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Request for Honest and Constructive Feedback

Processing One-Shot Color Request for feedback Deep Sky
6 replies•287 views
Astro_Rick avatar
Astro_Rick avatar

This is my first AstroBin post. I’ve been imaging for about a year and I’m looking to improve my results and learn. Moving to mono is an obvious next step for me, but for now I want to sharpen my one-shot color processing skills. I’d appreciate any constructive, honest feedback — no need to hold back. Thank you.

SH2-132 Image: https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/PbdITAN8LAk2_2560x0_6EoHJVSn.jpg?v=1783263402

For example:

  • Is this background too dark? (the blacks/whites were not clipped)

  • Is the image over sharpened?

  • Is the image too denoised?

  • Is the color off in any way? (Spectrophotometric Color Calibration was used)

  • Do the stars look okay?

  • Is anything over/under stretched?

  • ect, ect…

Well written Respectful Engaging
Ian McIntyre avatar
Ian McIntyre avatar

Overall I find this to be an outstanding image. The only thing I would try differently is exactly what you’ve identified in your first bullet. And not just the background. I suspect there is much of the peripheral dust that can shine.

As far as use of tools (sharpen/denoise), to my eye you are pretty much in the sweet spot.

For color, I am not a fan of putting too much emphasis on precision of tones beyond what works best to bring out structural detail. So this looks fine to me.

I am a very poor star producer, so my judgement should be taken with a grain of salt. That said, the sizes are fine, though the cores may be a bit bold. I would bring their exposure up a tiny bit as well.

Well written Helpful Insightful Respectful Engaging Supportive
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

My overall impression looking at the image full frame is that it’s a bit dark. I think it would benefit from a general lift on brightness, not contrast, brightness. Zoom is limited so I can’t get right in there and properly pixel peep but the stars look reasonable and I don’t think you have gone too far with NR or sharpening.

Helpful Concise Engaging
Astro_Rick avatar
Astro_Rick avatar

I’ve updated the settings in the image to allow for 8x zooming.

Well written
Tim Ray avatar
Tim Ray avatar

Hi Rick,

Great image. I agree with Tony about the lifting the brightness. NR is good. Agree with Ian about the star cores. Overall a fantastic shot. Some targets need more time than others. This might have benefited from more time on target. Your stretch to non-linear is good. Are you separating out your RGB channels and processing separately or processing the image natively combined with your OSC? Something to explore and will prep the skills when you make the leap to Mono. I would say you are ready! Go ahead and jump. The mono waters are warm and deep.

Well written Respectful Concise Engaging Supportive
Astro_Rick avatar
Astro_Rick avatar

Hi Tim, I didn’t separate out the channels on this image. I’ve begun to do this on some of my images, but I’m still learning. Thank you for the feedback.

Well written Respectful
Die Launische Diva avatar
Die Launische Diva avatar

Astro_Rick · Jul 7, 2026, 01:03 PM

  • Is this background too dark? (the blacks/whites were not clipped)

  • Is the image over sharpened?

  • Is the image too denoised?

  • Is the color off in any way? (Spectrophotometric Color Calibration was used)

  • Do the stars look okay?

  • Is anything over/under stretched?

  1. Yes. Actually the entire image is underexposed (see 6).

  2. No.

  3. Yes.

  4. We can’t tell as this seems to be made with narrowband filters. Personally I find it too red overall, as most of your gallery images.

  5. Maybe towards the small side but this is a personal preference. If you increase the exposure they will improve for sure.

  6. See (1), the entire image is understretched (underexposed).