Sharpening of Astro-Images

Hi Everyone:

Thank you to those who answered my previous query!

I now have a question regarding the sharpening of astro-images. I have tried
a couple of ways to sharpen my astro-images (PhotoShop, Maxim DL), but they
all look artificial to me. Some nebulae look indistinct by their very nature
(gas clouds). I have an image of the Rosette Nebula which I would just like
to sharpen a bit without impacting on the natural look of this object. Does
anyone know of a way to do this? My files are large 60 meg Tifs, so I am
able to get real close and check the results, but even if it is smaller
scale (just filling my monitor) I can still tell if it looks "artificial".
Perhaps I am being naive, and any sharpening tool will be unacceptable. Any
help would be appreciated,

Thanks,

-Charles

Charles,

my favourite sharpening tool is the "Smart Star Bloat Plugin" in AstroArt.
It selectively sharpens the brighter parts of an image and reduces neither
of the typical deconvolution artifacts nor additional noise. Of course you
would need to buy AstroArt to use it.

Stefan

"Charles Shahar" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
.. .
Hi Everyone:

Thank you to those who answered my previous query!

I now have a question regarding the sharpening of astro-images. I have
tried
a couple of ways to sharpen my astro-images (PhotoShop, Maxim DL), but
they
all look artificial to me. Some nebulae look indistinct by their very
nature
(gas clouds). I have an image of the Rosette Nebula which I would just
like
to sharpen a bit without impacting on the natural look of this object.
Does
anyone know of a way to do this? My files are large 60 meg Tifs, so I am
able to get real close and check the results, but even if it is smaller
scale (just filling my monitor) I can still tell if it looks "artificial".
Perhaps I am being naive, and any sharpening tool will be unacceptable.
Any
help would be appreciated,

Thanks,

-Charles

Hi Charles,
I normally use CCDSharp (from SBig) or the unsharp mask functions in
Photoshop or combinations of both. Some images come out quite well after
sharpening, others do not ! It's a case of experimenting with each image and
trying not to over do it.
Cheers
Dave



"Charles Shahar" wrote in message
.. .
Hi Everyone:

Thank you to those who answered my previous query!

I now have a question regarding the sharpening of astro-images. I have
tried
a couple of ways to sharpen my astro-images (PhotoShop, Maxim DL), but
they
all look artificial to me. Some nebulae look indistinct by their very
nature
(gas clouds). I have an image of the Rosette Nebula which I would just
like
to sharpen a bit without impacting on the natural look of this object.
Does
anyone know of a way to do this? My files are large 60 meg Tifs, so I am
able to get real close and check the results, but even if it is smaller
scale (just filling my monitor) I can still tell if it looks "artificial".
Perhaps I am being naive, and any sharpening tool will be unacceptable.
Any
help would be appreciated,

Thanks,

-Charles