Software for a montage

[RachelC]

Hiya

I am in awe on how the images; particularly of the lunar eclipse are presented on here. I was looking through my 82 pics that I took during the eclipse and trying to narrow it down to the best dozen or so.

But then what? What software are you all using to put them into one image? Is it expensive? Is it difficult?And how do you add them all together!? Many thanks

[Carole]

I used Photoshop to make my Montage, it's not cheap, but I think there is a cheaper version called Photoshop Essentials.
You could probably use Paintshop pro or something, but as I have never used it I am presuming it would do the job. 

For animations I used Pipp in the end it worked better than Gif animator that I used initially. 

Carole

[RachelC]

Thanks Carole. I will look into Photoshop.

I have heard about 'lightroom' but not sure if it is what I need as well? I may have my lunar eclipse pics ready for the New Year! LOL

[JohnP]

Photoshop also,  John

[RachelC]

Thanks John

[The Thing]

Hi Rachel,

I downloaded Photoshop CS2 from Adobe's site a year or so ago, they were/are giving it away and despite being quite an old version it does just about everything you need for astrophotography processing. Don't be put off by the language of the web page, it's an international version. After install I didn't register and didn't let it install Adobe Updater as I suspect it will try to update me to a paid for version or something. The register dialog come up every time you use Photoshop which is a bit of a pain.

[RachelC]

Ah, thanks Thing . I had that for a while but it went all skewy! Will have a go at reinstalling it.

If as you say this is enough for the small amount of basic processing I will do then this will be perfect.

I have watched some videos and tutorials about layering and now I need some more coffee lol

Thanks again
Rachel

[Carole]

PS CS2 will do more than basic processing, it's perfectly adequate for most processing should you decide to get into other forms of imaging.  I hope that version is still going FOC. 

Carole

[RachelC]

Hey Carole, thank, that is good to know.

Have reinstalled CS2 and as Duncan says I need to register it (which I say I will do later... ). Is ok with JPEG files but doesn't like RAW from some reason.

I will spend some time finding my way but it looks like it there is more than enough for me to grow into.

And yes, still FOC, phew

[The Thing]

Have reinstalled CS2 and as Duncan says I need to register it (which I say I will do later... ). Is ok with JPEG files but doesn't like RAW from some reason.

It's too old to know about recent RAW formats, I convert to 16bit TIF first.

[Mike]

Can you not get a RAW plugin?