IC1318 Butterfly Nebula + Sadr (130pds)

[Uranium235]

Thanks Rob, when I go to do the final versions I will be a more careful with the stars when sharpening (perhaps an inverted star selection). Actually, it went through sharpening twice - once with high pass, then again with smart sharpening (Ps) at a strength of 35. But those processes followed eachother immediately so it shouldnt complicate the star protection too much. So far ive avoided halos, but youre right in that the stars look a bit "hard".

Well, its cloudy tonight so I might have another play with the data

[RobH]

You could use the hardness of the stars to generate your star mask Rob. They are now very white, so it should be easy enough to sample everything white in the image, soften the selection a but, and Bob's your Uncle as they say!!

[Uranium235]

Thanks Rob, I tried the sample option first - but wasnt getting anywhere quickly (maybe user error) so I tried noels actions and that picked up at least 95% of the stars in the image.

From there it was expand by 1, feather by 2, then gaussian blur by 0.6 pixels and it seems to have softened the stars up a bit - here is a crop to pixel scale so you can see its effect:

Does it need more? If I can apply it as a post process rather that going back to scratch it would save a load of time.

[RobH]

Loads better Rob.

I find that the thing that can make an image look unnatural is if elements of it are much sharper and delineated than others.

You see this a lot with artificial diffraction spikes. The spikes added are often much sharper than the rest of the image. The same goes for sharpened stars.

I sometimes use the same approach as you've just used, and apply a slight blur to elements of an image.

Bring on the colour!!

[Uranium235]

RobH, on 16 Jul 2014 - 7:24 PM, said:

Loads better Rob.

I find that the thing that can make an image look unnatural is if elements of it are much sharper and delineated than others.

You see this a lot with artificial diffraction spikes. The spikes added are often much sharper than the rest of the image. The same goes for sharpened stars.

I sometimes use the same approach as you've just used, and apply a slight blur to elements of an image.

Bring on the colour!!

Cheers!  Thats another trick learnt 

Anytime over the next two weeks would be good to get some OIII - I just need a break in the clouds (hopefully Friday). Its forecast as clear again tonight, but whether that happens is doubtful - its chucking down with rain here at the moment!