8/25/2013

enhancement by Gimp

Well, it's been a while since I last posted...

In this summer, I took pictures of the night sky because I found out my cheap digital camera can control its shutter speed. But the result was horrible. The following is the picture which was exposed for 15 seconds.


You cannot see anything, can you? (Actually, there is a few dark points though)

OK, so I used Gimp to enhance the image. Gimp is a kind of software to draw and paint. But, in addition, it can also modify and enhance images. I used Curves, one of the modifying tools.
At the menu bar, Tools -> Color Tools -> Curves. Then, you can transfer dark pixels to the brighter level.
http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-curves.html

This is the result.

Many stars! Pegasus is on the left side. Lacerta and Andromeda are at the lower right and the upper right, respectively.

The location where I took this picture was an urban area. So I will try the same thing in a rural area someday!