Post-editing: sharing

“Life is all about sharing. If we are good at something, pass it on.”

~Mary Berry

Every astrograph needs to be post-edited to bring out the best colors of the night sky objects. My photos are no exceptions. One may wonder why the same nebulae can come in an overwhelming array of colors. In fact, they don’t. Each astro-photographer has his taste and style of editing the raw data gathered from the night sky. The absence of fixed rules has allowed astro-photographers like me to exercise our freedom in post-editing. There is no right or wrong answer in post-editing astrographs. As I am not a natural-born geek, acquiring skills in using the softwares for photo-editing is like learning a new language. I don’t even know the coding scripts of each process of the softwares, let alone understanding them. Everything is new to me, but I am not daunted by everything ahead.

Some photographers spurned post-editing as redundant, claiming that it would destroy the natural beauty of everything. I am no expert in photography and can neither defend nor make rebuttals against this view. In astro-photography, post-editing is a must. Living under a Bortle 9 sky where light pollution is extraordinarily serious, taking clear images of the celestial objects is a demanding task. Filters do help to a certain extent, yet they cannot eliminate unwanted particles of certain wavelengths. The rapidly changing world demands everything to be accomplished in a second, yet astro-photography is a habit of honing the practitioners’ patience. After taking the astrographs for a minimum of 3 hours, everyone would want their artworks to look best before presenting to the rest of the world. That’ the time when post-editing kicks in to help astro-photographers to polish their raw data and turn them into alluring pictures which capture your attention.

After taking the 2^nd class on post-editing, I wanted to try things out on my own. I have a knowledgeable and experienced astro-photography coach, but any mature adult would refuse to rely on their teachers’ guidance for life. Humans need to grow up and take up their coaches’ mantles when time has ripened. It’s not a matter of choice. The learning curve of these softwares varies among individuals, yet sooner or later one has to master them if he is serious about the art. Not engineered with a geek’s mind, I was despondent for the first couple of days for not being able to generate an image. “What’s the point of taking raw data from the dark starry sky without being able to integrate them?” This shouldn’t be the end of my astro-photography journey, I reckoned. There must be someone who could offer their help.

“Hi! May I know if you could share your tips about these softwares with me?”

Send this message to an expert astro photo-editor on Instagram takes courage. Not everybody likes sharing his knowledge to all even if they don’t receive a penny on that. Some would regard their knowledge and skills as something to be guarded with the best security. I had the opportunity of conversing with a local astro-photographer who was reticent about the hobby. He asked me to enroll in the course of a mediocre astro-photographer instead. The respect of freedom is a fundamental part of human rights, and I detest forcing people into conversations against their wishes. What I think is that when more astro-photographers can share their knowledge and skills and take part in the discussions, this will certainly help the developers to improve the scripts and thereby benefit the community as a whole.

When I could find my way in post-editing, these people guide my way like the stars in the starry night sky. The humble Australian gentleman who I sent a message on Instagram introduced me an extension for the software. Not only that, he shared his invaluable step-by-step tips on another photo-editing software with me by working on one of my integrated images. Instead of guarding his way of success to prevent anyone from mimicking his style, he was willing to share his knowledge with me. His edited work on my file has stunned me in awe. Even the slightest detail is accentuated under his fairy-like fingers. Shooting under a Bortle 9 sky means that a tremendous number of signals from the universe cannot be detected by the most advanced astro-cameras. I cannot change my place of residence at this very moment, but he brought out the very best of my data by post-editing them in a specific way.

As a novice tip-toeing in the hobby, my knowledge in astro-photography is shallow. It’s only through series of failed attempts and conversations with the extension developer that I realized what had gone wrong in the process. Who could have imagined that astro-photography is a friend-making hobby? With so many people providing valuable insights in the hobby, there’s no point for me to give up even though I may struggle with the equipment and softwares. Thanks to this magical extension, the want of knowledge in coding had never barred me from going further in post-editing my astrographs. I could finally generate an alluring image within 3 days after less than 20 failed attempts. The developer of this extension is not an employee of the softwares companies receiving no financial benefit on it. No salary, no group funding, no largess. He is a true space lover who requests nothing from fellows in his circle like me.

Developing an extension for that astro-photography comes with endless trials and errors before it can be launched. As the beneficiaries of countless computer softwares which make our lives improve leaps and bounds, we may not have realized how much time the developers have spent on perfecting their scripts. Our comfort is built on their time. Aiming to benefit the astro-photography community and sharing his joy in the hobby, he offers this extension for free. The difficulty of using that particular software without his extension is a nerve-wrecking experience. Without his invented script which streamlines the process, I might not have persisted. Giving up is easy. Isn’t it a farce when scientists proposing theories bearing minimal significance to our everyday life can be granted the Nobel Prize while those nameless heroes making an impact on us by developing tangible and intangible inventions are forgotten in the sands of time?