================================================================================ Astronomy Tools for Elements Actions Set for Adobe Photoshop Elements version v1_7 ================================================================================ Contents -------- 1. Introduction and How To 2. What's New in Version v1_7 3. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 4. Policies and Legal Stuff ================================================================================ 1. Introduction and How To --------------------------- Thanks for your purchase of my actions! You're in for a treat. Actions are predefined image processing steps that can be loaded into Adobe Photoshop Elements to expand its abilities, then executed on any open image. More can be done with actions than you might imagine! Astronomy Tools for Elements actions are specifically designed to help you get the most out of your astroimage data. There are 31 actions in all in Astronomy Tools; 28 different "main" image manipulation actions and 3 "after" modifier actions. Their names describe what they do: Construct RGB from Channel Files - Create RGB from mono filtered files Synthesize Green Channel - Create synthetic green channel Soft Color Gradient Removal - Remove a color gradient across the image Hard Color Gradient Removal - Remove a more severe color gradient Light Pollution Removal - Remove light pollution gradient Select Brighter Stars - Select stars in your image for further processing Make Stars Smaller - Make bloated stars smaller, bring out DSOs Less Crunchy More Fuzzy - smooth oversharpened images, bring out star color Space Noise Reduction - Noise reduction for the darker areas of the image Deep Space Noise Reduction - Noise reduction only in the darkest parts Color Blotch Reduction - Remove only color noise, leaving fine detail intact Horizontal Banding Reduction - Removes horizontal pattern noise Vertical Banding Reduction - Removes vertical pattern noise Reduce Small Blue Violet Halos - Desaturate and darken halos around stars Reduce Large Blue Violet Halos - Desaturate and darken halos around stars Increase Star Color - Brings edge color into whited-out stars Local Contrast Enhancement - Increase contrast between dark and light Lighten DSO and Dimmer Stars - Lighten while keeping bright stars tight Enhance DSO and Reduce Stars - Make hard stars softer and lighten dim stuff B&W To Ha False Color - Convert to color as through Hydrogen Alpha filter B&W To Ha False Color Black Space - As above but with blacker deep space B&W To OIII False Color - Convert to color as through Oxygen III filter B&W To OIII False Color Black Space - As above but with blacker deep space Star Spikes Tiny Stars - Put diffraction spikes on most stars Star Spikes Small Stars - Put diffraction spikes on many stars Star Spikes Medium Stars - Put diffraction spikes on larger stars Star Spikes Fat Stars - Put diffraction spikes on largest stars Astro Frame - Add a background color border with room for caption The following 3 additional modifier actions can be applied after a main action above has been run: As Layer On Top - Make 2 layers, action results above the original As Layer Underneath - Make 2 layers, action results below the original Per Selection Only - Restricts results to the area selected before To install the Astronomy Tools actions into your copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements: For PC users I've provided a handy automatic installer called: Astronomy_Tools_For_Elements_v1_5_Installer.exe Please use this installer if possible. It contains all the files and will guide you through the process. However, if for some reason the above installer won't work for you or you're using a Macintosh (for which I have not yet completed an installer), you will want to install these actions into Adobe Photoshop Elements manually. Don't worry, there are a lot of steps but it's not too hard, just follow them one by one carefully. Here's how: First, determine what version of Adobe Photoshop Elements you have. If you're not sure, use the Help - About menu in the application. Then, please VERY carefully follow the instructions in one of the two sections below, using the spacing and upper/lower case letters exactly as listed... Installing into Adobe Photoshop Elements versions 14.0 and newer: ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Run the Photoshop Elements Editor and make sure to set it to Expert mode before going any further. Failure to do this could result in a crash. 2. Close/Quit Adobe Photoshop Elements. It must not be running during this installation. 3. Open the zip archive you downloaded containing the Astronomy Tools for Elements software. You should see a set of folders and files called: Elements 1 Elements 2 Elements 3 Elements 4 Elements 5 Elements 6 Elements 7 Elements 8 Elements 9 Elements 10 Elements 11 Elements 12 Elements 13 Elements 14 Elements 15 Elements 16 Elements 17 Elements 18 Elements 19 ReadMe.txt Each of the above folders named Elements n contains the set of actions for one version of Adobe Photoshop Elements, 1.0 through 19.0 respectively. For recent versions of Photoshop Elements, the year has been included in the name. This is the version to name translation: Elements 16 Photoshop Elements 2018 Elements 17 Photoshop Elements 2019 Elements 18 Photoshop Elements 2020 Elements 19 Photoshop Elements 2021 etc. 4. Navigate into the appropriate numbered subfolder for your Elements version. You should see 99 files, named: =As Layer On Top.atn =As Layer On Top.metadata.xml =As Layer On Top.png . . . Vertical Banding Reduction.atn Vertical Banding Reduction.metadata.xml Vertical Banding Reduction.png 5. Open a new Explorer or Finder window and navigate to the following folder within the Adobe Photoshop Elements installation data area on your hard drive. Look for the file ThumbDatabase.db3 to exist in the folder: PC running Windows: C:\Users\yourusername\Appdata\Roaming\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\18.0 -or- C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\18.0 Mac: Locate the Photoshop Elements data area in either your user or system library as follows: a. Open a new Finder window, and in the Finder menus, choose Go - Go To Folder... b. In the Go To Folder dialog, type or paste the following, then press Go: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements c. Now navigate one level deeper by expanding the subfolder specific to your version of Elements. For example for Photoshop Elements 2021, look for 19.0. The entire path would be: yourusername Library Application Support Adobe Photoshop Elements 19.0 Note: If the ThumbDatabase.db3 file is NOT found in the location shown above, under some conditions it's been observed that the files have been installed in the system library. To see if this is the case, enter this path in Go To Folder: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements As above, navigate into the subfolder numbered for your version of Elements. You should see the file ThumbDatabase.db3 there. In a pinch, if you can't find ThumbDatabase.db3, execute the following command in a terminal window can help you locate the proper folder on your disk: find / -name 'ThumbDatabase.db3' 2>nul 6. Rename ThumbDatabase.db3 to ThumbDatabase.orig. It will be recreated later. 7. Now navigate deeper by expanding subfolders Photo Creations / photo effects. So for Elements version 2021, the entire path would be: ... Adobe Photoshop Elements 19.0 Photo Creations photo effects In this folder you should see other actions, such as "Black and White Center.atn" and "Bloom Effect.atn" 8. Copy all of the 99 files you found in step 4 into the "photo effects" folder you found in step 7 above. This is most easily done by selecting all files and dragging from one Explorer or Finder window and dropping into the other. 9. Start the Adobe Photoshop Elements Photo Editor. After the splash screen, a small dialog may appear stating that Adobe Photoshop Elements is "Building Content and Effects". Under some conditions Elements may seem to be locked up. PLEASE BE PATIENT. The rebuild of the panels can take several minutes to complete, even on a fast system. 10. Once the dialog disappears, make the Effects panel visible by clicking on the [fx] button or on the Window menu then checking the "Effects" entry. 11. If the new actions are not already showing, Select Astronomy Tools v1.7 in the pulldown box at the top of the Effects panel. 12. You should see my actions listed, starting with "[c]" and followed by 31 more entries from "=Per Selection Only" to "Vertical Banding Reduction". 13. Open an astroimage. 14. Double click one of my actions to run it on the image. You should see some activity in the palettes, then the image will reappear when the action completes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installing into Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 through 13: ------------------------------------------------------ 1. If you have Photoshop Elements version 11 or newer, run it and make sure to set it to Expert mode before going further. 2. Close/Quit Adobe Photoshop Elements. It should not be running during this installation. 3. Open the zip archive you downloaded containing the Astronomy Tools for Elements software. You should see a set of folders and files called: Elements 1 Elements 2 Elements 3 Elements 4 Elements 5 Elements 6 Elements 7 Elements 8 Elements 9 Elements 10 Elements 11 Elements 12 Elements 13 Elements 14 Elements 15 Elements 16 Elements 17 Elements 18 Elements 19 ReadMe.txt Each of the above folders named Elements n contains the set of actions for one version of Adobe Photoshop Elements, 1.0 through 19.0 respectively. For example, the Elements 13 folder contains the actions set you want to use for Adobe Photoshop Elements 13.0. 4. Navigate into the appropriate subfolder. You should see 99 files, named: =As Layer On Top.atn =As Layer On Top.metadata.xml =As Layer On Top.png . . . Vertical Banding Reduction.atn Vertical Banding Reduction.metadata.xml Vertical Banding Reduction.png 5. Open a new Explorer or Finder window and navigate to the following folder within the Adobe Photoshop Elements installation data area on your hard drive. Substitute the version number of Elements you actually have, 7.0 through 13.0... PC running Windows Vista or newer: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\13.0\Photo Creations\filters PC running XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\ Photoshop Elements\13.0\Photo Creations\filters Mac: Locate the Photoshop Elements area in either your system or user library as follows: a. Open a new Finder window, and in the Finder menus, choose Go - Go To Folder... b. In the Go To Folder dialog, type or paste the following, then press Go: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements c. Now navigate into the subfolder specific to your version of Elements, then into subfolders Photo Creations/filters. So for Elements version 13, the entire path would be: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements/ 13.0/Photo Creations/filters Note: If the filters folder named above is NOT found in the location shown, under some conditions it's been observed that the files have been installed in the user library. To see if this is the case, start with this (including the ~ [tilde] character): a. In the Go To Folder dialog, type or paste the following, then press Go: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements b. As in c above, navigate into the numbered subfolder, then into the subfolders Photo Creations/filters. In a pinch, the following command in a terminal window can help you locate this folder on your disk: find / -name 'Accented Edges.atn' 2>nul 6. Copy all of the 99 files you found in step 4 into the "filters" folder you found in step 5 above. This is most easily done by selecting all files and dragging from one Explorer or Finder window and dropping into the other. 7. Now navigate to the following folder within the Adobe Photoshop Elements installation data area on your hard drive: PC running Vista or newer: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\13.0 PC running XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\ Photoshop Elements\13.0 Mac: In the Go To Folder dialog, type or paste the following then press Go: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements Now navigate into the numbered subfolder specific to your version of Elements. So for Elements version 13, the entire path would be: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements/13.0 8. You should see the file ThumbDatabase.db3. Rename this file to ThumbDatabase.orig. Don't worry, it will be recreated. Mac: In a pinch, the following command in a terminal window can help you locate this file on your disk: find / -name 'ThumbDatabase.db3' 2>nul 9. Start the Adobe Photoshop Elements Photo Editor. After the splash screen, a small dialog should appear stating that Adobe Photoshop Elements is "Building Content and Effects". This can take several minutes to complete. Please be patient. 10. Once the dialog disappears, make the Effects palette visible by clicking on the Window menu and checking the "Effects" entry. 11. Click on Filters (leftmost at the top of the palette), then select Astronomy Tools v1.7 in the pulldown box. 12. You should see my actions listed, starting with "~Copyright 2008" and followed by 31 entries from "=Per Selection Only" to "Vertical Banding Reduction". 13. Open an astroimage. 14. Double click one of my actions to run it on the image. You should see some activity in the palettes, then the image will reappear when the action completes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installing into Adobe Photoshop Elements 6: --------------------------------------------- 1. Close/Quit Adobe Photoshop Elements. It should not be running during this installation. 2. Open the zip archive you downloaded containing the Astronomy Tools for Elements software. You should see a set of folders and files called: Elements 1 Elements 2 Elements 3 Elements 4 Elements 5 Elements 6 Elements 7 Elements 8 Elements 9 Elements 10 Elements 11 Elements 12 Elements 13 Elements 14 Elements 15 Elements 16 Elements 17 Elements 18 Elements 19 ReadMe.txt Each of the above folders named Elements n contains the set of actions for one version of Adobe Photoshop Elements, 1.0 through 19.0 respectively. For example, the Elements 6 folder contains the actions set you want to use for Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. 3. Navigate into the 6.0 subfolder, then into the Actions subfolder. You should see 64 files, named: =As Layer On Top.atn =As Layer On Top.png . . . Vertical Banding Reduction.atn Vertical Banding Reduction.png 4. Open a new Explorer or Finder window and navigate to the following folder within the Adobe Photoshop Elements installation data area on your hard drive. PC running Windows Vista or newer: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0\Photo Creations\filters PC running XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\ Photoshop Elements\6.0\Photo Creations\filters Mac: Locate the Photoshop Elements area in either your system or user library as follows: a. Open a new Finder window, and in the Finder menus, choose Go - Go To Folder... b. In the Go To Folder dialog, type or paste the following, then press Go: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements c. Now navigate into the subfolder specific to your version of Elements, then into subfolders Photo Creations/filters. So for Elements version 6, the entire path would be: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements/ 6.0/Photo Creations/filters Note: If the filters folder named above is NOT found in the location shown, under some conditions it's been observed that the files have been installed in the user library. To see if this is the case, start with this (including the ~ [tilde] character): a. In the Go To Folder dialog, type or paste the following, then press Go: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements b. As in c above, navigate into the numbered subfolder, then into the subfolders Photo Creations/filters. In a pinch, the following command in a terminal window can help you locate this folder on your disk: find / -name 'Accented Edges.atn' 2>nul 5. Copy all of the above 64 .atn and .png files from within the "Actions" folder into the "filters" folder you found in step 4 above. This is most easily done by selecting all files and dragging from one Explorer or Finder window and dropping into the other. 6. Using the first Explorer or Finder window, navigate up and over into the "Photo Creations Metadata" subfolder under the Elements 6 folder. You should see 32 files named: =As Layer On Top.xml . . . Vertical Banding Reduction.xml 7. Now navigate the seconds Explorer or Finder window into the following folder within the Adobe Photoshop Elements installation data area on your hard drive: PC running Vista or newer: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0\Locale\ your language\Photo Creations Metadata\filters PC running XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\ Photoshop Elements\6.0\Locale\your language\ Photo Creations Metadata\filters Mac: Please find the Mac area equivalent to the above, looking for the ....\Photo Creations Metadata\filters subfolder. For example, [system drive]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements/ 6.0/Locale/your language/Photo Creations Metadata/filters 8. Copy all of the above 32 .xml files from the "Actions" folder into the "Photo Creations Metadata\filters" folder you found in step 7 above. 9. Using the first Explorer or Finder window, navigate to the following folder within the Adobe Photoshop Elements installation data area on your hard drive: PC running Windows Vista or newer: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\6.0 PC running XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\ Photoshop Elements\6.0 Mac: Please find the Mac area equivalent to the above, looking for the ....Photoshop Elements 6.0 subfolder. For example, /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Photoshop Elements/6.0 10. You should see the file ThumbDatabase.db3. Delete this file and ONLY this file. 11. Start Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. After the splash screen, a dialog should appear stating that Adobe Photoshop Elements is "Rebuilding Content and Effects". This will take a few minutes to complete. 12. Make the Effects palette visible by clicking on the Window menu and checking the "Effects" entry. 13. Click on the Filters icon (leftmost at the top of the palette), then select Astronomy Tools v1.7 in the pulldown box. 14. You should see my actions listed, starting with "~Copyright 2008" and followed by 31 entries from "=Per Selection Only" to "Vertical Banding Reduction". 15. Open an astroimage. 16. Double click one of my actions to run it on the image. You should see some activity in the palettes, then the image will reappear when the action completes. Installing into Adobe Photoshop Elements 5: --------------------------------------------- 1. Close Adobe Photoshop Elements if it is open. It should not be running during this installation. 2. Extract all the folders and files from within the zip or stuffit container file you received from me into a temporary folder on your hard drive. You should get a set of new folders called: ....\v1_7_Elements\Elements 1\.... ....\v1_7_Elements\Elements 2\.... ....\v1_7_Elements\Elements 3\.... ....\v1_7_Elements\Elements 4\.... ....\v1_7_Elements\Elements 5\.... etc. Each of these folders contains the set of actions for one version of Adobe Photoshop Elements, 1.0 through the latest respectively. The Elements 5 folder contains the actions set for Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0. 3. Using Explorer or Finder, navigate to this folder within the Photoshop Elements data area on your hard drive: PC running Windows Vista or newer: C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0\Photo Creations\ special effects\filters PC running XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\ Photoshop Elements\5.0\Photo Creations\special effects\filters Mac: Please find the Mac area equivalent to the above, looking for the ....\Photo Creations\special effects\filters subfolder. 4. Copy the "astronomy tools v1_7" subfolder from under the Elements5 folder into the "filters" folder you found in step 3 above. You should end up with 33 files in a new subfolder under filters: ....\special effects\filters\astronomy tools v1_7\~As Layer On Top.atn ....\special effects\filters\astronomy tools v1_7\~As Layer Underneath.atn . etc. . ....\special effects\filters\astronomy tools v1_7\Vertical Banding Reduction.atn 5. Start Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0, and hold the shift key down until you see the splash screen disappear, then a dialog should come up stating that Adobe Photoshop Elements is "Rebuilding Artwork and Effects". 6. Make the Artwork and Effects palette visible by clicking on the Window menu and checking the "Artwork and Effects" entry. You may see Adobe Photoshop Elements filling the menu with entries. Give it a few moments to complete. 7. Click on the Special Effects icon (3rd from left at the top of the palette, then select Filters from the left pulldown box. FInally, select Astronomy Tools v1_7 in the right pulldown box. 8. You may wish to choose "List View" by pressing the ( More > ) button at the top right of the palette. As the names don't fit in Thumbnail view, this will be easier to use. 9. You should see my actions listed, starting with "Copyright 2008" and followed by 31 entries from "Astro Frame" to "~Per Selection Only". 10. Open an astroimage. 11. Double click one of my actions to run it on the image. You should see some activity in the palettes, then the image will reappear when the action completes. Installing into Adobe Photoshop Elements versions 1 through 4: ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Close Adobe Photoshop Elements if it is open. It should not be running during this installation. 2. Extract all the folders and files from within the zip or stuffit container file you received from me into a temporary folder on your hard drive. You should see a set of newly created folders called: ....\v1_5_Elements\Elements1\.... ....\v1_5_Elements\Elements2\.... ....\v1_5_Elements\Elements3\.... ....\v1_5_Elements\Elements4\.... etc. Each of these folders contains the set of actions for one version of Adobe Photoshop Elements, versions 1.0 through the latest respectively. Note which one is the proper subfolder for your version of Adobe Photoshop Elements. 3. Using Explorer or Finder, navigate to this folder within the Photoshop Elements installation area on your hard drive, where VVV is your version (1, 2, 3.0, or 4.0) of Adobe Photoshop Elements: PC: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements VVV\Previews\filters --- Mac: Macintosh HD/Applications/Adobe Photoshop Elements VVV/Previews/filters --- 4. Copy the "Astronomy Tools v1_7" subfolder from under the version folder you noted in step 2 into the "filters" folder from step 3 above. You should end up with 33 files in a new subfolder under filters: ....\Previews\filters\Astronomy Tools v1_7\~Copyright 2008.atn ....\Previews\filters\Astronomy Tools v1_7\=As Layer On Top.atn . etc. . ....\Previews\filters\Astronomy Tools v1_7\Vertical Banding Reduction.atn 5. Now find this nearby folder, also within the installation area of Photoshop Elements on your hard drive: ....\Previews\Cache\Filters Cache 6. Delete these three .che files (and only these three files) from within the Filters Cache folder: ....\Previews\Cache\Filters Cache\CatagoryCache.che ....\Previews\Cache\Filters Cache\ListCache.che ....\Previews\Cache\Filters Cache\ThumbNailCache.che 7. Start Adobe Photoshop Elements. Make the Filters (version 1 or 2) or Styles and Effects (version 3 or 4) palette visible by clicking on the Window menu and checking the "Filters" or "Styles and Effects" entry. You may see Adobe Photoshop Elements filling the palette with entries, as it is now regenerating the cache files you deleted in step 6. Give it a few moments to complete. 8. Choose "Filters", then select "Astronomy Tools v1_7" in the pulldown box at the top of the Filters palette. You may want to press the (More >) button and choose "List View" to be able to more easily see the names of the actions in a nice list. 9. You should see my actions listed, starting with "~Copyright 2008" and followed by 31 entries from "=As Layer on Top" to "Vertical Banding Reduction". 10. Open an astroimage. 11. Double click one of my actions to run it on the image. You should see some activity in the palettes, then the image will reappear when the action completes. To execute any action: Make the image you want to change the current window, then double click an action to run it. Some of my actions take quite a few steps, so please be patient and don't click anything while they're running (this can confuse things). The activity will cease and the display will update when all the steps are done. Details of how to use Construct RGB from Channel Files: This action will prompt you to open 3 separate files, containing the red, green, and blue data (e.g., monochrome images shot through filters) respectively. Note: You will need to already have another image open or the Construct RGB from Channel Files action will not start. It does not matter what's in that image. 1. When the action first prompts, select and open the file (or plane within the file) containing the RED image data. 2. When the action prompts again, select and open the file (or plane within the file) containing the GREEN image data. 3. When the action prompts the third time, select the file (or plane within the file) containing BLUE image data. 4. When the action prompts at the Levels prompt, select each of the color channels in succession and normalize the black point. One easy method is to find out the value where the data on the histogram rises above the baseline, then move the slider down to a value 10% lower. Do this for all three channels to get the background and color looking about right. After the above you will be left with an RGB color image constructed from the individual filtered captures. Note: The image is flipped vertically by the action. This is done to compensate for the fact that FITS Liberator appears to open files in mirrored orientation. Details of how to use Synthesize Green Channel: This action creates a Green channel in your current RGB image from the Red and Blue channels. This can be useful for creating a full color image from Ha (hydrogen alpha) and OII (Oxygen III) filtered images, for example. It will replace any existing green channel data in the image. 1. Open or create your RGB image, with the data you want in the Red and Blue channels. It doesn't matter what's in the Green channel. 2. Run the Synthesize Green Channel from Red and Blue action. 3. It will prompt you once, after the green channel has been created, with a Levels dialog. Select the Green channel, and move the left and center sliders around until you like the overall look of the color. Details of how to use Light Pollution Removal: This action will allow you to remove light pollution (LP) and most gradients, resulting in a flat image with a neutral background. IMPORTANT: In order to preserve dim DSO (deep sky object) data, you may need to use the Dodge tool set to Shadows to lighten dark areas of the image that contain DSO info BEFORE running this action. Try to be conservative, but know that the action will flatten the image. 1. When the action stops at the Dust and Scratches dialog, move the sliders as follows: Move the top slider (radius) to the right until the largest stars are blocked out. If you have a big star or DSO in the image, you may still have a light blob - that's okay. Generally speaking, it's okay to pull the radius slider all the way to the right, though the action will be better at removing any gradient if you don't go too far. Larger radius values also take much longer to process. Move the bottom slider (levels) right (to a non-zero value) ONLY if you'd like background noise smoothed out - this is usually only good for star cluster shots, and it's generally not good to go too much above 7 levels for any shot. If you have a clean stacked image, keep the levels slider at 0 - that way it won't remove any faint stars or DSO detail. Press [Ok]. 2. When the action stops at the Levels dialog, you'll see a blurred version of your image. This is a facsimile of the color balance in the image that will be the result after the action image. First, click on the little black point (leftmost) eyedropper, then choose an area of your image that's got the brightest actual light pollution level. You'll see the light pollution darken. If you have a DSO in your image, you will want to leave a light blob. Remember that this is roughly how bright and what color your DSO will be in your final image, though it will have more detail. You can click in different places until it looks as though you've found the one that's gotten all of the LP out, but left all of the dim DSO luminosity intact. Press [Ok]. When the action finishes, you should be left with an image with flat background luminance and a neutral background color. If it doesn't come out the way you like, use the History palette and go back and try the action again with different parameters. After a while you'll get a good feel for what the action does. How to use the 3 additional "after" actions in the set: Here's how to use my "As Layer On Top", "As Layer Underneath", and "Per Selection Only" actions. They're very handy indeed! 1. As Layer On Top After you've run one of the main actions, you can cause the image to be split into two layers, the resultant "after" image in the layer above and the original "before" image (before the run of the prior action) in the lower layer. 2. As Layer Underneath Similar to the above, but flipped - this one leaves the "before" image on top, and the "after" image underneath. 3. Per Selection Only If you have part of an image selected, then run an action to change the image, then run this action, it causes the result of the prior action to be rolled back and restricted only to the part(s) of the image that were selected. Please consider the following examples to further illustrate how you might use these three actions: A. You have just run an action on an image and want to toggle back and forth between the original image and result to see which you like better. Run "As Layer On Top", then just click the little "eye" (layer visibility) symbol on the top layer on and off to toggle quickly between "before" and "after". B. You have just run an action but want to apply the effect to only a small part of the image. Run "As Layer Underneath", select the Eraser tool, and cut through the top layer to expose parts of the processed image underneath. It's a bit like painting on the main action effect. Layer-Merge Down when you're done. C. You have just run an action but want to apply the effect less strongly overall. Run "As Layer On Top" and set the Opacity of the top layer to something less than 100%. You are mixing the before and after images together to your preference. D. You have selected part of an image and would like to run an action only on that part. Run the action, which will change the whole image, then run "Per Selection Only", which will restrict the results of the main action only to the area that was selected before it was run, leaving unselected areas as they were before. Generally speaking: Experiment a bit to get to know these actions. After a time you'll get a feel for what actions to run and in what order to get the look and feel you want. If an action doesn't seem to be effective or something unexpected shows up in your image, use Undo or the History to go back and start again, adding operations or changing the order of your steps. Make sure, if you use layers, that you select an image layer (not an adjustment layer) before running an action. Most of the actions don't prompt. It's possible, depending on your image, that a dialog may pop up stating "no pixels were more than 50% selected" or something similar. If you see this, press the [OK] button, then carefully check the results of the action to make sure it hasn't done anything bad to the image. One last thing: Your payment gets you updates from me whenever I add new functions, refine the actions, fix bugs, or have a tip/trick or announcement to send you. Please make sure I have your current eMail address, or I won't be able to send you these updates. I won't disclose your eMail address to anyone else. I hate spam. Good luck, have fun, and let me know how these actions work for you! Thanks again! -Noel Carboni ProDigital Software ================================================================================ 2. What's New in Version v1_7 ------------------------------ Actions version 1.7 Released December 11, 2016 Added action Negative BW to better match what's in the Astronomy Tools actions set for the full version of Photoshop. Added support for Photoshop Elements 2018 (AKA version 16.0) October 25, 2017. Added support for Photoshop Elements 2019 (AKA version 17.0) October 25, 2018. ================================================================================ 3. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ------------------------------------ Q: I have Elements version 6 through 2019 and the actions don't show up? How can I see them? First, make sure Elements is in Expert mode. Click the big [Expert] button to set this. Then make sure the Effects palette is visible by clicking on the Window menu and checking the "Effects" entry. Then click on the Filters icon (leftmost at the top of the palette), then select Astronomy Tools v1.7 in the pulldown box. You should see my actions listed, starting with "~Copyright 2008" and followed by 31 entries from "=Per Selection Only" to "Vertical Banding Reduction". If you do not see the Astronomy Tools v1.7 entry in the pulldown box, the simplest fix is to re-run my installer application. That will trigger a rebuild of the Effects palette. If you've installed the actions manually, deleting the ThumbDatabase.db3 files (and only this file) from within the Adobe Photoshop Elements install data area will cause a rebuild of the palette. Search for this file on your hard drive: ThumbDatabase.db3 Q: The actions don't show up in Elements version 5? How can I see them? When you start Adobe Photoshop Elements, hold down the shift key and keep it down all the while the splash screen is displayed. This will trigger Elements into rebuilding the Artwork and Effects palette and should make the Astronomy Tools v1_5 actions show up as a group under the Filters heading. To make the Artwork and Effects palette visible, click on the Window menu and check the "Artwork and Effects" entry. There are many different ways to keep the Artwork and Effects palette accessible while you're working; I prefer to drag it out to my second monitor and keep it as a separate window from the main editing window. Q: The actions don't show up in Elements version 1, 2, 3, or 4? How can I see them? The simplest fix is to re-run my installer application. That will trigger a rebuild of the Filters / Styles and Effects palette. If you've installed the actions manually, deleting these three .che files (and only these three files) from within the Filters Cache folder within the Adobe Photoshop Elements installation will cause a rebuild of the palette. ....\Previews\Cache\Filters Cache\CatagoryCache.che ....\Previews\Cache\Filters Cache\ListCache.che ....\Previews\Cache\Filters Cache\ThumbNailCache.che Q: Do the Astronomy Tools actions work on a Macintosh? Yes, they work great on both Mac and PC platforms. Note that Mac versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements tend to be released later than PC versions. Q: Can I apply an action to only some parts of an image? Yes. If you select the part you want the action to run on, run the action (which will affect the entire image), then run the "Per Selection Only" action the result will then be limited to the prior selection. As an alternative, apply the action to the entire image, then run "As Layer On Top" or "As Layer Underneath" and use the Eraser tool on the upper layer to expose parts of the lower layer. In some cases the magic wand and other tools can make selecting parts of the image to erase easier. Q: Can I apply an action less aggressively to an entire image? Yes. Use the "As Layer on Top" action, then make the upper layer partially transparent to mix the two layers together at any percentage you like. Finish with Layer - Merge Down. Q: Why are Astronomy Tools provided in a zip or stuffit file? While the installer is the best choice, I package the actions encapsulated in a container file for manual installation to ensure the download proceeds as quickly as possible, and also to provide assurance that the file has not been corrupted or truncated. If you have trouble with the installer application or container file, please let me know: NCarboni@ProDigitalSoftware.com Q: Can I use Astronomy Tools actions in 16 bit-per-color mode? No, not with Adobe Photoshop Elements. However, they have been optimized to maximize quality, so even if they're operated in 8 bit mode the actions will produce smooth, clean results. If you're starting with linear data, you should stretch the levels (lighten the image) using external software (for example, FITS Liberator) before editing with these actions in Adobe Photoshop Elements. Q: How do I know which action to use and when? The action names are descriptive of what they do. If you have, for example, an image that's sharpened to the point of becoming "crunchy" looking, try "Less Crunchy More Fuzzy". Sometimes you just have to try an action, and if it doesn't do what you expected or wanted, go back in the History and try again. I could write volumes here, but rather than do that I encourage you to experiment running these actions on your images to see which actions give you the look and feel you like. After a while you'll beging to intuitively know which action to use to achieve a particular result or effect. Q: How do I get updated versions? Once you've purchased the actions license, any updates we make will be free. If you see a newer version online, either visit your customer account page or eMail us at updates@ProDigitalSoftware.com and we'll provide you with a fresh download. Q: The Diffraction Spikes action leaves me with fat spikes, and they should be thin. What do I do? This can happen if your stars are simply too large and beyond the limits of the actions to reduce to a point light source. What you can do as a workaround is this: 1. Duplicate the image as a second layer. 2. Choose Filter - Other - Minimum, a few pixels. Don't worry about how it looks, we're not going to keep this layer. Note that the star cores get smaller. 3. Run the "Star Diffraction Spikes Fat Stars" action. 4. Run the "As Layer On Top" action, and set the top layer to mixing mode "Lighten". 5. Select the duplicate image layer you made in step 1 and delete it. 6. Select the spikes layer and Layer - Merge Down. Q: I got spikes on things I didn't want (e.g., galaxy cores). How can I avoid or fix this? The most effective way is take the ones you don't want out after the fact. Do this: 1. Run the "As Layer on Top" action immediately after the spikes action has been run. 2. Select the Eraser tool. 3. Carefully erase the spikes you don't want. 4. Choose Layer - Merge Down from the menu. ================================================================================ 4. Policies and Legal Stuff ---------------------------- Licensing Policy Only one person per copy of Astronomy Tools may use these actions at one time. You may install and use Astronomy Tools on all the machines you use, but if more than one person will be using these actions at the same time, please purchase a separate license for each person. Updates I may be adding handy new features to Astronomy Tools from time to time. Your purchase entitles you to free updates. Check http://www.ProDigitalSoftware.com to see my current offerings. Questions and Feedback If you'd like to eMail me to let me know how Astronomy Tools are working for you, or to ask me a question, please feel free to do so. Here's my eMail address: NCarboni@ProDigitalSoftware.com Privacy Policy I will not disclose your eMail address to anyone else. I hate spam. Please let me know if you'd rather not receive eMail from me, and I'll be happy to remove you from my lists. Guarantee If these actions don't work for you or you are unhappy with them for any reason, please let me know. If I can't make you happy I'll give you your money back. ================================================================================ Thanks again!