bwana wrote:
What is your mono processing workflow?
Mine is probably a bit unorthodox but I think it works:
1) I shoot Luminance at 1x1 binning and all colors at 2x2 binning. If I'm going after a high Ha content target I'll shoot Ha 1x1 binned.
2) I preprocess all subs in Lightroom and manually discard ones I don't like.
3) I reduce/reshape stars in all subs in ImagesPlus. If I have a slight focus problem I handle that in PixInsight. If I can't resolve focus problems at his point, I quit and plan to reshoot the bad sessions or the whole project
4) I then align all subs in PixInsight using a 1x1 binned sub as the Reference sub
5) I then stack each session individually in PixInsight
5a) I sometimes blend Luminance and Ha if I've shot good quality 1x1 binned Ha
5b) I also quite often blend Ha and Red if I've shot both or simply wish to enhance the Red/Ha channel.
6) I perform and tweak the LRGB combine in PixInsight
7) I will then normally run a MaskedStretch followed by an AutomaticBackgroundExtraction in PixInsight
8) I perform a final tweak in Lightroom (and sometimes Photoshop).
9) I then look at the result and often decide to reprocess all the subs tomorrow to get a better result...
bwa
What is your mono processing workflow? br br Mine... (
show quote)
Interestingly enough, I am a huge lightroom fanatic - I have over 1.2 million photos managed by different catalogs (mostly sports) but I have never used LR for any of my astro images. I handle almost everything in PixInsight or PS.
I typically use the batch pre processing script for image registration, calibration and stacking.....I haven't seen any advantage doing this manually. That is probably due to my data.....better data may very well benefit from manually processing.
1) crop using dynamic crop for all images, Ha,OIII,SII,L,R,G,B
2) I take the image with the best signal and use Linear Fit to apply the same exp settings to the other images.
3) I use Channel Combine to produce my RGB image (Ha-Red, OIII-Green, SII-Blue but also change to bicolor, and hubble color)
4)Then I use Channel Extraction to separate the RGB into LAB. I throw away the L channel and then use Channel Combine (in LAB mode) to reassemble (but I use the Lum version that I took...not the one extracted when using Channel Extraction....this gets rid of most noise if present.
Steps 3 and 4 work ok but Pixelmath works just as well faster and easier to experiment with different percentages.
5) I am not a huge fan of DBE....I have yet to see it remove gradients effectively with emission nebulas ....I can do this in PS in two three very easy steps....duplicating the background - removing the bright stars with clone stamp ..some cases patch tool...and gaussian blur at 200 to get rid of the rest - curves to darken that layer, and "Subtraction" blending to remove the gradients.
6) Color Calibrate
7) Histogram Transformation
8) Add Lum Mask and run HDRMultiscale Transform, keep the same mask and run LocalHistogramEqualization
9) Remove that mask and add Star Mask and run MorphologicalTransformation
10) I have been known to run Unsharpmask here but usually reserve in PS if I sharpen at all and do this with luminosity masks applied for selective sharpening - I like to be able to brush it in or out if needed to only the parts of the image where I think it is needed.
11) ACDNR - TVGDnoise on occasion.
12) I sometimes but it's rare run a CurvesTransformation (but If I am planning on taking the image into PS....i leave out this and other steps) Just depends on how much in love I am with the data. If it is so so....I do everything in Pix.
13) Same with Color Saturation.
Because I am a huge fan of luminosity masks for making selective adjustments for tonal, structural, and luminosity changes - I prefer to make these changes in PS.
If the image is loaded with good data I do any noise reduction in PS using (PS plugins) Topaz DeNoise (preferred) or Nik's Define.
I am sure I left out some important steps but I am currently working on another image with better NB colors and these processes are being used now....a big help in jarring my old memory.
What a hobby....I should sell it all and take pics of my grands only :)