The power of image processing

[EricB]

Hi there!

This is to illustrate the power of image processing.

Image #1 is an unprocessed image from a AVI stack.

Image #2 is the result of stacking in Registax 6. A mild wavelet treatment has been applied.

Image #3 is Image # 2 touched up in GIMP. only levels have been adjusted.

I have now processed dozens on AVIs in my short time as an astronomy hobbyist but I am still amazed at the difference between raw images and the final result.

Cheers,

Eric

[Chris.B]

Wow, thanks for sharing. Will have to try stacking moon shots. It really helps with the details. How many images in the stack?

[EricB]

Only 100 frames.

[NCC-2893]

Man , pretty cool. I want one of those hi-res cameras.

[MrB]

Aha! When I first looked there was an image missing, this makes more sense now ;) Huge difference.
I think I prefer the less contrasty pre-levels adjusted image better.

[EricB]

Hi there, thank you for the feedback.

Simon, I have also had similar feedback from another IC member who though that there was too much point black resulting in some loss of details in the terminator. I agree.

I have gone back to my original picture which is of better quality than the one posted here (#3). It's not as much 'in your face' as picture #3, which, the more I look at it, the more it looks like a dog's breakfast. Something has definitely been lost in the transfer but there is also too much contrast (generally I thing all my photos have too much contrast, I think, to compensate for their grainy texture).

I have attached 3 different versions with less contrast. Are they any better? which one do you prefer (#4, #5, #6)? I have reduced the size of the files for ease of upload. I hope the quality hasn't suffered too much.

Cheers,

Eric

[MrB]

Hi Eric,
My own personal preference is for #5.
4 and 6 appear to be about the same contrast but with a little more red channel in 6.
Good stuff :thumbsup:

[EricB]

Thank you Simon. I think it's the one I prefer too. #4 and 5 were processed in GIMP, #6 was process in Photoshop CS6.