Hi, I’m Mike Cranfield.
I’m an astrophotographer with a particular interest in developing tools that help us turn those dim cosmic photons into inspiring images of our awesome universe. My astro processing programme of choice is PixInsight. As such my tools have been designed as script and process plug-ins for this software.
In the PixInsight section of this site you will find details of my tools and how to obtain them. All of these tools are offered free of charge and I hope you will find them useful. If you do, and you publish your images, please make reference to any tools you use and to this website so we can spread the word to others.
Over time I intend to add more content to this site, so do check back from time to time to see what’s new!
In the meantime, I wish you clear skies.
What's new?
PixelMathUI
Have you ever coded up a PixelMath instance and thought: wouldn’t it be great if I could change these parameters with a slider and see the effects in a real-time preview? Well, if so, this new script is for you!
PixelMathUI, or PMUI, allows you to build a graphical user interface to any PixelMath instance. In effect PMUI lets you turn your PixelMath into a fully functional script, literally in minutes! (We call these scriptlets to reflect their basic script like characteristics but recognising they are not stand alone but require PMUI to run.)
I have worked closely with Bill Blanshan on this project. Bill has produced a video introducing the new script which is available here on his YouTube channel. He will follow this up with a series of additional videos covering different aspects of PMUI. There is also full documentation accessible from within the script.
Script signing
Since the release of PixInsight 1.8.9-1 in May 2022, there has been the facility to sign PixInsight scripts. This adds a measure of security and peace of mind when downloading scripts from the internet. Until now we have offered both a signed and an unsigned package via our repositories for all scripts. We have now taken the decision to stop offering unsigned script packages. In effect this means that if you wish to continue to run CosmicPhotons scripts you should ensure you are running PixInsight 1.8.9-1 or later.
ColourMask process
This process is based on the excellent ColorMask script by Rick Stevenson available as part of the standard PixInsight installation. It also incorporates the modifications introduced in 2023 by Boris Emchenko and myself. This new process version links into the PixInsight Realtime Preview functionality to allow realtime feedback to fine tune mask creation.
SolarToolbox process
SolarToolbox is another process created in collaboration with Bill Blanchan. This process allows users to process solar image data in PixInsight with real-time feedback using the PixInsight real-time preview functionality. The process allows you to colourise your monochrome data, provides an innovative approach to increase contrast and sharpness, plus we offer a proprietary way to stretch data to help boost faint or hidden prominences while keeping the solar data all in phase.
ImageBlend script
Another script created in collaboration with Adam Block, the ImageBlend script allows two images to be blended in a multitude of different ways. A key difference from some other similar scripts is in the ability to apply a stretch separately to each of the component images. The blend image can also be transformed with a filter and its opacity can be altered to modify the effect of the blend. These features make this script hugely powerful and brings some key features found in layer based processing to PixInsight.
Batch FITS Keyword Edit – New Video by Adam Block
The BatchFITSKeywordEdit script is a handy tool to update FITS header information on your files. Perhaps you have captured multiple subs using a Hydrogen Alpha filter but your capture software does not store the filter in the FITS header information (maybe you used a filter draw rather than a filter wheel). In this case this script will help you out quickly and simply. Adam’s video provides a helpful introduction to its use.
Collaboration with Adam Block – new NBColourMapper script
Adam Block is an award winning astrophotographer (including 100 APODs) working at the Mt. Lemmon SkyCentre in Arizona. He is an acclaimed public speaker and his tutorials are held in high regard across the astrophotographic community. He is also a PixInsight Ambassador.
Adam and I have been working together over recent weeks to create a new script, NBColourMapper, designed to allow narrowband greyscale images to be colourised and combined interactively with a preview facility.
On his website, “AdamBlockStudios”, Adam provides an extensive suite of training videos in which he brings his analytical presentational style to bear on a huge range of astrophotographic topics, including videos covering the new NBColourMapper script.
Collaboration with Bill Blanshan
Bill Blanshan has produced some powerful and original approaches to some key aspects of astronomical image processing. He has gained a justified reputation for making sophisticated techniques available to a wide audience by packaging them into easily applied PixelMath scripts.
I am pleased to have been working with Bill over recent months, developing the ideas behind his techniques and implementing them using straight forward user interfaces. Over the coming months we will be releasing a number of the resulting scripts/processes.
Bill runs the YouTube site: AnotherAstroChannel. Please do visit and subscribe to his channel.
NarrowbandNormalization process
The NarrowbandNormalization process, which derives from my collaboration with Bill Blanshan, helps to balance the intensities of the three channels in a narrowband image. Instructions for downloading this script can be found in the PixInsight section of this site. Bill provides a video explaining how to use it on his YouTube channel.
ScreenStars script
The ScreenStars script, which derives from my collaboration with Bill Blanshan, facilitates screening and unscreening stars from images and includes an innovative reverse stretching technique. Instructions for downloading this script can be found in the PixInsight section of this site. Bill provides a video explaining how to use it on his YouTube channel.
StarReduction script
The StarReduction script, which derives from my collaboration with Bill Blanshan, implements some of Bill’s innovative techniques to reduce star sizes in astro images. Instructions for downloading this script can be found in the PixInsight section of this site. Full documentation is available from within the script and Bill provides a a comprehensive video run trough of how to use it on his YouTube channel.