Introduction:
So I have already done one PixInsight Tutorial. Why am I starting another one? There are three basic reasons.
1) I have learned a lot about using PixInsight since I wrote the first tutorial, and my methods have changed somewhat since then.
2) PixInsight has changed since I wrote the original tutorial and that affects how it is used.
3) I think a more structured way of breaking things down into foundational pieces that build upon one another would be useful.
It is no secret that PixInsight is considered to have steep learning curve and hard to learn. And many is the user who started and then gave up.
But you know what? It doesn't have to be that way.
Post processing with PixInsight is really not that hard. I don't believe it requires more than average intelligence. What it does require is:
- A strong desire to succeed.
- A willingness to proceed in a logical step by step manner.
- A source of good instruction
This tutorial lays out post processing in small easily learned sections that build upon one another. It progresses from very basic fundamental skills to more advanced techniques. And it tries to explain some of the why behind the process and not just teach a recipe.
The important point is that we are building our knowledge in small, understandable steps that lead to a desired outcome. But this is NOT how the typical beginner approaches this at all. They take a color image of M42. They try to process the color data from the get go. And the results are predictably unpredictable/horrendous.
This tutorial is about learning to post process in PixInsight. There are other post-processing solutions available. I personally own some of them (Star Tools, Photoshop with Carboni’s and Annie’s Actions). But I believe PixInsight taught right is accessible. And I believe it is a tool that can take you from beginner to well beyond my level of mastery. Furthermore, it is not particularly expensive. I see people time and again spend gobs of money on hardware that will make only small improvements in their imaging and then refusing to purchase software like PixInsight that would lead to significant gains in their capabilities.
This is not the only approach and I don’t claim that it is. There are other methods that can succeed. There is other material out there that is excellent. But I believe that following the methods presented here will provide a solid foundation for further learning.
So why do I feel qualified to say any of this? I think it is important in life to measure yourself accurately. Don't think more of yourself than you should. But don't think less of yourself than you should either. I'm not the best astrophotographer I know; not by a long-shot. But I am far enough along the journey and have made enough mistakes/missteps to have a good idea of what to avoid. And I have learned enough about post processing to have a good idea about how to go about learning it in a logical step by step manner. I have attained enough proficiency at this, that I believe that I can teach you to get to a level close to where I am at. I make no pretense I can teach you to reach Adam Block's proficiency. He sells video material on PixInsight and what I have seen of it is excellent. I'm not trying to compete with him.
Post Processing does not NEED to be hard. But it does need to be approached in a logical manner with foundational skills learned early and well. Then you build on that foundation. Unfortunately, that approach is not common. And the results are evident in the number of people who simply don't progress and the number of people who end up quitting.
The fits files used in the tutorial are available here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k56xua6l2b4zog9/AAC4nPk1MbrEDDp1bg1k3j2oa?dl=0
I strongly suggest working the tutorial with the example files. After each section then redo that part of the tutorial with your own files. When you do so, the exact settings given probably will need to be adjusted somewhat. Please experiment. That is part of the point of doing it with your own data.
Many of you will probably be using color cameras. The initial portions of this tutorial deal with luminosity data and how to process that. With data coming from color cameras, you will not have that initially. But it is easy to extract. We will cover that in the section, "Extracting Luminosity Data". If you have a mono camera, you can skip that part of the tutorial.
This tutorial assumes that your image has already been pre-processed using either PixInsight or some other program such as DeepSkyStacker. This tutorial does NOT go into detail on this. There are other tutorials available already for how to pre-process your data in DSS, PixInsight, etc. A simple google search will find some of the more prominent ones. For those who may not know what pre-processing is, it encompasses the steps you take to get your lights, darks, bias, and flats that you took while collecting data, and combining them so that you end up with a master file (often called a stack) corresponding to each set of lights that you took. For example if you used a DSLR, you will typically end up with one file (stack) that combines all that data into a master RGB file. If you used a mono camera, you might end up with a master file (stack) each of luminosity, red, green, and blue data.