Astro-Photography Image Proccesing

A little bit about how I currently do my "image stacking" and post-processing.

I'm using "linux Ubuntu" and have loaded "Hugin Panorama Creator" from the software repository.
With this installed and two simple commands you can align and stack your images. You need to be a little conversant with using a command shell.
First put all you jpeg images in a folder and open a command shell and type the following at the prompt

align_image_stack -a  drag and drop all your files from your folder onto the terminal window, then hit return. Nothing will happen for a while....then it should start writing .tif files to the same folder as your jpegs.

When this has finished type enfuse -o 'name.tif' where "name.tif" is the file name you want to use complete with the full directory path, then drag and drop the tif files previously created onto the terminal window, it should then start stacking them and you will end up with a composite image called whatever you nominated at the "name.tif" part.

I then follow up with "Gimp"  adjusting "Curves" and "wavelet de-noise" for a final image.

There is also a good "Java" based program called "Regim" and it runs on any platform and has a nice user interface. This will do the aligning and stacking, but no post processing.

For "Windows" users "DeepSkyStacker" is another good option. Just do a Google search and you will find plenty of options.

I will post some more info and pics soon.

Snorkelling, Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia

Saturday the 11th of April greeted us with a reasonably sunny, but not too warm day.
Just before lunch Lisa my wife suggests a trip to the beach to do a bit of snorkelling, OK sounds great I said, its a good job we've got wet suits.

Another opportunity to take the little Sony TX10  out for a swim, and nice to get some pictures from our local waters.

Moondah beach on Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne ,Victoria

Perfect Snorkelling Depth

There's quite a diverse variety sea life in the Bay, most are very shy, and hard to sneak up on, if you manage to take a picture you will most likely have to crop the image to bring it closer.

A good technique when snorkelling is to just float and let the fish come to you. Taking pictures becomes a bit tricky though, as soon as you move your arms they tend to scatter, that's when you learn how fast fish can swim.

Snapper, Port Phillip Bay

Porcupine Fish Port Phillip Bay

Purple Sea Urchin

School of "White Bait"

Pentax SMC K 28mm f3.5 Lens Review

The Pentax K 28mm f3.5 Wide Angle lens is quite rare, you don't see too many coming up on Ebay.
It is very well received by most reviewers and some believe it to be one of the best lenses Pentax ever made, not sure if I agree, still a very good lens.

I had, and sold the M version of this lens. The optical formula is different for the two lenses but I have to say that I couldn't see a lot of difference in images that I took. I suppose with lenses, it all about how hard you look and what you're looking for. I kept this one, and it certainly is the rarer of the two.
As with all the Pentax lenses I have, or have had, the build quality is excellent, with very smooth focus. It's quite heavy, but feels very nice in use. This lens is of course "Super Multi Coated" resulting in better transmission of light.

• Focal Length:     28mm
• Aperture:            f3.5 thru f22 in half stops up to f16 5 blades
• Focus Throw:     50 degrees approx
• Min Focu:           30cm
• Filter Treads:      52mm
• Weight:               286 gm
• Elements:           8 in 7 groups

F3.5 Close Focus

F3.5 Bokeh

"Out House" Valhalla Vic

Rubbish day in our street