Hi again friends,
As I got your help to resolve the issue with the flats, I thought it would be worth it to go back in a new post to the overall topic of processing subs that are made with OSC CCD's.
I took a shot with my QHY8C (one-shot color CCD) of NGC6960. The current shot is just a test one, and it's about 25min. from a light polluted location. The image has been calibrated, debayered, star aligned, integrated, cropped & DBE & as a suggestion from Geert, I've applied star mask and noise reduction.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8971416/NGC6960_integrationv1_dc.fitTypically, what I do after DBE is:
1. BackgroundNeutralization which does not seem to have any effect on my color camera. It just seems to work for Mono CCD.
2. ColorCalibration which does not seem to have any effect on my color camera. It just seems to work for Mono CCD.
3. Convert the image from non-linear to linear using STF and Histogram tool
4. ACDNR
5. HDRMultiscalteTransform i.e. Typically a value of 4
6. Histogram Stretch
7. SCNR to remove any Green traces
Now, I've received advise that the Mono processing & color processing are pretty similar, but I'm finding that steps like #1 & #2 does not seem to make any difference in the image. The background and colors of the stars come out pretty well balanced after debayered & DBE. Now, if you have a different flow for Color or any tips or tricks that can help me extract the color of the nebula without overly saturating the image, I would love to learn them.
So, more than improving the attached image, I'm mostly interested in your workflow when processing subs made with an OSC CCD.
Thanks again for all your help,
Miquel Casas
Portland, OR