From: Alan Friedman <alan@greatarrow.com>
Date: October 19, 2011 11:36:41 AM MDT
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] OT a bit but thought you could help
Hi Ray,
The problem you are most likely having is selecting the appropriate layer/channel for your copy and paste operations. Here is the process I use to create the RGB composite:
1. Paste your finished R, G and B monochrome artwork into three layers in a new RGB document. It helps to name the layers red, green and blue so you know what's what.
2. Carefully align the three images... using transparency helps. It's important to get this accurate.
3. Create a new layer below each of the three color layers. Fill these three new layers with black. Merge down the monochrome color layers onto the black. This step will ensure that the nudging you did to align the three images will "hold" when you cut and paste them into channels.
4. Duplicate one of the color layers (I usually choose the red) as a new layer on top of the other three. Name this layer RGB.
5. Here is the complicated step. If you've chosen the red layer as the base for your RGB composite, the red channel will be ready. Click the "eye" to make all the layers invisible except for the layer with the green artwork. Click on the green layer to select it and choose >select all<. Then copy to the clipboard. Now click the eye layer of the green artwork to make this layer invisible and click the eye on the RGB layer so it is the only layer visible. Click on the layer to select it. Now choose the "channels" tab in the layer palette. All four channels (R, G, B and RGB) will be selected by default. Click on the green channel so that it is the only one selected. Choose >select all< (command+a) and then paste. Your green mono artwork should now be pasted in register in the green channel. When you click on the RGB channel it should have changed to an oddly colored image.
6. Repeat step 5 copying the artwork from the Blue layer and pasting into the Blue channel. When this step is complete, you should see a full color image in the layer you named RGB. You can fine tune the color using the color balance command in >Image>adjustments.
Once you get this to work, it is an easy and quick process (except for the last fine-tuning step!)
Hope that helps!
Alan
Alan Friedman
On Oct 19, 2011, at 9:41 AM, Ray Byrne wrote:
Hi Guys,
I've taken some OK (just) images of Jupiter with my DMK camera and being that the seeing was alright (just) I took RGB and IR as well as white light. They've processed-up quite good in Astro IIDC, best I've taken in a few years, and I want to turn them into a colour image using PS CS3. I've done this before but had forgotten what to do, but I've found the tutorial I used before: <http://planetary.org/explore/topics/imaging/tutorial_rgb_ps.html> but I've got stuck on page 5 of 7 as when I try to paste an image out of the aligned layers in the greyscale document into the channels of RGB document nothing happens?
Can anyone shed some light on this or suggest another tutorial (although I've searched around a lot and not found much re using Photoshop for this)
TIA
Ray