Star Spikes.

[Jon Sales]

Is there a free software online you can download to put diffraction spikes onto stars in your astrophotos?

I thought I'd read somewhere that there was but can't remember the name of it.

[steppenwolf]

This is what you are looking for - Noel Carboni's Star Spikes Pro but it isn't free I'm afraid.

Noel's Tools are half the price and have a more rudimentary star spike action

[JamesF]

Noooo! Don't do it!

James

[steppenwolf]

Yes, do it! All joking aside, there is a place for artificial diffraction spikes in great moderation and with equal restraint!

[Starlight 1]

I try not to go to far of your subject ,Would a Star filter work.

[RikM]

Just stretch a bit of thread across the end of your dew shield and make real diffraction spikes. I like spikes on some images but am not a fan of adding fake spikes for the sake of it.

Noel's tools is a very nice set of actions for Photoshop though.

[RobH]

I quite like spikes in some circumstances, but you have to be sparing with them.

The real trick is to make sure that they're the same sort of resolution and clarity as the rest of the image....if they're too sharp they just shout 'artificial' at you.

Add them as a separate layer, and blur them slightly to match the rest of the image.

Rob