies. Very nice work with Siril brother!
@@Ghostflyer63 I am going from a Bortle 8/9 to a Bortle 4/5 in 35 minutes. Unfortunately, if your skies are heavily polluted, you would want to use filters like the Optolong L-Pro, L-Enhance or L-Extreme. I currently use an L-Pro 100% of the time under the 4/5 skies I get. I would maybe try narrowband imaging under severe light pollution.
@@DenimSuitPhoto I do use light pollution filters, however Houston is huge. I am getting a Jones to make a road trip😂😂😂
@@Ghostflyer63 I hear yah. I have to travel pretty far to get to a dark site as well. I only have to travel 30 minutes east or south to find half the light pollution though. I am sure you could find the same around Houston. You dont need Bortle 1 or 2. Just Bortle 4/5 makes a huge difference.
Thank you very much for making this tutorial. It has helped me so much!
You're very welcome!
This tutorial is absolutely great, Scott!! Thank you so much. Do you ever recommend doing some minor adjustments before stacking, e.g., in Lightroom for slightly overexposed images, and then saving the files as TIFFs with exactly the same dimensions as my original Canon raw (CR3) files, or is it best just to process what I have in Siril first and work out the adjustments later in Siril/Photoshop? Thanks again for providing a step-by-step, well-paced tutorial I could actually follow! Great job on this, and hope to see more like this.
Great question. I never pre process the raw files before SIRIL. The only thing I do is remove the bad/unwanted/test images from the lights folder before proceeding to stacking. As for overexposure, I would try including those files and stacking, and removing those files and stacking just to compare the differences, if any.
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thanks so much for the advice, Scott. I appreciate your insight!
Just starting out! and....compared to you, I am using a toy! Seestar S50! FITS are akready stacked! What part of this tutorial should I/we hone in on(if any?) Great work from you, nice n simple! Great work!!
Hey Scott, Have you thought about an updated version of this with the 1.2 version of SIRIL.
I have, but I havent really played around with the new version yet.
Great video sir, I'm so happy I found this I was finally happy enough with my image to realize it on Instagram, and I've been doing Astro for about a year and a half now. I've always enjoyed shooting but sucked at post and more specifically stretching and color calibration. I have a Nikon d3500 which is very unforgiven compared to other DSLRs. But I was finally able to process a good image lol.
Awesome to hear it! Thanks for watching Samuel!
Hi Scott. I was wondering if you had noticed any specific thing about this newer SIRIL, which is better over the older version; of which you did the first tutorial? Other than being able to work on just one window for the processing, I just see some of your work flow (image processing sequences) has changed. There is photometrics on both and as long as you remember to crop first (if needed) then the photometrics work well. I was going to upgrade versions of SIRIL, after watching your latest updated workflow tutorial, but now I'm not so sure. I guess my question is really about processing the same image in both SIRIL versions to see which one give a better result. Unfortunately, you can only have one version of SIRIL on your PC at a time, according to their installation instructions.
You are correct in your assumptions, there are no major differences between either version other than GUI. You can look through the release notes of the prior versions to be a stickler, but there are no major added features, just tweaks and patches.
My workflow has changed with experience of finding and testing new techniques (mostly in photoshop), and with the determination of processing in SIRIL in the order the designers had intended. The process workflow - in SIRIL - is nearly identical to the guide they provide with their latest version.
You most definitely can have two versions of SIRIL installed at the same time. Provided you rename the directory of one of the versions, so it doesn't overwrite the files from your previous install. I just renamed the install directory, "SIRIL2" So it was entirely possible for me.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thanks for the quick response. I may try that double install. The single GUI is so tempting. Thanks
@@febsat theres really no downsides for the latest version
@@DenimSuitPhoto Does it come with all of the same scripts as the earlier version, which you used for the first tutorial? Those scripts are perfect. I am thorough in my astro sessions, in that I take the necessary calibration frames (darks, flats & biases) and SIRIL does a nice job on those sorted files utilizing those built in scripts. Thanks again for your great tutorials.
@@febsat It comes with all the same scripts as previous versions, and you can download more from the same place on their website. All linked in the video description.
Gest video.
A question, I know how to stack images of the same target over 2 nights or more in Dss but how do you do this in siril?
You have to use a companion program called SIRILIC. which is basically a program with a different GUI that allows for the creation of complex scripts, which are then used by SIRIL.
I was going to do a video about this in the past, but many serious issues arose in the compatibility between the two products.
Since SIRIL is now technically out of beta, I will try again soon. Please keep a look out!
@@DenimSuitPhoto thanks Scott, I'll look forward to it as I've heard the stack from siril is better than dss and if possible I generally image over 2 nights or more 👍
Absolutely amazing
Thank you for watching!
Nice. I tried Siril before but it was bit overwhelming to say the least. I guess with the new UI and your tutorial here i can start moving away from using only Photoshop adjustment layers and Lightroom to a more elaborate processing workflow. Thanks!
Nice! So glad to hear it! Thanks for watching.
Hi! Sorry, I'm a newbie in Photoshop: at minute 50:10, you copied the selection in a new layer with CTRL+J.Ok.But the new layer didn't maintain the selection. You said "ops" and then the selection came up again. How did you do that?
I wasnt supposed to copy the selection onto a new layer with CTRL+J. I hit CTRL+Z to undo and go backwards one step
Great video. Your siril workflow matches mine almost exactly. The only additional step that i recently started using is Siril's Contrast-Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization tool. It really works wonders on the nebula detail. I think it could replace the "enhance dso" step that you did in photoshop
Thanks Ben! I could never get that process to look the way I wanted, but I knew I liked the idea, so I found a way to do it in photoshop
Thanks so much for this Scott! FYI v1.0.2 is out with improved background extraction. Would love to see an update on the update. 😉
Thanks for the info!
Great video! When I tried to do the color range adjustment when I was in photoshop it wouldn't let me do the changes like you did. The settings you had were not there. I tried 8bit as well but still not there. My photoshop is CS2 so its older and must not have those settings. Is there anyway you can do a video of these changes in Gimp?
Thanks for watching! I am not at all experienced in GIMP so unfortunately cant help there. I tried to keep the processing in Photoshop as basic as possible but it seems like CS2 is just too far out of date. Is the color range selection the only part that didnt translate?
Thanks, Scott
I also remember your first Siril tutorial and referred to it many times.
Glad you are doing an update on the new Siril which I downloaded the other day and was struggling a bit.
I now shoot with a dedicated Astro Camera instead of my DSLR where I shoot only Lights, Darks, Flats, and Dark-Flats but no Biases.
How do I use Siril now that there are no Biases - I am assuming I can't use the RGB processing script anymore. Is there a script to download for dedicated color 1-shot Astro Cameras?
I also use GIMP and would love to see your tutorial on best practices, especially for masks.
One last item - the use of StarNet++. I would like to get 2 images; one with just the nebulosity and the other of just the stars to composite in GIMP. I think I can use the starless, duplicate, and subtract from the original to get just the starts, but would like you to take a stab at it and show us a how-to.
Once again, I thank you for all your efforts and energy to create these for us.
Great Question. To my knowledge, Dark Flats are very nearly the same thing as Bias frames. So they are interchangeable in terms of SIRIL processing. I would just put the dark flats in the biases folder and run whichever script you were already using. Any script labeled OSC is for One Shot Color cameras.
You are the second person to recommend I take a look at GIMP. So its officially on the list. As for Starnet++ I'll have to look into that, I haven't had very much luck with it yet, but thats because I shoot with a DSLR still. Star bloat is pretty awful so it makes no sense to Starnet++ for me yet.
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thanks for the response. I shot with a Nikon D7500 all last year and found that moving the picture from the linear world to the non-linear world with 1st good stretch allows you to remove the stars, process without bloat, and add the stars back in at the end of the process. I think it would be effective to have a finished composite of the nebula and stars on 2 layers, both adjusted for perfect results. Thanks again!
Range in PS is feather, Fuzziness is amont of color selected
thanks ron!
Excellent Update. TY
Thank you!
@@DenimSuitPhoto Can I ask a question? DSS has groups for different imaging dates. What does one do in Siril? Just add them to the lights?
@@charlesowillford2474 Theres a program called SIRILIC that does it.
siril.org/docs/sirilic/
Im going to have to a video on using SIRILIC
@@DenimSuitPhoto TY again. I had read of Sirilic; but did not follow up. I'll look for the new video tomorrow......... LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
@@charlesowillford2474 Working on in now. LOL
Hi Scott, great tutorial. I did not hear of Siril before but I would like to try. Since I usually capture Milky way or other wider shots with foreground included, can Siril mask out foreground/earth part of the image (like Sequator) and if not, would it be a problem for Siril if I would upload such images? Ty
Hi Marijo, SIRIL cannot do masking so sequator (PC) or starry landscape stacker (MAC) would be your best option.
Hi can you tell me I use sony A7III and the images are ARW should i convert to tiff first as ARW isn't compatible or is there a better type to convert to before i try processing in siril. thanks
Sony A73 files should be acceptable in SIRIL. I just worked with someone who was using a Sony A7RIV and we had no trouble using the RAW files straight from the camera using the newest version of SIRIL 0.99.10.1
If thats still not working, the best way is use Lightroom to export the RAW files as DNG (camera raw 11.2) or use Adobe DNG Converter helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/using/adobe-dng-converter.html (free download) to convert them using the Camera Raw 11.2 preset
@@DenimSuitPhoto thank you I am just about to try it.
I would love to see this same video using Gimp instead of Photoshop. Well done though. Thanks Subscribed.
If I knew anything about Gimp, I totally would. But I am more in the dark about Gimp than I am about PixInsight!
Hi! Thanks for this tutorial! I have an issue I can't find the solution to. When I try to do the Color Calibration I get the error "Plate Solving failed. The image could not be aligned with the reference stars". I've tried to manually select stars via the "pick a star" option and "detect stars" option to select a bunch of stars. I've tried to upload the results file to astrometry for plate solving and entering the RA/Dec info into Siril, but nothing works. This is an image taken with a DSLR and a 150/750 scope of M51. So i've tried to use the "get metadata" and also entered 750 as focal length, but no go. However another picture I had taken with just a photo lens of M101 also got the same error but that one worked when I selected the stars manually and the whole guide worked just flawlessly which resulted in an awesome picture. Any tips for this issue? :)
Sometimes the stated focal length of lenses isn’t exact. I use a 360mm scope and I often get the plate solver to correct that to 377mm. Make sure you don’t enable drizzle, that will change the parameters of plate solving also.
The next option is to do manual color correction. My older tutorial on SIRIL has a section on manually color correcting.
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thank you so much for tour reply :) I forgot I used the barlow with my camera, so the focal length would be 1500, not 750. I entered that and it changed it to 2063.4 instead. Now I don't get the pop-up error like before, but the console's last sentence now says "No valid stars found". So one step closer haha, any idea whats wrong this time? I will watch your other video as well and try the manual color correction too :) Thanks again! :)
Just found your chanel as I am considering astrophotography as a sideline without going too deep. Some years ago I used to own a telescope and took some reasonable images of Jupiter and Saturn via the telescope and web cam footage. Now I would like to get back into it it without a telescope and I consider myself an absolute newby at taking astro pictures with my camera. Do you have any vids on the basics of actually getting the images you have on this one.....before getting to the processing stage? Thanks
Welcome aboard! Yes I have 2 other videos on my channel about Lights and Calibration frames. Youll find the information you want in either of those two videos
Excellent vid... Quick question. All my files are in .fit to begin with. Siril wont load them. Error message says must be in raw format. Any advice for a mac user ?
According to SIRIL the scripts that are provided with the latest releases should work on BOTH raw and fits files.
free-astro.org/index.php?title=Siril:scripts
Does SIRIL work with .fits files for lights and calibration?
yes it does
Hi Scott. I have a few more comments and questions. You seem to be so well versed with the functions of SIRIL that I find myself directing questions to you, rather than to the SIRIL team. Hope you don't mind. My first question relates to processing multi-night data sets. After reading the SIRIL documentation, it is certainly doable and I was wondering if you could make a tutorial to show us exactly the steps that need to be followed. The other question relates to bias frames and dark flat frames. I know that I queried you on this in the past, but there seems to be more SIRIL documentation discussing the advantages of Dark Flats over regular bias frames when using DSLR cameras that have CMOS. My understanding is that a Dark Flat is actually the same as a Bias Frame, but it matches the settings (ISO, shutter speed etc.) of the Flats. I don't think that there are any scripts for SIRIL which would cover this method of processing. Dark Flats would need to be subtracted from Flats, but if the Dark Flats are placed in the Biases folder, then SIRIL would subtract them from the Light Frames. One SIRIL document states that Flats must match the Light Frames, but another SIRIL document then states the Light Frames should be set to the lowest possible ISO to reduce the introduction of noise and as a result, the matching Dark Frame (Bias frame for CMOS) must match the Flat Frame settings. Very confusing. I can try to send you the links to those SIRIL documents if you'd care to read/comment on their statements. Thanks for all of your tutorials and technical know how.
Quite Alright!
To my knowledge, you can put Dark Flats in the Biases folder and process normally. In the latest release, the scripts have Bias frames being subtracted from the Flats "preprocess flat -bias=bias_stacked" So again its okay to put your dark flats in the folder labeled Biases. And yes Dark Flats are exactly the same settings as Flats, but with the lens cap on. Whether dark flats are better than biases is something you will have to experiment with though.
And now onto multi night sessions. Youll want to look into SIRILic here: siril.org/docs/sirilic/
Its basically a script generator for SIRIL, allowing one to do some pretty amazing automations. But for me, I cant get the current version of Sirilic to work with the current version of Siril, so until they get that figured out I wont be doing a video.
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thanks Scott. I'll do some digging and most likely get back to you on my discoveries. Cheers
This was a very helpful video. You helped me transform my image of the oron nebula i made recently. I disagree with your comment about how doing camera raw filters in photoshop burns the changes in permanently. If you convert the layer to a smart object you can go back to the filter settings and change them without having to remake the whole filter. it make it non destructive
you are correct
Hi Scott thanks for this tutorial. One question how do i download the extra scripts ? I have tried via get extra scripts but cannot workout how to upload into Siril
Try Here:
free-astro.org/index.php?title=Siril:scripts
superb! and thanks!
Thank you too!
Any specific raw conversion tips? A DeepSkyStacker workflow can handle raw files, but if I understand correctly Siril cannot, so they need to be converted to TIFFs first. I use RawTherapee -- Should the conversion be a neutral as possible so that Siril and PS / GIMP in post processing handle 'improvements' to the images? Or should I try to improve them in RawTherapee during conversion? Where is that line? Thanks!
It depends entirely on the age of your camera. I have both a Canon 80D & 5DIV and my raw files are fine. So if you are unsure, just open a RAW using Siril and see what happens. If it opens and you actually see the data, then you're fine.
Otherwise you can convert them to DNG 11.2 in Lightroom or Bridge, that usually works best.
I would not convert to TIFF personally (too large & not RAW).
If you don't have an Adobe product to downgrade your RAW files to an earlier version, you can always download the Adobe DNG converter is always free: helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/using/adobe-dng-converter.html
Just convert them to an earlier DNG version like 11.2. The Free DNG converter from Adobe works in batches too.
@@DenimSuitPhoto I have a Canon T8i (850D) which came out only last year so I should be good. Prior to that it was an ancient Rebel XT (from 2007) and low-light imaging wasn't its forte, to say the least! :-) I thought TIFF and FITS were the only formats supported by SiriL, but I've just barely started looking into it. Time to read... Thanks.
Hi Scott - Thanks a ton for doing this and doing it so well!. I have a question. I have all four folders with the appropriate files in them. However, when I do the first step of converting them I get a message that it failed because 6 of the flats were the wrong size but they are all the same size, all horizontal, all just the same as all the other files. Do you have any idea why that might be and/or would you suggest I just get rid of the flats and add the appropriate scripts. Thanks so much for your time.
Did you convert your files first? It shouldn't matter that files are vertical, or horizontal. If they came straight out of the camera it shouldnt be an issue. The only issue I've ever had with it failing was back when I used to process my images first in Lightroom, before I stacked them. Now I just use the RAW files straight out of camera. They shouldn't be different sizes right out of camera.
The program script is pretty basic, so if its saying the files are different sizes, they are. You just gotta find which ones.
I am using SiriL 1.06 on a Mac but can't get the scripts to work. Eta. I have the scripts in the correct directory but get the error in line 18 code.
I think the error you are getting is referring to the line of code on the script. Line 18 is different in all the scripts. So check which script are you getting a line 18 error, open that script in something like notepad++ or just find line 18 and see what it is. If line 18 says something like "cd lights" and youre getting an error, then the program cant find your "lights" directory
I need help. My dataset is about 5gb. Lights Darks Flats Biases
If I have 60 gb free it will get all the way to almost the end of the processing and then says it can't write to file/folder not enough room....
Says it needs 120gb!
So I clear a bunch of space to give it 140gb.
Same problem but now it wants 160gb.
So I give it 200gb!!!
STILL WANTS MORE!!!!?????
WTH is going on?
The way SIRIL works is that is has to convert all your raw files to FITS, which dramatically increases the hard space required to complete the processing. My local disk (C:) usually has 500GB free at any given time. But the requirement is dependent on the number of images in your data set, as each FITS file can be 140MB+. If you are running out space, you can choose to make your home directory on ANY drive with lots of free space. It doesnt have to be your (C:) drive. I just like using my (C:) drive because its an NVME.
If you are constantly running into issues, with space, you might consider using Deep Sky Stacker to integrate the images and SIRIL to process the output file, which you can change to FITS in the DSS preferences. DSS does not convert your files, so the space requirement is obviously much much lower.
When I do background extraction...my blocks are all red...vs all green. What does that mean....is it bad....and can I fix it.
Not a problem, the devs just changed the color from green to red. Its means the same thing
Under color calibration, what if the program can't find a match?
There are four reasons for failure
1) incorrect item in the search bar
2) Incorrect focal length (do not convert the focal length 1.6x if you shot with a crop sensor camera)
3) Incorrect sensor pixel size (pixel pitch is interchangeable)
4) Did you drizzle? If so you must multiply the focal length by the drizzle factor
@@DenimSuitPhoto Hi Scott. Thanks for the reply. I haven't had the issue, but figured I would plan ahead just in case.
@@yervantparnagian5999 Nice, I hope you dont have any issues, but if you do, you know who to ask!
@@DenimSuitPhoto Much appreciated and gorgeous image on the Lagoon and Trifid!
What are the specs on your photo....camera, scope, exposure time, # of exposures, ISO?
Hi Jim,
Camera: Canon 80D
Time: 46 x 2 Minute Exposures
ISO: 800
Scope: Apertura 60 EDR (360mm f/6.1)
@@DenimSuitPhoto Thanks, Scott. I'm using a Canon 600D on a WO Z61, but with a field flattener that's also a 0.8 reducer, all on an HEQ5. I should be able to get a similar image with my setup, although the camera isn't quite as nice. I've been imaging mostly at ISO1600, but shorter exposure times (30s) and maybe 100 exposures. I've been learning pixinsight recently (or I should say trying to), maybe I'll tale a look at SIRIL next.
@@jimwitte8785 You should be able to get near exactly the same results as me with that setup. My field flattener isnt a reducer combo, but other than that, both setups are nearly identical
Asinh tranformation never works for me. I do exactly what you do, but the image remains almost completely black (with just the odd star). Then the histogram transformation auto-stretch has no effect. It's as if doing the Asinh first has stopped it working. I've tried this on several images now and I can't get it to work like you do. So I just do the histogram autostretch without doing Asinh first.
I usually get something after doing a 150X stretch in Asinh for the first stretch. Remember that its trying to preserve color data, so even though you might not see what its doing (in your case) you might not be aware of the results until your further along in the processing.
Just starting in Astro. Shoot I shoot in RAW or jpeg? I normally shot in RAW but I couldn’t see what your original files were shot in. TIA
I always shoot raw
wow thanks allot!!
youre so welcome!
Nice tutorial, but nothing easy about that! :-)
I believe in you!
Damnit, isn't there ANYONE to explain what those damn Lights, Darks & Biases folders are . . . . ? Looks so obvious. But people can't guess.
explanation here:
ua-cam.com/video/oxNbKd66evE/v-deo.html
Very well done - thanks!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!