New Method for Star De-Emphasis by Adam Block

[ngc1535]

Hi all,

I am cross-posting this thread here- because it may be of interest to a community that is larger than those that visit the "Tutorial" area of this PI Forum.


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Recently I published my method for de-emphasizing stars. This method does not use an erosion filter and so avoids the pitfalls/artifacts of the method.
I demonstrated the technique during my guest appearance on the Astro Imaging Channel last Sunday April 20th 2019.
In addition, because it is popular in some circles, I also went through the exercise of creating a written version of the technique (though I still think the video methods are always best).

Please visit the free material section of my website here:

https://www.adamblockstudios.com/categories/Free_Content

You will find both the embedded YouTube video as well as a link to the written version (below):

https://www.adamblockstudios.com/articles/star_demph

On a meta-note concerning PI- I showed this technique during my invited talk and workshop at NEAIC a few weeks ago. It was titled "Innovations in PixInsight" and the idea behind the talk was to highlight not only what PI does- but what it can be made to do. PixInsight by design permits a user to develop methods and tools that may not exist due to its open ended implementation. Although I have seen many talks on how to use PixInsight; I haven't seen this particular tact and was striving to show yet a greater level of abstraction- one that is very powerful as I hope my innovation above shows.

Even if the technique isn't your cup of tea- you might find the sub-techniques I used of interest in and of themselves. Although teaching PI is part of my "business"- it is also important to give back to a community that has always been extremely supportive of my efforts.

Someone who watched the video published their results (and was happy!) on the Cloudy Nights Forum.
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/658570-same-data-different-processing-the-wizard-nebula/#entry9309605

It is a subtle processing effect... especially at this scale- but note how the nebulosity is easier to see with the de-emphasis of the stars in my example image**,



Sincerely,
Adam Block

** This image example was kindly provided to me by Terry Robison. It is always best to demonstrate your techniques on other people's images.

[John_Gill]

Hey Adam,

Great tutorial!!

Thanks

[ngc1535]

Hey Adam,

Great tutorial!!

Thanks

Thank you John! If you should try it out- be certain to post your results!
-adam