M51

[Midnight_lightning]

Grabbed a couple of hours on Friday night to take 7 x 300s of RGB each.

M51 is on the small side for my rig so this is quite a heavy crop, I have included the original for reference. 

Stacked and Registered in APP, Processed in Star Tools and finished in Affinity (I just discovered Affinity - what a find!!!!  Under £50 for perpetual license and as far as I'm concerned better and easier that Photoshop - I just need to learn it

).

[PeterCPC]

Well done. It's a little on the yellow side - a tad more blue I think. Affinity - you can add the Nik collection plug ins (free) and Hasta La Vista Green (free).

Peter

[tomato]

Nice image, there is plenty of detail there. Thanks for the pointer on Affinity, I had not heard of it, but will look into it.

[Midnight_lightning]

Thanks Peter, the blue helps, I will probably reprocess more fully when I get chance.

I'm really impressed with Affinity, there was no way I would subscribe to PS at the price they charge but this is excellent and 16 bit, plus the tutorial videos are outstanding.

[NickPringle]

Hi, I'm new to AstroPhotography and trying to do it on a budget. Rather than pay £120 per year I had intended to use Affinity and just £50 once off but have found all the guides (usually videos in youtube) use Photoshop. I've tried to translate these into Affinity but I've simply failed and despite searching I haven't found instructions for Affinity.

#Flattery mode on#

I'd be overjoyed if i had results as you've shown above.

#Flattery mode off#

Do you know of anywhere there is a dummy's guide to doing this using Affinity, or could I ask, are you (someone reading this) able to write a more specific guide.

As an example, this is what I've found so far " Apply a moderate levels adjustment first, then curves for some contrast, now remove any vignetting and finally HSL If necessary you can also de-fringe ". Not a lot of help....

Thanks

**** I've just re-read your posts and spotted Star Tools! Been there, seen the video, interesting. New to me but it may be that's what I'm after ****

[Midnight_lightning]

There is lots of Affinity documentation on the site which tells you how to use the tools, lots of videos. How you apply affinity to astrophotography is around but you have to search a bit more for it. It does much the same as Photoshop just slightly differently so perhaps use Thier website tomlearn the tools and then follow PS processes.

Definitely look at Star Tools, it's very easy to use and even using default settings you can get good results. There is a lot to learn so small bites.

God luck