How To Reduce Star Sizes In Gimp

Reducing star sizes is a brilliant technique to add punch to an image. In this video I show you how to do that with GIMP.

When I made my original GIMP editing tutorial, I wasn't aware how to make stars smaller then. But now I've found a way to do it and I'm sharing it with you here. I hope this video is of great help.

GIMP is a free graphic manipulation program that is capable of editing astrophotography images, and I think it's a great starting point for beginners, or those not wanting to spend for other programs like Photoshop for example.

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[davemiller]

I know I am late to the game, just saw this video. I use GIMP for almost all of my processing and this video is extremely helpful. Thank you.

[dr]

Thank you for taking time to do this. I use GIMP for astro photos and am still new at astro photography (in the modern age) and I appreciate anyone who is sharing knowledge on using GIMP for astro photos. While I have taken many astro photos, I have not learned the methods of processing.. I would like to see something on clipping star images.

[grahamprescott]

Tried this using someone else's tuition. Since then I now simply remove the stars with starnet and de stretch them. I also make adjustments to the brightness and contract. I simply then use addition of layers to put them back in much reduced. I think this works better personally.

[andycooper]

Great video, I've quickly applied to a few of my images and the nebulas are really popping out now, thanks so much for sharing this!

[spodzone]

OK, value-propagate is a new idea on me. Good call. I like the result.

Now, if you want two more methods:
1) erode and dilate (one of them spreads darks-into-lights, the other the opposite);
2) wavelet decompose (makes a given number of layers at varying frequencies, ie characteristic object sizes - by adjusting opacities you can control the strength of structures by size eg 10px vs 20px).

HTH :)

[brianwade]

Thank you so much for your tutorials on GIMP. I am a newbie both with astrophotography and photo processing. I do not have photoshop so I downloaded GIMP and your tutorials were the only one that really helped me get started. More GIMP tutorials please?

[rocklicker-ohyj]

Hey Ruzeen, just wanted to say thanks for making these videos. The GIMP tutorial video, and this one, have helped immensely with my astro photos as I only use GIMIP for processing. My photos are better because of the knowledge you shared!

[jackteegarden]

Thanks for sharing this. Excellent instruction. I was so close to breaking down and purchasing PS for star reduction.

[declanwk]

thanks for the fantastic clear tutorial and for supporting people who don't have photoshop

[daveJnr]

Thanks for posting. I don't have much artistic flair, so I particularly enjoy your tutorials on using Gimp. I put them in my library and refer back to them often when I'm trying to make the most of my own images.

[Shuered]

I'm finding Gimp is a great tool since you taught me how to use it. Thank you for sharing your skills.

[richardlighthill]

Thanks for the tutorial with GIMP ! AWESOME!!!!

[NoNameNoFamily-nx]

Thank you. The information is excellent!

[ahmedelmorsy]

Thank you so much for this tutorial, please keep supplying videos to use GIMP for AP editing.

[dalep]

Thanks this was very helpful! More on Gimp with Astrophotography please!

[southernexposure]

Thank you so much for the video. This procedure will help me a lot with my pictures.
I really like your style of teaching / explaining what to do, why do it and what to look for to modily the procedure to make the images look the way we want them to look. Nice job.

[mikehiland]

Thanks for your videos on using gimp. This one has really helped me alot, I had no idea how to do a star reduction in gimp, so many people use photoshop and things dont always translate well between the two. Thanks again this helped alot.

[jojojo]

Thanks man. Keep it up!! This is really great for people that dont have the buget.

[doubleastudios.official]

I’m gonna try it straight away, thanks mate!

[DBSpace]

Hi Ruzeen this is fantastic! As you know GIMP is my preferred choice so I'll be checking this out again once I am home from the office (going to be a long day lol!) I have an image I want to share with you now that I've gotten better results with 300 sec exposures. I have it on the Bin, I'll send you a link and see what you think.
Good to see you here again and I appreciate you sharing the knowledge!