Speed up your workflow

Save time by automating common processing steps like boosting contrast and reducing noise

The world of astrophotography can be daunting, and learning image processing can be a particularly steep learning curve. Any help that can boost our editing skills is a bonus. In Adobe Photoshop, 'actions' can help to overhaul your processing workflows. These are a set of steps that can be saved and replayed on future images to, for example, boost contrast or reduce noise. You can also purchase actions created by someone else.

One such set is Annie's Astro Actions, a comprehensive set of 24 different workflows that can guide you through the editing process, from simple step-by-step guides, and combining mono images into RGB or the Hubble Palette, to stretching and star removal. A full list of actions is available to view at www.eprisephoto.com/astro-actions prior to purchase.

Once purchased, download Annie's Astro Actions to your PC and save it to a location of your choice. Open Photoshop and ensure your 'Actions' tab appears (see screenshot 1). If it doesn't, click on the Windows menu and tick 'Actions' from the list. Under the actions panel, click on the three horizontal lines at the top right and select 'Load actions' from the menu to open a file explorer window. Navigating to where you saved your actions file, select it and click 'Load'. You will see all the actions appear as a list within the actions panel.