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Known Participant
October 22, 2024
Open for Voting

Develop star alignment and comet alignment functions for starry photographers.

  • October 22, 2024
  • 17 replies
  • 2222 views

Dear Adobe engineering team,

First of all, let me express my deep respect for your excellent work, Adobe products have always been indispensable creative tools for photographers. As a photographer who focuses on the starry sky, I often chase those distant and bright points of light in the cold wind at night, recording the mystery and beauty of the universe. However, in the post-processing of these precious starry pictures, I encountered a challenge: how to efficiently achieve star alignment and clear presentation of comet tracks.

1. Background and needs

Starry photography often requires multiple shots with different exposures taken in the same location to capture rich details ranging from faint deep sky objects to bright nebulae and galaxies. However, the rotation of the Earth causes the stars to appear slightly shifted in the image, affecting the quality of the final composite. In addition, for moving objects such as comets, it is often difficult for traditional alignment methods to accurately track their trajectories, resulting in comets appearing blurred or broken in composite images.

Second, functional requirements

With this in mind, I asked the Adobe engineering team to consider two features:

Star alignment function:

The ability to automatically identify and precisely align stars in photos eliminates displacement due to the rotation of the Earth and ensures clarity in the composite image.
Supports batch processing to improve post-processing efficiency.
Flexible parameter adjustment options are available to accommodate different focal lengths, exposure times and weather conditions.
Comet alignment and trajectory synthesis features:

Identify and track the position changes of moving objects such as comets in successive photographs.
Cometary tracks are synthesized automatically or semi-automatically so that they appear in a continuous, clear form in the final image.
Adjustment options such as track brightness, width and transparency are available to meet different creative needs.
Third, expectations and prospects

I believe that the addition of these two features will greatly improve the efficiency and quality of starry photographers' work, allowing us to focus more on capturing the grandeur of the universe rather than getting bogged down in tedious post-processing. Adobe has long been synonymous with innovation and excellence, and I look forward to witnessing the birth of this feature with you to bring new breakthroughs in starry photography."

Thank you again for your hard work and unremitting efforts! Look forward to your reply and further discussion.

17 replies

Known Participant
November 8, 2024

开发星点对齐功能

Known Participant
November 8, 2024

Respected Adobe team:

Hello!

I am an astrophotography enthusiast and also represent a large group of people who love astrophotography and use Photoshop for post-processing. I am making a feature development request to you - a star alignment function.

In recent years, astrophotography has shown a booming trend. More and more people are attracted by the charm of the vast starry sky and are engaged in this unique field of photography. In the creative process of astrophotography, post-processing plays a crucial role, and star alignment is a key and challenging link.

Due to the particularity of astrophotography, such as long exposure time, the rotation of the earth, and the stability of the camera itself, it is often difficult to accurately align the star points in multiple starry sky photos we take. At present, in order to achieve star alignment, we have to use some cumbersome and inefficient methods. Either perform a large number of manual operations in Photoshop, trying to align the star points by repeatedly adjusting image positions, rotation angles and other parameters. This process is not only time-consuming and laborious, but also requires extremely high patience and skills from the operator; or use other specialized astronomical image processing software to complete the star alignment step, and then import the processed image into Photoshop for subsequent routine post-processing work such as color adjustment and detail optimization. This multi-software switching workflow greatly reduces our creative efficiency, and in the process of image transmission and conversion back and forth, some image quality loss or compatibility issues are inevitable.

Therefore, we urgently hope that Photoshop can develop a star alignment function. The function we envision has the following characteristics:

First of all, in terms of star point recognition, it can use advanced image recognition algorithms to quickly and accurately capture the star points in the image. No matter the brightness, size difference and shape change of the star points, they can be recognized accurately without error. Even in complex situations with a certain degree of image noise, background interference and dense star point areas, it can efficiently complete the star point positioning work and lay a solid foundation for subsequent alignment operations.

Secondly, the star alignment method should be diverse and flexible. For example, provide an accurate alignment mode based on star point coordinates. This mode can meet the processing needs of scientific observation astrophotography works that have extremely high requirements for the accuracy of star point positions. At the same time, there should also be an alignment mode based on star point shape and texture features. This mode can retain the halo effect around the star points and the subtle texture structure well during the process of aligning star points. This is especially important for artistic creation astrophotography works, allowing photographers to give full play to their creativity in post-processing and show the unique beauty of the starry sky. In addition, in order to deal with various complex situations and meet the operating habits of different users, an alignment method that combines automatic and manual operations should also be provided. When the result of automatic alignment cannot fully meet expectations, photographers can easily intervene manually and fine-tune the matching and alignment of individual star points to ensure that the ideal alignment effect is finally obtained.

Furthermore, considering that astrophotography usually requires taking a large number of photos for stacking and synthesis to obtain better signal-to-noise ratio and richer details, the star alignment function must support batch processing. Photographers only need to import a group of starry sky photos into Photoshop at one time, and the software can automatically perform star point recognition, matching and alignment operations on each photo in turn, and display progress information and the current processing result preview in real time during the processing. In this way, photographers can have an intuitive understanding of the overall effect while batch processing is in progress, and find and adjust possible problems in time, greatly improving work efficiency and saving precious time and energy.

Finally, this star alignment function should also be seamlessly integrated with Photoshop's existing rich image processing functions. After completing star alignment, the image can naturally and smoothly enter the subsequent routine post-processing processes such as color adjustment, noise reduction processing, and layer synthesis without additional complex operations or format conversions. For example, the image after star alignment can directly exist as a new layer or smart object in Photoshop's layer system. Photographers can conveniently apply various filter effects, adjust layer blending modes, an

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 8, 2024

Yes, this has been requested before, and it got a good number of upvotes, mine included.

 

The problem with the existing Auto-Align, is that it ignores pixel-level noise by design. So it doesn't work on stars either. This was a necessary limitation when that feature was designed, but today there are AI-algorithms that recognize and separate sensor noise from other types of noise-like features (Denoise).

Known Participant
November 8, 2024



尊敬的 Adobe 团队:

您好!

我是一名星空摄影爱好者,同时也代表着广大热爱星空摄影且使用 Photoshop 进行后期处理的群体,向您提出一个功能开发请求——星点对齐功能。

星空摄影在近年来呈现出蓬勃发展的态势,越来越多的人被浩瀚星空的魅力所吸引,投身于这一独特的摄影领域。在星空摄影的创作过程中,后期处理起着至关重要的作用,而星点对齐则是其中一个关键且具有挑战性的环节。

由于星空拍摄的特殊性,例如长时间曝光、地球自转以及相机自身的稳定性等因素影响,我们拍摄得到的多张星空照片中的星点往往难以精准对齐。目前,为了实现星点对齐,我们不得不采用一些繁琐且效率低下的方法。要么在 Photoshop 中进行大量手动操作,通过反复调整图像位置、旋转角度等参数来尝试对齐星点,这一过程不仅耗时费力,而且对操作人员的耐心和技巧要求极高;要么借助其他专门的天文图像处理软件来完成星点对齐步骤,之后再将处理后的图像导入 Photoshop 进行后续的色彩调整、细节优化等常规后期处理工作。这种多软件切换的工作流程极大地降低了我们的创作效率,并且在图像来回传输和转换过程中,难免会出现一些画质损失或兼容性问题。

因此,我们迫切希望 Photoshop 能够开发星点对齐功能。我们设想中的这一功能具备以下特性:

首先,在星点识别方面,它能够运用先进的图像识别算法,快速且精准地捕捉到图像中的星点,无论星点的亮度高低、大小差异以及形状变化如何,都能准确无误地识别出来。即使在存在一定程度的图像噪声、背景干扰以及星点密集区域等复杂情况下,也能高效地完成星点定位工作,为后续的对齐操作奠定坚实基础。

其次,星点对齐方式应多样化且灵活。例如,提供基于星点坐标的精确对齐模式,这种模式可以满足那些对星点位置准确性有极高要求的科学观测类星空摄影作品的处理需求;同时,还应有基于星点形状和纹理特征的对齐模式,该模式能够在对齐星点的过程中,很好地保留星点周围的光晕效果以及细微的纹理结构,这对于艺术创作型的星空摄影作品来说尤为重要,能够让摄影师在后期处理中充分发挥创意,展现星空独特的美感。此外,为了应对各种复杂情况和满足不同用户的操作习惯,还应具备自动与手动相结合的对齐方式。当自动对齐的结果不能完全达到预期时,摄影师可以方便地手动介入,对个别星点的匹配和对齐进行微调,以确保最终得到理想的对齐效果。

再者,考虑到星空摄影通常需要拍摄大量的照片以进行叠加合成,从而获得更好的信噪比和更丰富的细节,星点对齐功能必须支持批量处理。摄影师只需一次性将一组星空照片导入到 Photoshop 中,软件便能自动依次对每张照片进行星点识别、匹配和对齐操作,并在处理过程中实时展示进度信息以及当前的处理结果预览。这样一来,摄影师可以在批量处理进行的同时,对整体效果有一个直观的了解,及时发现可能存在的问题并进行调整,大大提高了工作效率,节省了宝贵的时间和精力。

最后,这个星点对齐功能还应与 Photoshop 现有的丰富图像处理功能实现无缝整合。在完成星点对齐后,图像能够自然流畅地进入到后续的色彩调整、降噪处理、图层合成等常规后期处理流程中,无需进行额外的复杂操作或格式转换。例如,星点对齐后的图像可以直接作为一个新的图层或者智能对象存在于 Photoshop 的图层体系中,摄影师可以方便地对其应用各种滤镜效果、调整图层混合模式、添加蒙版进行局部修饰等,使得整个星空摄影后期处理工作在一个统一的软件环境中高效完成,进一步提升创作的便捷性和灵活性。

综上所述,星点对齐功能对于星空摄影在 Photoshop 中的后期处理具有不可替代的重要性。它不仅能够填补 Photoshop 在这一特定领域功能上的空白,更是能够极大地提升星空摄影师们的创作效率和作品质量,为我们带来更加专业、便捷和高效的后期处理体验。

我们深知 Adobe 一直以来都致力于为用户提供卓越的软件功能和优质的创作工具,在图像处理领域拥有着深厚的技术积累和丰富的开发经验。我们坚信,凭借 Adobe 的强大实力,一定能够成功开发出满足星空摄影爱好者需求的星点对齐功能,使 Photoshop 在星空摄影后期处理这一细分市场中继续保持领先地位,甚至开拓更广阔的用户群体。

再次感谢您抽出时间阅读我们的请求,期待 Adobe 能够对这一功能开发建议给予积极的回应和考虑,让我们在 Photoshop 的帮助下,能够更好地展现星空的无尽魅力,创作出更多令人惊叹的星空摄影作品。

此致

敬礼!

Known Participant
November 8, 2024



尊敬的 Adobe 团队:

随着天文摄影的蓬勃发展,Photoshop 作为图像处理领域的旗舰软件,若能集成星点对齐功能,将极大地拓展其在特定领域的应用价值,并为众多星空摄影师提供更为便捷和高效的后期处理解决方案。以下是关于此功能开发的详细建议以及一个初步的代码实现思路示例。

一、功能需求与建议

(一)星点检测算法

1. 多尺度分析:采用多尺度的方法来检测星点,以便能够捕捉到不同大小和亮度的星点。例如,可以使用高斯金字塔对图像进行多尺度分解,在每个尺度上应用星点检测算法,然后综合各尺度的检测结果。这样可以确保无论是明亮的巨星还是较暗的小星星都能被准确识别。
2. 噪声抑制:在星点检测之前,先对图像进行噪声抑制处理。可以采用中值滤波、双边滤波等方法去除图像中的椒盐噪声和高斯噪声,提高星点检测的准确性。同时,结合图像的局部对比度信息,进一步排除噪声点的干扰,因为星点通常在局部区域具有较高的对比度。
3. 星点特征提取:除了简单的亮度和位置信息,提取更多的星点特征,如星点的形状、椭圆度等。这些特征可以用于后续的星点匹配和对齐过程,提高对齐的精度和可靠性。例如,可以通过计算星点的二阶矩来估计其形状和椭圆度。

(二)星点匹配与对齐

1. 特征点匹配算法:运用基于特征的匹配算法,如 SIFT(尺度不变特征变换)或 SURF(加速稳健特征)算法的变体,对星点进行匹配。这些算法能够在图像的尺度变化、旋转和轻微变形等情况下,找到稳定的特征点并进行匹配。在星点匹配过程中,结合星点的特征信息(如形状、亮度等)进行匹配筛选,提高匹配的准确性。
2. 模型估计与图像变换:根据匹配的星点对,使用最小二乘法或其他合适的方法估计图像之间的变换模型,如仿射变换、透视变换等。然后,根据估计的变换模型对图像进行对齐操作。在对齐过程中,考虑图像的边界处理,避免出现图像内容丢失或黑边现象。可以采用图像填充或边界扩展的方法来解决这个问题。
3. 多图像序列处理:支持对多个星空图像序列进行批量处理,实现自动化的星点对齐。用户可以选择一个文件夹中的所有图像,软件自动检测并对齐其中的星点。在批量处理过程中,提供进度显示和错误处理机制,以便用户了解处理进度并及时处理可能出现的错误。

(三)用户交互与可视化

1. 可视化星点检测结果:在 Photoshop 的界面中,提供一个可视化的面板,显示星点检测的结果。可以用不同颜色或标记突出显示检测到的星点,让用户直观地了解星点的分布和检测情况。用户可以在这个面板上进行一些简单的操作,如放大、缩小、平移等,以便更仔细地查看星点信息。
2. 对齐参数调整:提供一些对齐参数的调整选项,如匹配阈值、变换模型的选择等,让用户根据图像的具体情况进行微调。在调整参数的过程中,实时更新对齐结果的预览,以便用户快速评估参数调整的效果。
3. 历史记录与撤销功能:记录星点对齐过程中的操作步骤,就像 Photoshop 的常规历史记录功能一样,用户可以随时撤销或重做某个操作步骤,方便用户进行反复试验和调整。

二、示例代码思路

以下是一个简化的示例代码思路,用于说明星点对齐功能的基本实现过程。请注意,这只是一个概念性的示例,实际实现需要更深入的优化和完善,并且需要与 Photoshop 的底层架构和 API 进行集成。

// 假设这是一个在 Photoshop 脚本环境中的代码示例

// 星点检测函数
function detectStars(image) {
// 进行噪声抑制处理,例如使用中值滤波
var filteredImage = applyMedianFilter(image);

// 多尺度星点检测
var starPoints = [];
for (var scale = 1; scale <= 3; scale++) {
var scaledImage = scaleImage(filteredImage, scale);
var currentScaleStars = detectStarsAtScale(scaledImage);
starPoints = starPoints.concat(currentScaleStars);
}

// 提取星点特征,如形状、亮度等
for (var i = 0; i < starPoints.length; i++) {
var star = starPoints[i];
star.shape = calculateShape(star);
star.brightness = calculateBrightness(star);
}

return starPoints;
}

// 星点匹配函数
function matchStars(starPoints1, starPoints2) {
var matches = [];
// 使用特征点匹配算法,如基于距离的匹配
for (var i = 0; i < starPoints1.length; i++) {
var star1 = starPoints1[i];
for (var j = 0; j < starPoints2.length; j++) {
var star2 = starPoints2[j];
var distance = calculateDistance(star1, star2);
if (distance < matchThreshold) {
matches.push({ star1: star1, star2: star2 });
}
}
}

// 结合星点特征进行匹配筛选
var filteredMatches = [];
for (var k = 0; k < matches.length; k++) {
var match = matches[k];
if (isGoodMatch(match)) {
filteredMatches.push(match);
}
}

return filteredMatches;
}

// 图像对齐函数
function alignImages(image1, image2, matches) {
// 根据匹配的星点对估计变换模型,例如仿射变换
var transformationModel = estimateAffineTransformation(matches);

// 对图像 2 进行变换对齐
var alignedImage2 = applyTransformation(image2, transformationModel);

return alignedImage2;
}

// 在 Photoshop 中执行星点对齐的主函数
function alignStarsInPhotoshop() {
// 获取当前打开的图像文档
var doc = app.activeDocument;

// 检测第一张图像的星点
var starPoints1 = detectStars(doc.artLayers[0].duplicate().pixelData);

// 遍历其他图像并进行星点匹配和对齐
for (var i = 1; i < doc.layers.length; i++) {
var layer = doc.artLayers[i];
var starPoints2 = detectStars(layer.duplicate().pixelData);
var matches = matchStars(starPoints1, starPoints2);
var alignedLayer = alignImages(doc.artLayers[0], layer, matches);
// 将对齐后的图像替换原来的图层或创建新的图层显示对齐结果
doc.artLayers[i].replaceContents(alignedLayer);
}
}

// 注册一个 Photoshop 脚本菜单项,以便用户调用星点对齐功能
app.menuActions.add({
name: "Align Stars",
function: alignStarsInPhotoshop
});
 

在上述代码中:

-  detectStars  函数实现了星点检测的基本流程,包括噪声抑制、多尺度检测和特征提取。
-  matchStars  函数根据星点的特征进行匹配,并筛选出可靠的匹配对。
-  alignImages  函数利用匹配的星点对估计图像之间的变换模型,并对图像进行对齐操作。
-  alignStarsInPhotoshop  函数是在 Photoshop 环境中执行星点对齐的主流程,它遍历打开文档中的图像图层,依次进行星点检测、匹配和对齐,并将对齐结果更新到对应的图层。

希望以上建议和示例代码思路能够为 Adobe 团队在 Photoshop 星点对齐功能的开发中提供一些有益的参考。期待在未来的 Photoshop 更新中看到这一强大功能的实现,进一步提升 Photoshop 在天文摄影后期处理领域的地位。

Known Participant
November 8, 2024

请求大家投票

Known Participant
October 23, 2024

尊敬的Adobe工程师团队,

首先,请允许我表达对您们卓越工作的崇高敬意,Adobe的产品一直是摄影师们不可或缺的创意工具。作为一名专注于星空的摄影师,我时常在深夜的寒风中追逐那些遥远而璀璨的光点,记录着宇宙的奥秘与美丽。然而,在后期处理这些珍贵的星空照片时,我遇到了一个挑战:如何高效地实现星点对齐与彗星轨迹的清晰呈现。

一、背景与需求

星空摄影常常需要在同一位置拍摄多张曝光不同的照片,以捕捉从暗弱的深空天体到明亮的星云和星系的丰富细节。然而,地球的自转会导致星星在照片中呈现出微小的位移,影响最终合成的画质。此外,对于彗星等移动天体,传统的对齐方法往往难以准确追踪其轨迹,导致彗星在合成图像中显得模糊或断裂。

二、功能需求

鉴于此,我恳请Adobe工程师团队考虑开发以下两项功能:

星点对齐功能:

能够自动识别并精确对齐照片中的星星,消除因地球自转造成的位移,确保合成图像的清晰度。
支持批量处理,提高后期处理效率。
提供灵活的参数调整选项,以适应不同焦距、曝光时间和天气条件下的拍摄需求。
彗星对齐与轨迹合成功能:

识别并追踪彗星等移动天体在连续拍摄照片中的位置变化。
自动或半自动地合成彗星轨迹,使其在最终图像中呈现出连续、清晰的形态。
提供轨迹亮度、宽度和透明度等调整选项,以满足不同的创意需求。
三、期望与展望

我相信,这两项功能的加入将极大地提升星空摄影师的工作效率与作品质量,使我们能够更加专注于捕捉宇宙的壮丽景象,而不是陷入繁琐的后期处理之中。Adobe一直以来都是创新与卓越的代名词,我期待着与您们共同见证这一功能的诞生,为星空摄影领域带来新的突破。

再次感谢您们的辛勤工作与不懈努力!期待您的回复与进一步讨论。

Known Participant
October 22, 2024

请求你上报工程师,一定要开发这个星点对齐功能,几行代码就能解决的问题。

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 22, 2024

Upvoted. Auto-align doesn't work on "noise" elements, which is what stars technically are. There were good reasons for that in 2008 when it was introduced, but this could be a good use for AI (as opposed to all the toys).