In this video I show my initial processing workflow, taking an image straight from the Astrocamera to a finished stretched image within 15 minutes.

Of course longer can be spent tweaking and pulling out more data, colors and so on. But this is my workflow for a quick edit to see what I have captured, if it warrants further processing, or capturing more data on the target.

I use Pixinsight, Photoshop and a few paid plugins from RC Astro

Generally my workflow starts in Pixinisight where I use the weighted batch pre processing script to help get images registered. Even before this though I have used Blink to check all the images for ones that have tracking issues etc and remove those so they are not even considered.

After the weighted batch pre processing, I use the subframe selector which is similar to blink, but rather than you making the decision by visually looking at the images, it is automated. However, I still run blink first and then subframe selector as it helps to remove anything I might have missed.

After the subframe selector, I proceed to image integration, where the final stacking takes place.

Yes, all of this does take a little longer than deep sky stacker, however in my video here, I show the difference I get in results, and so for me it’s worth the extra time and effort.

After this I am left with a completed, stacked image. However it’s not yet been stretched. I will proceed then with some other Pixinisight tools, background neutralization, blur reducer plugin from RC Astro, noise reduction and then separate the stars onto their own image. This allows me to then work on the Nebula and stars separately. I then use the Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch tool to get my initial stretch.

As of this time I am using both Pixinisight, so I think open these images into Photoshop for the stretching process.

Here’s the image as processed in the video.

Here it is again with a slight color adjustment, which do you like best?