Processing Nebula Images with Open Source Tools vs$350 Software

Summary

Editing astrophotography is extremely important if you want to transform your raw data into high quality images. Learning how to edit astrophotography will improve your pictures and this skill may be more than half of the work that goes into astrophotography. Why is it so important? Editing will bring out the fine and often hidden faint details in the objects you photograph, it can remove the effects of light pollution and create a unique style in your final image.So let’s take a closer look at the world of astro image editing and how to make astrophotography pictures look better.Raw images are dull and need editing to bring them to life. When you look at an image out of your camera on your laptop you’ll notice that it is almost completely black with maybe a few stars peeping out here and there. This is your raw unedited image and this is totally normal. Your image at this stage is in linear form.To get any kind of pleasing image from this we need to boost the signal in the image by editing it. This is known as post-processing astrophotography images. By following steps such as curve stretching and many others we will create an image that has colour and depth with many of the details you want to see in your image.I’ll include Basic astrophotography post-processing steps and more advanced techniques for editing on this page and I’ll show you some real examples of an image I am working on as I write this. Please understand that techniques for editing astrophotography range from basic to more advanced. If you’re a beginner than you’ll need to start with the simple steps and with time and experience you can progress to the more complex techniques for editing astro images.Here is an example of the power of editing:On the left we have a linear image and on the right an edited image:Linear imageEdited imageHow to get started with astrophotography editing?The first thing you’ll need to know is which software you can use for your editing. There are many choices some better t...