Processing star clusters

[+Stu]

Hi all. I've not done many open star clusters. All I've done with them is darken the background and maybe do a little star reduction if needed. Maybe push saturation up a smidge. Is there a lot more to it or are they relatively simple to process?

[Bottletopburly]

I use startools using the hdr module you can change the context size to a smaller value works very well at resolving clusters .

[Bob Dobber]

I use progressively splodgy/larger masks on the core using Range Selection in PI to try and preserve the detail there while not making it look too obvious. Sometimes re-do the mask after every small stretch. Not sure I've ever quite got it to my liking but that's what I do anyway. Then upping the saturation to pull out the usually slight colouration you tend to see by default. 

[+Stu]

I'll give the free trial of startools a go. 

Masking is something I've not done before, I guess it can be done in Affinity. I'll search for some tutorials. 

[+Ibbo]

Very minimal, cali fames, gradient reduction (Graxpert is good) stretch, noise and star reduction if needed.

[+Stu]

Thanks. I didn't pick a great target as it was quite low and I should've done longer subs. But the few stars that were bright enough look amazing, the 269C/GT81 combo looks extremely promising 😁