August 17, 2006
Double Star Sketching and Digitizing - Page 4 of 4
Step 8 - Adding Additional Glow
This last step is a bit of a personal preference. I like to add an additional soft glow around brighter stars to enhance the sense of brilliance. To do this, select a soft brush that is 2 to 3 times the diameter of the star. Set it to 'Screen' mode at a very low opacity of around 5 or 6%, and click over the star a few times. You should notice a large but subtle brightening begin to form around the star (see Figure 16). As you continue to click, this glow will get brighter (see Figure 17). Be careful not to take it too far. The fainter the star is, the smaller you will want the paint brush to be, and the fewer times you will need to click the color in (see Figure 18).
Figure 16
Figure 17
Figure 18
Once you are done with this step, you can back up to a 100% view and see how it looks (see Figure 19).
Figure 19
FInally, you can add any additional details to the sketch, such as cleaner cardinal direction markers and other details about the sketch. With that taken care of, your sketch is finished (see Figure 20).
Figure 20
Be sure to check out this post at Cloudy Nights. It discusses double star sketching and contains an excellent, illustrated tutorial by Eric Graff showing the methods he uses to digitally prepare colored double star sketches.
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Posted by Jeremy at August 17, 2006 2:03 AM .
Excellent article: very informative/illustrative. Since the dawn of digital astrophotography (and the "down" of equipment prices too), people have abandoned the art of sketching what they see at the eyepiece without realizing that they are missing a lot. Sketching is the best way to train your eyes to astronomy; you learn to distinguish and detect even the smallest detail or variation viewable in other planets' surfaces or atmospheres, as well as in galaxies and nebulas. Of course, that's also a great strategy to learn to detect the colors of the stars. The best complement for a telescope isn't a good eyepiece, but a well trained eye.
Well said, Juan. Thanks very much for the comment. The inclusion of sketches with the Messier/Deep Sky entries at your site is very nicely done. Be sure to check them out folks: Messier Entries / Deep Sky NGC/IC.