Need help with SHO processing software. GIMP, APP, PI or other?

I would really encourage you to use and learn PixInsight. I’m no expert by far, and I was nervous about it too.. but it really becomes simpler the more you understand it. I love it so far and I have produced SHO images with it - not award quality yet as I’m still learning but I’m happy with it. 

AstroDude series on YouTube is amazing to get the overall hang of the software 
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6_eBQy3QM7xISY4Gdz-MmH4rA_1WAG2d

There are also really good videos to do LRGB image processing 
https://youtu.be/GR3j1GXDRr4

Sample ones that I learned a lot for SHO
https://youtu.be/u7FuApFSGuA
https://youtu.be/3kZPm8wRYgQ

You will be able to create the workflow that works best for you and then try more things! 

CS

I agree, PixInsight is the way to go. Yeah it looks daunting, but I would call it an easy to learn [a basic work flow] but difficult to master kind of thing.

Well, Pixinsight seems to be recommended by everyone. I disagree. I simply recommend Siril for the workflow and rawtherapee for the color processing. Why ? Because it is free and easy for beginners and gives excellent results.  Take a look at my pictures, if you would like to see some examples of color images. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

The PixInsight question is a bit like the Windows/Mac/Linux question. Since the majority is using one well-known tool and doesnt know the others, everyone recommends the one that he/she knows. This doesnt mean that it is the best choice for any given situation. PI is a very powerful tool which has a lot of features and functions. It is good because it probably offers your every feature you'll ever want in your astrophotography career. On the other hand, you will likely only use 10% of these features, you will have to spent a lot of time learning to be able to handle PI, and my experience is that PI is not very user friendly and somewhat complicated to use.  Going through this will give you the feeling to be a real expert in image processing, so who wouldnt like to be an expert ?

I started off with PI too, but soon found out that the same basic workflow of calibrating and stacking the images of a night took more than 30 mins in PI, and under 5 minutes in Siril. The workflows in Siril are more streamlined and focused on what you need with modern CMOS cameras, without too many bells and whistles, but still with every feature you need to produce excellent results. Plus Siril is faster itself when processing a lot of data. So I still say that its worth to look at Siril … maybe after going through the somewhat painful PI experience

I dont want to start an endless discussion with this contribution, its just one possible point of view based on my personal experience I want to share. Others, of course, have made different experiences, which is absolutely OK !

James Malone, thank you for the PI SHO processing link. Chuck's video was straight to the point, easy to follow, very informative and it lets me add more levels as my experience grows. Exactly what I am looking for.

I have only used Startools and as @david burlington says very easy, cost-effective and well supported.

PixInsight is only complicated if you expect a workflow similar to Photoshop. I was fortunate I’m not being fluent in Photoshop and found PixInsight quite easy to learn. Its workflow is very logical and aligned with how I think. I cannot now imagine processing an Astro photo using any other software.

*It is also was my case, knowing nothing on Ps, and being quite familiar with block programming, PxI becomes natural.

Chris woodhouse has produced a rather excellent book that covers loads of challenges including using PI

He has also started to produce some supporting video

the Narrowband from mono video is great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PztNxmHbYxI&t=1125s

You have here a tutorial with siril: https://siril.org/tutorials/rgb_composition/

I intend to get PI at some point, but for now I have been using Affinity Photo.  I picked it up when it was on sale for $25 USD.  It looks like it is $55 now.  It's very similar to PhotoShop; however, James Ritson, who is an astrophotographer, worked with them to incorporate some AP features.  It's not a reoccurring payment like PhotoShop either.  It can stack, has a background neutralization feature like some other programs, and if you download James Ritson's macros, which can be free (I tossed him some money out of appreciation because they are really nice and he updates them, too), it can setup your compositions automatically as long as you name your stacked subs appropriately (Ha, SII, OIII, etc.).  It's also completely non-destructive workflow if you desire.  It's a little newer to the AP scene than others, but I have been really happy with it.

One of my main reasons for not getting PI yet, is I still see people saying 'processed in PI and finished in PhotoShop'.  I'm sure not everyone is doing that, but it's nice just using one program.

For reference, my workflow currently is usually 7-10 steps, and only two of them require manual tweaking (Levels Adjust and Remove Background).  The rest are either macros or I have the layer definition saved (i.e. my Selective Color Adjusts have some modified Hubble palettes pre-defined so I just click and it recolors for me, sometimes I add more than 2 to tweak colors based on the data, and sometimes I add a brightness/contrast at the end).

Here's my standard workflow in Affinity Photo post stacking, which I do in Affinity as well.

This workflow belongs to my Pelican Nebula, which wasn't the best data (not much data plus I had bad reflections from Deneb that were more or less eliminated by the remove background).
https://www.astrobin.com/7qxi3y/B/

The same workflow made this image, which is much better data (although it had the moon shining bright for most of it):
https://www.astrobin.com/1vgpe8/B/

The nice thing about the non-destructive workflow is I can go back, turn a layer on or off, or change the selective color palette swap at will to change the look of the image.  Once you find a palette that works for you, then you can save it as a custom layer and add it.  I'm sure some of the other programs can do similar, but having used PhotoShop in the past, Affinity Photo had essentially zero learning curve.

Edit:  I used this to make some of my original Selective Color Adjustment custom layers: http://bf-astro.com/hubblep.htm

I'm fairly new to AP and have been using GIMP to process all of my current astro images. I use DSS to stack. I just recently switched to a mono camera (asi294mm Pro) and collected my first set of SHO subs but having a difficult time processing them in GIMP to produce a nice hubble SHO image. I can't seem to produce the golds and blues so it may be time to upgrade my software to achieve the desired results. I would like to stay with GIMP because I am familiar with the software and if anyone can guide me through the SHO process in GIMP that would be desirable.

The two programs I am considering upgrading to are Astro Pixel Processor and PixInsight. I like the more simplistic flow of APP but need to be sure that SHO processing is possible and I know PI can do everything imaginable but am afraid of getting lost in the maze. Maybe there is another astro program that can process SHO images?

So I'm basically wondering what software everyone is using on their SHO images and how happy they are with it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I thoroughly recommend using PixInsight and using the SHO-AIP script. You will also need Keller's book: Inside Pixinsight to explain how to use that script (and lots of other things). I also tend to finish off using Adobe Photoshop in the final stages.

Jonathan