Let's make the Sunflower Galaxy pop in PixInsight! - The Linear Stage

So I took that picture of the Sunflower Galaxy in a previous video, and added more frames to it in subsequent nights - so let's get to processing it! We'll cover the linear stage processing of this image - always remember that this is being taken from Tokyo!

Sorry for the poor quality of the screen recording!! It makes it hard to see the differences from time to time, but I hope this still gives you a good idea of the process!

#astrophotography

[HydrogenAlpha]

These are, hands-down, the best PixInsight videos on YouTube. Cuiv, you're awesome.
Also - I think it's fair to say that anyone who does deconvolution can't call themselves "Lazy" anymore. :-)

Best wishes from Ireland.

[BrokenPik]

very nice details (Kilo-stacks) :-) my best M 33 was 925 x 30 sec , threw out 125 subs and 5 days of calibration and processing , Voila a Galaxy.

[RobB_VKES]

Should have taken the opportunity to restart the camera during long computation periods of PI :)
Are you intending to cover the new exposure calculator using Sharpcap profiles?
25-30 subs a day, got to be happy with that.

[alanrichards]

I really think you should look into Astro Pixel Processor along with Star tools for your processing it is a lot faster and the learning curve is not that steep, you can get perfect results in less than a 1/2 hr. The defaults work very well in each, I use Astro Pixel Processor to stock normalize and integrate my image, then develop it in Star tools, The think that scares most people in star tools is they think the Star Tools adds noise to the image and the image will look noise until the final step because you are working with the lum. image only until the end, choices are simple to understand like reveal which will concentrate on the shadows and back off on highlights or tame for something like Orion which will bring the core under control without losing the shadows.After using them for a week they will be your goto programs, this should be a easy hobby and these programs help do that.

[paultadrick]

Thanks for the video! Very helpful as i'm just getting into PixInsight. Have you tested with light pollution filters vs the luminance filter? I would love to hear your thoughts on that sometime.

[colew]

Really been enjoying your content. Recently just switched from DSLR and purchased a ZWO 1600mm pro. Making the transition to monochrome and NINA at the same time.

[mykol]

love the video Cuiv. Once work is over I'm running this through on my M31 image to see what I can get.
Must say though I don't always see the changes that you mention. Only thing I can think is, 1 I'm blind or, 2 the YouTube compression take the effect away.

[markm]

Another great video, but one question is there a big advantage of Deconvolution over say HDRMST, tried both and they seem to produce similar results?

[danielmills]

This is crazy! I'm litterly sat here finishing off another 4 hours data on sunflower and this pops up :) thank you

[alanrichards]

When I first tried Star Tools there was a lack of videos on the web on how to use it, and like many in are group we backed away from it, the same with APP. I had a week with nothing to do so sat down with it and worked thru a years worth of files, and found I had a 40 to 80% improvement in my captures. When someone in are group posted a image I asked him to try Star Tools again he said he did not like the way it added noise to his image, I asked him to send me his image file and I ran it in Star tools and sent him back the finished file with a 25% improvement and it only took me 15 minuets to create as opposed to his 3 hrs on Pixinsight he said he needed to go back and try again. APP will automatically reject frames with bad star analysis now. NINA would benefit from image stacking in there program, hope to see that in the future, ZWO's AsiAir Pro has a great polar alignment program which would be great in NINA also, Some days I get better results unguided with exposures up to 10 minuets with that program when seeing conditions are not the best. The big problem with the AsiAir is it works only with ZWO cameras, and like many of us we have more than one camera.

[rtpman]

Another great video, Cuiv. This solved a problem for me and showed me a new tool. I had been unable to get photometric color calibration to work with drizzled images. I was using the full sensor size... The tool was the script to automate the dynamic pdf. However, I didn't see the link to where you obtained this. Could you update your comments with this script info? Thanks.

[paulwilson]

I discovered during my very amateur processing in PI that I just don't know very well how to get the galaxy colors right. I am also using Sunflower, so on to video 2. The Geek certainly knows the minute details of Pix to a degree that is light years ahead of me, but I have progressed during my first year to the point that at least I can follow what he was saying. In the beginning days, I laughed at these videos because it was totally Geek, uh, Greek, to me. One thing I appreciate about Professor Geek, he is shooting with amateur equipment from a light polluted site, unlike a well known professional who is very skilled but shoots only from desert mountain tops with big glass. Even I would get kudos for my results if I could capture data that way.

[icanifuwill]

Thanks Cuiv, keep up the vids mate, we all grow & share the passion, enjoying getting more out of N.I.N.A. - dark skies

[paulwilson]

I learned a lot of possible steps, watching this video until I had memorized the monologue. My own Sunflower data produced disappointing results despite decent equipment, because my RGB subs were somehow not color balanced correctly. I ran statistics and Linear Fit, processes I didn't even previously know about, but they didn't really correct (they did correct but produced an unusable blue/green image after red was too strong). I ended up with a situation where stars and galaxy would not saturate at the same time or separately using masks.
I'm going to practice during extended, cloudy weather with your data to see if I can duplicate what you got. I had never used ACDNR as opposed to STF/HT. My attempts at Deconvolution always result in ringing artifacts, but I will keep trying (with different equipment, your numbers can't be used). Why isn't DeCon done with the stars removed? I hadn't known about "desaturating" a light polluted background so THANK YOU for that. The vids I had watched were using data from such pristine locations (dry mountain tops) that they didn't need it.
I was taken back by your accident! Hope you will be ok, that looked bad. Best wishes.

[nicholasmichael]

Yay! I made it into the video. I might screen capture it and get a print done to stick in my gallery. Another great video. Looking forward to part2 of water bowls too.

[SHFT]

You should be thinking about changing your account to "prolific geek" 👍

[JamesPetruzzi_MyHawaiianImages]

Ok, I have to ask: what does the katakana on your friend on the sofa mean? :)

[Avocettech]

Hi Cuiv, your excellent prodigious daily output is difficult to keep up with!
In one of your videos you mentioned Dr Robin Glover and his presentation on the need for short exposures in light polluted skies. Of course I had figured that the consequence of this would be stacking large numbers of sub-exposures, but you are the first person I have heard mention having stacked many hundreds or even more than a thousand! So my immediate question is do you process the stack live or do you store the large quantity of data and carry out the processing afterwards, and does this require a very powerful PC with many cores and massive quantities of RAM? Thanks...

[MegaDavidmetal]

Muchas gracias amigo!!! me ha servido de mucha ayuda. THx Bro!