Star Size Reduction - When?

[Ryderscope]

I have been reading up on the tutorials for star size reduction and have been reasonably happy with my implementation of some of the techniques. These techniques are generally based around creating an appropriate mask and applying morphological transformation to the image. One thing that is absent from the tutorials that I have been looking at is some advice as to where in the work flow process one would apply the star size reduction process. I am working on an image of the Angel Fish nebula (SH 2-224) which is a very wide field and the nebulosity is overlain with a rich star field. When is it appropriate to apply the star reduction process? I assume that it would be done after the image has been stretch but I am not 100% sure on this one. Would it be at the very end of the workflow after completing stretching/sharpening/colour saturation etc? Or, would it be just after doing an initial stretch so that you can see what you are working with? I am also guessing that completing the star size reduction process early on is better so that additional histogram or curves will not enhance the rich star field more than what may be desirable. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rodney.

[Dimitris Platis]

The reason u wont find it in the manual is because there is no correct 'when'. It depends on your image.
Usually its a good idea to implement it right after stretching...because usually its better to go forward rather than fix everything and then go backwards.
A medium stretching followed by star reduction and then some more stretching I have found is ideal

[Ryderscope]

Thanks Dimitris, that is generally the approach that I have been taking so it sounds like I am on the right track.