After a full night of imaging, drag yourself out of bed in the afternoon, get some coffee and start processing that data!  See the previous page for details on how the raw images of NGC253 were taken.  The section below will show how the final image was obtained from the raw data.

Above:  Final processed image of NGC253

Overview of Image Processing

Two pieces of software were used to process this image:  MaxIm DL and Photoshop.  Each was used for different purposes.  The basic processes of subtracting dark frames, stacking images, combining color frames, and deconvolution were done in MaxIm DL.  LRGB combining, color balance, sharpening, and other aesthetic adjustments were done in Photoshop.

A basic outline of the processing procedure is given below.

MaxIm DL

• Subtract dark frames

• Remove blooming spikes

• Combine images

• Apply log stretch

• Color combine RGB files

• Deconvolve Luminance image

• Save Luminance and Color files

Photoshop

• LRGB combine

• Remove blooming artifacts/noise

• Adjust Curves/Levels

• Color Balance

• Zone Mask Filter

• Final Curves adjustments

• Save master image file

• Save web image file

The processing steps are detailed on two separate pages.  First, processing with MaxIm DL, then processing with Photoshop.

Processing in MaxIm DL

Processing in Photoshop

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