Moon glow removal?

[TheMan]

I was lucky enough to get 4 clear nights in a row, one night though the moon was a little in the way. It created a glow in the image in the top left. Does anyone know how to remove it or reduce the effect? Any advice is appreciated.

[PeterCPC]

You could select that area in Paintshop etc and then reduce the red but remember to feather it at the edges.

Peter

[TheMan]

how would I select the area so It doesn't have noticeable seams?

 

[alacant]

26 minutes ago, TheMan said:

a glow in the image in the top left

Hi. Great shot but are you sure it's not natural? There's loadsa nebulosity in that area.

[TheMan]

It does look like nebulosity, but in the individual frames it showed a distinctive glow in single frames. It is also a single band that is brighter. So i'm pretty sure it's the moon glow.

 

[alacant]

Ok. I'd duplicate the layer and use it as a mask. On the bottom -original- layer increase the contrast so that the glow just disappears. Now working with the duplicate -top- layer as a layer mask, use a fuzzy eraser to delete the mask layer where the glow is. 

Save in the internal format of whatever program you use (I use The Gimp) so you can come back to it and tweak it without having to redo the layers. Finally merge into one layer for your final image.

HTH

[TheMan]

14 minutes ago, alacant said:

Ok. I'd duplicate the layer and use it as a mask. On the bottom -original- layer increase the contrast so that the glow just disappears. Now working with the duplicate -top- layer as a layer mask, use a fuzzy eraser to delete the mask layer where the glow is. 

 

I'm so sorry, I don't quite understand how to execute this.

[TheMan]

Never mind, I tried again and it worked wonderfully. Thanks a ton!

[alacant]

Well done. There's a readable-for-ordinary-folk description here if you want to take it further, but try to keep it minimalist, otherwise it just looks like 'He's been at the layer masks. Again!'.

[Jannis]

Is that the stacked image, or a single frame?

If it's the stacked image, what stacking method are you using? I'd suggest trying kappa-sigma-clipping stacking mode and see how that turns out if you're not already using it. That should also remove satellite trails, which it looks like you have a couple of?
Edit: More info on different stacking methods: http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/technical.htm#stackingmethods

[TheMan]

That is a stacked image (I know it's not much for 4 all nighters, but bortle 8-9 and full moon will do that). And for the satellite trails, I am not worried about them as I have not completed the exposure time I want. But the kappa sigma clipping does seem it will help a lot. I hope it helps remove some moon glow.