Heads up on stacking software, the free one I tried totally blew out my stars

I compared Siril's default settings to a paid tutorial's custom workflow on the same Andromeda data. The free run left huge white blobs where the core should be, while the paid guide kept the detail. Anyone got a good free method that doesn't wreck galaxies?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessica1302d ago

Yeah that's the classic over-stretched core... happened to me on M31 last year. The free method that saved me was doing a two-pass stretch in Siril. Do your first stretch just to get the faint stuff, then mask out the bright core completely with a circle. Run the stretch again on just the masked outer parts, then combine the layers. It keeps the core from blowing out into a white blob.

hill.margaret2d ago

That's a solid workaround for sure. I've done the two-pass method before but found it can leave a visible seam where the mask was. What worked better for me was using Siril's actual histogram transformation with the "hide overexposed" preview box checked. You stretch until the core just starts to clip, then back it off a tiny bit. It keeps everything in one stretch without needing to combine layers.

parker_palmer442d ago

My buddy Tom lost the whole core of M81 to a bad stretch last month. He switched to doing a gentle histogram stretch first, then a masked curves pass just on the arms.