Bright star halos

[sreilly]

I have noticed that I get halos around my brightest stars when doing HDRWavelet processing. I do use a mask most times or sometimes use the "Lightness Mask" option instead. What seems to happen, in this particular case of IC1396A (The Elephant Trunk Nebula) several of the brightest stars really get fuzzy edges, halo like. What do I need to do to resolve this. I did try using more aggressive settings for the star mask but with mixed results. In particular are two pairs of close stars. I've posted the image in question for download should you care to try at .

http://endor.uv.es/files/data/public/532829.php

The uploaded image is a combination of 14 fifteen minute luminance images taken with my 12.5" f/9 OGS RC and STL-11002M using Baader filters. The images were calibrated, cosmetically corrected, aligned, combine, cropped, had ABE process used, then masked stretched and saved. I'm hoping to get some better data to work with the next few nights.

Thanks for any insight.

-Steve

[sreilly]

What I have gotten so far with my RGB and luminance data can be seen here http://www.astral-imaging.com/IC1396A-RC2.html

[RickS]

I always build a mask that protects the background and also the stars before I apply HDRMT or LHE.

Cheers,
Rick.

[sreilly]

Care to share your technique?

[RickS]

Care to share your technique?

I usually just start with a black clipped luminance mask, then remove the stars [something like PixelMath: iif(star_mask>0.1,0,lum_mask)] followed by a small blur to get rid of the sharp edges on the stars.  You can adjust the 0.1 number depending on how good a fit your star mask is.  Another option is PixelMath: lum_mask*~star_mask.

Cheers,
Rick.