My Tutorial PixInsight Workflow for HDR LRGB (Ha data used for L) Post-Processin

[kayronjm]

Read here: http://lightvortexastronomy.blogspot.com/2013/02/tutorial-pixinsight-workflow-for-hdr.html

This is my new tutorial workflow for PixInsight. The tutorial goes through my entire LRGB workflow including making a HDR composite (also in PixInsight), starting from the raw calibrated monochrome images to the end result with absolutely everything in-between. There are 95 screenshots in total so everything is extensively documented.

Even if you are not looking to make a HDR image or use Hydrogen-Alpha data in the Luminance channel (for HaRGB as I make in the tutorial), the tutorial is still extremely applicable as the HDR step can be easily skipped and your Luminance data is of no consequence to the post-processing I go through. The workflow is therefore a general LRGB workflow tutorial, essentially, but with specific bits thrown in for those interested. I take two sets of Hydrogen-Alpha and RGB exposures and create two separate HDR images. The RGB image is noise-reduced and blurred and the Luminance image is meticulously post-processed to bring up faint nebulosity, reduce noise and sharpen details. These are then LRGB combined and post-processing continues to produce a more polished result.

Enjoy!

[Josh Lake]

Wow, what a huge effort! I may point some of my students in this direction, they're always looking for clear tutorials.

I tend to favor a more subtle and less saturated result, but it's easy to adjust the final image to taste.

[kayronjm]

Thanks - I hope it helps someone out there. Indeed, the end result is essentially one's own artistic license. The guide is there for those who wish to follow and adapt accordingly!

[kolec]

Hi,

Thanks for tutorial. I have one question. Why You use pixmath for RGB and don´t use clasical process? I there some different? Is better pixmath? Do You explain it?

Kolec

[kayronjm]

Hi,

Thanks for tutorial. I have one question. Why You use pixmath for RGB and don´t use clasical process? I there some different? Is better pixmath? Do You explain it?

Kolec

Hi Kolec, by classical process do you mean by using the ChannelCombination tool? Generally speaking I tend to use PixelMath where possible for its massive amount of flexibility in combination. This is generally more useful for narrowband LRGB images where one can combine different data to produce each individual channel in a single process and quickly go back to alter the combination parameters (e.g. you could combine S-II data with 80% of H-a data for the Red channel and then 10% H-a data with O-III data for the Green channel). Doing this outside of PixelMath is nowhere near as easy. Of course, regular LRGB is very simple if you are only creating a colour image from pure Red, Green and Blue images with no combination of data thereof. I do however still stick to PixelMath in this case purely because I always use it for channel combination purposes.