PixInsight Tutorial | Put those Stars Back into your Astrophotography Images

[@jameshorton281]

Thanks for this video man.
It's been driving me mad trying to figure out this method!

[@Astrobloke]

Nicely covered Joe

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks so much Glenn!

[@spaceboy5293]

thank you so much ur a legend

[@NeilCorke]

Great timing - was justing going to look for something about how to do this and your video pops up in UA-cam!

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks Neil! It’s scary how UA-cam knows what your looking for. Happens to me too lol

[@michaelasbury5473]

Another great, useful video!

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thank you Mike!

[@RaysAstrophotography]

Nice Processing Joe!

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks for stopping by Ray, I’m a huge fan of your channel!

[@chriscausseaux4793]

Bruv! Literally asked how to do this last night whilst watching your StarXterminator and Halo correction videos during editing my Flaming star project! Thank you!

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks so much Chris, I’m glad it was helpful!

[@AZ4Runner]

Great tutorial Joe! second time today I heard the term "pixel peep" you make Pix look easy!

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks so much Jason, it’s really not hard once you learn it.

[@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy]

Good tutorial in PixInsight Joe. Yep, I learned some more

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks Pat! Like you said, we keep learning from each other.

[@mateusztomczyk2899]

In pixelmath you can also just go starless + stars * 0.3 or whatever factor works for you to make it super fast :)

[@OlliesSpace]

Nice overview Joe so manys to do this these days. I use Pixinsight similar to use and sometimes Photoshop layers. 👍

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks Ollie, I was going to show PS as well, but the video was getting pretty long.

[@SimonsAstro]

Great video Joe! Was thinking about getting the Star Exterminator software, good demonstration of the program!Thanks and clear skies 👍

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks Simon, since they came out with AI ver 6 for StarXTerminator, I think it’s worth the cost.

[@tullyfisher]

Just played with some old data and doing re-processing in PI. - Great and VERY helpful video Joe! 👍🏼

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks Tully, I’m glad it’s helpful!

[@DSOImager]

Very helpful video Joe. I use the same method :)

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks James, it seems as though I’m always changing and making small tweaks to my workflow and over time it’s really changed.

[@DSOImager]

@@JoesAstrophoto Exactly... every image I process is a little different. Very interesting how things change over time.

[@dalilama2000]

Another informative video Joe! Makes for better choices when it comes down to the final treatment of the star field. Been so cloudy in Chicagoland I'll have lots of time to reprocess some of my old images and get the color mask and star reduction tool belt on for this go-around. Many thanks!

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks so much dali, it's been a very dry and warm season for us in Colorado so far, very unusual, but I'll take the clear skies.

[@anasantacruz9483]

Fantastic

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks so much Ana!

[@LogansAstro]

Nice overview of different options for star reduction. I always struggle with getting nice stars in the final image.

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks Logan! I would’ve never guessed as your images are always amazing!

[@caroliensche13]

This is exacly the method to put back in my stars, which i don't use.
You can occasionally use it - but usually, if you edited the star image or the starless image, especially if you touched the curves (which i certainly did), adding them together will clip the stars. To avoid this, i use a more sophisticated expression which normalizes the sum of the images.

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Good to know, thanks!

[@oliviernagel7382]

Hello, what is the more sophisticated expression which normalizes the sum of the images ?

[@davidleejenkins]

Very helpful! Thanks for the tip on using Linear stars. BTW - I agree that RGB stars are the best, but if you don’t have them, try HSO stars instead of SHO stars as I find that they look more natural.

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks David! Also, that’s a great tip on the HSO stars, I’ve never tried that, but will check it out, thanks!

[@spookysandwich1355]

whats the process to put stars back but doing it in photoshop ?

[@garybarr7116]

Thanks for your. Ideas. What is your technique for adding RGB stars for my mono camera? 50 10 second RGB subs and dither every 3 or 4? Just wondering how to add real RGB stars to my SHO starless image.

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Thanks Gary, it really depends on the camera you’re using and how much intensity you want in the stars, but on average that sounds good, or maybe 30 of each at 15 seconds. Good place to start for sure. You can always dial them back if you get too many or they are slightly saturated as well.