15th Feb 2024: Astro Pixel Processor 2.0.0-beta29 released - macOS native File Chooser, macOS CMD-Q fixed, read-only Fits on network fixed and other bug fixes
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Hi, firstly I'd like to say I love this program, and my question might not be about this program so much as my imaging process. Here it is:
Over the last few imaging projects I have been working on getting better star color. I had issues with stars becoming saturated so last night while I was getting broadband data of the Soul Nebula, I dropped my exposures to 120s from 300s in order to make sure the stars were still colorful. Fast forward to today and I'm processing my image but once again, the brighter stars come out bright white with a bit of blue/green fringe. I'm imaging with a triplet APO, the ES ED80 by Explore Scientific, and the 071 MC PRO from ZWO. My image is an HaRGB combination with 6.25 hrs of HA data over 600s and 300s subs. As I said, the RGB subs were 120s.
Any help here is GREATLY appreciated as I'm almost to the point of tearing my hair out.
I've noticed the same thing. Same equipment, but a lot less star colour in my recent work.
During my last processing, I cranked up the saturation just to be sure there was *any* colour. There was. But I'm convinced it's quite different than it used to be. Without the saturation bump, they appeared all white.
The strength of the luminosity component of each pixel influences how much color appears. If a pixel is too bright, it's not going to show much, if any, color.
In one of his video tutorials, Adam Block commented that if the luminance of a pixel is 80% of max or more, it is going to be hard for that pixel to show color.
So when you stretch your images, look at the luminance (brightness) of a pixel and try not to stretch it so hard.
If you are doing mono processing, look at the intensity of the stars in your L frame and again, try not to get it above 80% before combining with your RGB image.
Cheers,
Rowland
That explains a lot. Thank you!
