)I've done some experimenting with combining monochrome astrophotography images taken through filters into a full-colour image. Essentially, there are two ways to do this:
- The relatively simple method of using the Change Channels function to add the monochrome images into the R, G, and B channels of the final image.
- The more complicated method of using Load Layer (Thanks, bkh!
) to bring in each monochrome image as a separate layer, altering its colour mix, and blending the layers to achieve the full-colour image.
The comparison of the layers used: I much prefer the result using layers -- there's a lot more control over the colours and details. It was easy using the Layers method to get a nice, neutral black background.
The original images are FITS images from this site:
http://www.mistisoftware.com/astronomy/index_fits.htm
The FITS images were processed and saved as TIF images using the (free) FITS Liberator program:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/
Each of the 4 original FITS images and the four 16-bit monochrome TIF images created by FITS Liberator are 4,000px by 2,600px and a 21Mb file size. The "Channels" PLD file is 75Mb, and the "Layers" PLD file is 101Mb. (Each of the adjustment layers was set to 16-bit.)
