Edit before stacking or after?

[Jojo204]

Hi all,

just a quick question, whenever I stack my light frames of M42 the final image usually only shows the inner bit of the Nebula and not the long arms of it. This can easily be edited in Lightroom with a slight increase in exposure. Should I do this edit before stacking all the pictures or after, as I’m currently doing it after but feel as if it’d be better if I did it before. 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Buzzard75]

I asked a similar question a while ago. Maybe the answers I received will help you.

 

 

[vlaiv]

Only after, any sort of data manipulation is going to affect your stack in negative way.

Stacking methods expect linear calibrated data, and after you finish you can then proceed to process as you wish.

[MarsG76]

Definitely after.. you can pre process subs such as remove single pixel noise but generally process after stacking.