Seems crazy I know but even though this image recently got an Astrobin IOTD, I've reprocessed it from scratch and added RGB stars and some more NB data.
This time around I tried out the new Star Xterminator plug in for PS and it's a big improvement over Starnet++, much cleaner and lightning fast!
I also had a play with the latest version of Topaz denoise 3.3.2 that offers heaps more control and selective masking, so you don't have to worry about generating any artificial artifacts.
I've also been working on getting better "natural" star colours from my Bortle 6/7 backyard. Seems the solution is to take lots and lots and lots of short subs!
Most of the NB data though was shot under a full moon.
Aah, the joy of living in the world's longest lockdown with too much time on my hands...
wow, even more excellent Andy!. And yes, Star Exterminator is so much easier to use (and better results) than Starnet, it has overall slashed star processing time generally from painfully time consuming to a trivial step.
(Could we get commission for this kind of advertising ;-)
wow, even more excellent Andy!. And yes, Star Exterminator is so much easier to use (and better results) than Starnet, it has overall slashed star processing time generally from painfully time consuming to a trivial step.
(Could we get commission for this kind of advertising ;-)
Thanks Fred, Very happy that you noticed the additional processing efforts.
As to adversing? I dunno mate- lots of mixed opinions here lately, might be a tough sell
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Yeah sliiiightly more colour in the stars perhaps??..but nup, sorry, overall (granted, not much in it)...I like the original better Andy
Mike
Thanks Mike. Interesting comment, on my calibrated monitor I had to desaturate the RGB stars a bit as I had too much colour and they were looking a tad artificial, but here on my phone they show very little.
Might be a ‘phone thing
Lots more detail in the new one too.
Last edited by Andy01; 05-10-2021 at 09:05 PM.
Reason: Typo
Thanks Mike. Interesting comment, on my calibrated monitor I had to desaturate the RGB stars a bit as I had too much colour and they were looking a tad artificial, but here on my phone they show very little.
Might be a ‘phone thing
Lots more detail in the new one too.
Blinking between them it's hard to decide, as I said, not much in it..?..can you do a 50/50 blend
Looks great. Stars are very muted colours though, perhaps that is accurate but I imagine the colour could be a bit more saturated - you know you have to keep your reputation up for colour!!
Blinking between them it's hard to decide, as I said, not much in it..?..can you do a 50/50 blend
Mike
Your command is my wish.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikolas
Love it
Thanks Nick!
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
Looks great. Stars are very muted colours though, perhaps that is accurate but I imagine the colour could be a bit more saturated - you know you have to keep your reputation up for colour!!
Don't go all conservative now.
Greg.
No worries Gents - here we go - fully saturated stars as suggested. ASTROBIN
How short, pray tell? Inquiring minds want to know!
Hi Adam, with my CCD, max 120 sec subs for RGB seem to be working ok, about an hours worth for each. I've also been experimenting with 5 min subs for LUM, but I suspect these might be getting affected too much by LP, so might cut these back a bit too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Placidus
Absolutely delicious. I especially love the faint wispy arcs toward the bottom.
How in broad outlines (not what packages, but what mechanisms) do you use to add the RGB stars?
Do you for example produce a starless NB version, a stars-only RGB version, and add them?
Or do you make a star mask out of the RGB version?
Hi M&T, many thanks for the kind comments.
I process the NB masters and remove the stars - this time with star Xterminator.
I then blink between star & starless layers in PS to see if anything unnatural was removed or added and then rectify as required with the history brush prior to further post production.
RGB stars are then exposed for around 1hour per colour and combined to create a seperate layer.
Due to my location in suburbia, this usually needs colour tweaks to compensate for the LP. Converting this to LAB colour mode and using curves helps!
I then convert this back to RGB colour & lay this over the NB stacks in Lighten blend mode.
I then use the original Ha layer with stars intact as an additional LUM layer over the top of this stack, at 50-100%.
Hi Adam, with my CCD, max 120 sec subs for RGB seem to be working ok, about an hours worth for each. I've also been experimenting with 5 min subs for LUM, but I suspect these might be getting affected too much by LP, so might cut these back a bit too.
Thanks Andy! Any tips from the master is super helpful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy01
Hi M&T, many thanks for the kind comments.
I process the NB masters and remove the stars - this time with star Xterminator.
I then blink between star & starless layers in PS to see if anything unnatural was removed or added and then rectify as required with the history brush prior to further post production.
RGB stars are then exposed for around 1hour per colour and combined to create a seperate layer.
Due to my location in suburbia, this usually needs colour tweaks to compensate for the LP. Converting this to LAB colour mode and using curves helps!
I then convert this back to RGB colour & lay this over the NB stacks in Lighten blend mode.
I then use the original Ha layer with stars intact as an additional LUM layer over the top of this stack, at 50-100%.
Hope that's useful.
This sounds almost like a PS workflow... you only work in PS? That gives me so much hope!!