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Angelo327
Participant
July 30, 2018
Question

Astronomy HDR Alignment question

  • July 30, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 531 views

I took 3 images of the Moon within 10 seconds.  Camera on solid tripod.  Naturally in the time between exposures the Moon has moved slightly so the images don't line up or stack up as a single image.  None of the align options in Photoshop help.  I want all three images to be aligned perfectly with each other prior to using the HDR macro.

I start in Lightroom 6, select the 3 images of the moon, select edit in Photoshop as layers.  Within Photoshop the align options throw the error about LAYERS NOT OVERLAPing ENOUGH TO DETECT ALIGNMENT, which I don't understand.  Where do I go from here? 

Mike

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    2 replies

    sharp_hands16B8
    Community Expert
    sharp_hands16B8Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 30, 2018

    Are there other elements for Photoshop to interpret as anchors for alignment? If you are only shooting the moon, and no landscape or other elements. You can just as easily load the images as layers into photoshop, drop their opacity to 50% and line them up manually to insure perfect alignment.

    Sometimes there's not enough info there, or it's too noisy, for Photoshop/LR to interpret and so we have to do it the old fashioned way.

      War Unicorn
      Community Expert
      War UnicornCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 30, 2018

      How much different is the position between the 3 images? You might have to align them yourself. (Adjust the opacity of the layers above. Leave the opacity of the base layer alone and use that as a guide for the topmost layers in the stack.)

      A
      Angelo327Author
      Participant
      July 30, 2018

      Each image is just a nudge off from the previous image.  It's a matter of how much the moon moves between exposures taken within 6 seconds of each other. I don't have a planetary mount that tracks the moon as it crosses the sky. There is nothing else but the MOON in the images taken with a 750mm lens tripod mounted. 

      I have used the Lightroom Merge to Photoshop as HDR and used the 'Remove Ghost' option to get a sharp image but I don't understand what that actually does.  Is it throwing out two of the 3 images or is it actually aligning them to remove the blur?

      War Unicorn
      Community Expert
      War UnicornCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 30, 2018

      I believe the Remove Ghost function gives priority to the selected thumbnail. It's still doing its HDR thing, if I recall; it's just trying to give priority to a selected image.

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