My OSC workflow processing steps in Maxim and photoshop

[Magnum]

In the process of going through my OSC workflow using MaximDL & Photoshop with a fellow UKAI member I produced this screenshot showing the 4 main save points, starting with the RAW stack just corrected for gradients and DDP strech in Maxim, then star removal with Starnett++, then processed to taste in photoshop and denoised in Topaz, then with the stars added back. I captured this image a year ago and is one of my favoroutiue images that ive captured to date, centred on the crescent nebula and surrounding Ha emissions and bow shocks.

This was 38 x 180 sec subs with my ASI533MC & Samyang 135 mm lens @ f2.4 + Optolong Lenhance duo band filter.

As per my usual lazy workflow no Darks or Flats were used just dithering & Maxims Flatten Background routine.

And the final version full size 

Lee

Funny thing is ive watched so many tutorials of people using the modern Pix Insight processing, yet their images never start the right colour ( usually very green ) and they spend hours trying to correct it by continuously subtracting one colour after the other until it no longer resembles the original data. yet my old school workflow from Maxim has very neutral colour from the start ( as long as the colour convert window is set correctly for the camera & filter, it applies the colour setting to every sub BEFORE stacking ) which is a much friendlier starting point to process from and further tweak the colour, I'm convinced this is a more accurate way to process the data without damaging it. but there are only a handful of people still using Maxim these days.

Edited September 4, 2023 by Magnum

[windjammer]

A lovely sense of depth to the fov, especially in the starless top right.  The more heavily emphasised star layer in your final vs loses a bit that visual impression, I might dial them back a bit.  But a great pic!