How to do Astrophotography: Star Color

This video covers my my workflow for star color. I also provide a sample image for viewers to follow along in the tutorial. Please check out my other tutorial videos below and links to Agena Astro and OPT telescope to some gear to get you started on the right foot.
Sample Image: drive.google.com/file/d/11vNq...
My Link Tree - linktr.ee/avastronomy​​​​​
Links to my other videos that explain layer masks, camera settings, Collimation and image processing in more detail.
• How to do Astrophotogr... ​​ - How to Choose proper Exposure
• How to do Astrophotogr... ​​​​​ - ISO variance and why it matters
• Astrophotography: How ... ​​​​​ - Dithering and how to do it right
• How to use Point Craft... ​​​​​ - How to Plate solve with APT
• Process Astrophotograp... ​​​​​ - image processing in 10 minutes!
• How to Process Astroph... ​​​​​ - Layer masks
• How to process astroph... ​​​​​ - Image processing part 1
• How to process Astroph... ​​​​​ - Image processing part 2
• How to properly collim... ​​​​​ - RC Collimation
My Link Tree - linktr.ee/avastronomy​​​​​
Links to my other videos that explain layer masks, camera settings, Collimation and image processing in more detail.
• How to process Astroph...
HLVG - www.deepskycolors.com/archive...
Gradient Xterminator - www.rc-astro.com/resources/Gr...
OPT telescopes and Agena Astro have a tremendous inventory of astrophotography gear and great service. You can check them out here through my affiliate links. This is the setup I currently use.
Agena Astro - bit.ly/3D3U8id
ASI AIR PLUS - bit.ly/46BTfej
IOPTRON GEM 28 MOUNT - bit.ly/3O2QpGX
WILLIAM OPTICS Z61 - bit.ly/44v5Hv7
IOPTRON IGUIDER - bit.ly/44AXRzv
ASI 294MM CAMERA KIT - bit.ly/46Clqd3
Links to helpful astrophotography items that can be purchased directly through Agena Astro.
TELESCOPES
Redcat71 APO telescope - bit.ly/3D6cT4s
Sky Watcher 8" Dobsonian reflector telescope - bit.ly/3XGYwNy
ASTRONOMY CAMERAS
QHY 600M - bit.ly/3rbHgno
ZWO ASI533MC Pro OSC camera - bit.ly/3XPlzpx
ZWO ASI2600MC pro camera - bit.ly/3pDJFHg
MOUNTS
ZWO AM5 Mount - bit.ly/44eHUzn
Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro pack - bit.ly/44gXXMV
Sky Watcher EQ6 R pro mount - bit.ly/3riYbVc
Sky Watcher EQ8 (for heavier payloads) mount - bit.ly/3D3UFkd
Celestron CGXL mount - bit.ly/3O2u6lQ
FILTERS
Optolong Luminance Pro (broadband light pollution filter) - bit.ly/46FIdEJ
Optolong L-extreme(vary tight/narrow dual band light pollution filter) - bit.ly/3NLwrjJ
Optolong L Ultimate - bit.ly/3NIHABV

[@EverydayAstro]

As always, Aaron - your star colours never cease to amaze me! Great video! 👍🏻

[@AVAstronomy]

Thanks Matt!

[@celiaxel3448]

Thanks Aaron, that was very much needed! Great video as usual!

[@AVAstronomy]

Glad it was helpful!

[@dazza1639]

Good to have you back Aaron! some great tips in there.

[@AVAstronomy]

Thanks Darren!

[@KJsCosmos]

Glad your back Aaron! Keep looking up!

[@AVAstronomy]

Thanks Kyle!

[@avt_astro206]

Welcome Back Aaron, brilliant Tutorial as Always!!👍

[@AVAstronomy]

Thank you!

[@danieprinsloo6153]

Awesome, thanks for the effort and great tips

[@astronomynotebook]

Yes this is very needed😊❤️

[@SharpStarAstro]

Great tutorial and glad your back!

[@AVAstronomy]

Thanks! More to come!

[@enriqueboeneker]

Great video, Aaron. Masking is everything in this business. Thanks to your tutorials I do it better in PS. Thanks for sharing! Don’t get lost, dude!

[@AVAstronomy]

Thanks Enrique!

[@theinterstellarfeller]

Awesome tutorial! Thank you!

[@AVAstronomy]

Glad you found it helpful! Clear skies!

[@siegfriednoet]

Very well explained video Aaron, very informative, thanks

[@AVAstronomy]

Thank you Siegfried!

[@ChrisSmith-lk2vq]

Thanks for the info!! Great video!

[@AVAstronomy]

Thanks Chris!

[@MarvelousLXVII]

Great video. I imaged my first cluster last night (M35) and was not satisfied with my colors and once again--youtube reads my mind. Thanks for doing these!

[@AVAstronomy]

Glad it helped!

[@SaudiCoolPrestige]

Thankyou man

[@bloodstone2000]

Fantastic Video as always Aaron!.. Great to see you too.. it's been a While man. Hope all is good with you ..

[@AVAstronomy]

Thanks bud!

[@sajjadahmed46]

Nice work mate🙂

[@AVAstronomy]

Thank you Sajjad!

[@GrowingAnswers]

Ive been using chroma 3nm Sii and OIII and 5nm HA with the ASI294MM. It gives me much more satisfaction than messing with OSC/DSLR data under my Bortle 6-7 sky. I can get maybe 6 5min shots for each filter and end up with a photo that's so much easier to process. And generally looks better than a photo shot with a OSC/DSLR using 2-3 times the amount of data. I know that can be subjective depending on the sensor, but once I forked over the money I didn't feel ripped off. I thought it would be more work and harder, but with a filter wheel, asi air pro and auto focuser it really took the stresses out. It makes things more complex yes, but collectively it simplifies so much more. I used the L-enhance for a while and was mostly satisfied, but it really limited the targets I could shoot. Narrowband really opens up a LOT of potential for most of us in the eastern US. Bortle 5 and under can get away without mono, but mono has so much flexibility that I would still use it under a darker sky. If you can afford it then it's worth it.

[@AVAstronomy]

Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve definitely got mono on my radar. Sounds like your really enjoying that 294MM. Clear skies!

[@GrowingAnswers]

@@AVAstronomy I mainly went with that because with the .8 focal reducer it gives me nearly the same frame size as my asp-c with a flattener. And it runs bin 2 without sacrificing much detail. Running bin 4 with nb filters you can see the nebula targets in 3 second live loops. Easier to frame. Never could do that with my dslr even with a filter. Basically the live feed on bin4 on some nebulae looks like 30+ second shots with my dslr and a filter. I do miss Osc in some sense, but there isn’t much I can do with it locally.

[@Bills_APCh]

At 9.48 mins in your video with a zoom look at the stars after ACR boost of +28 sat and +30 vibrance, there are a lot of blue stars and some whjite saturated stars (even the small stars). Despite this, I will make notes from your video for future reference, as I have lots of problems with star colour. Can you please remind me (us) what colour camera and exposures settings (number of exposures and sub exposure length. Did you use flat frames, darks and bias frames in your calibration. I wonder if you applied flat frames ? Thank you Aaron.

[@BRP42]

Thanks for the tutorial Aaron! I appreciate seeing a different work flow (esp. combining layers as you go). Can you put the link for the Arcsin stretches in the description? Thanks again!

[@AVAstronomy]

You’re welcome and glad you find it helpful. Here is the link. www.cloudynights.com/topic/595610-photoshop-color-preserving-arcsinh-stretch/

[@BRP42]

@@AVAstronomy Thanks. I tried searching, but didn't have the right search terms, apparently. :)

[@jpolanco3129]

First I wanna say thank you for explaining everything in detail it really helps. Will this work on let’s say the pelican nebula or is it mainly for clusters ?

[@AVAstronomy]

Thank you J. It will work on all astrophotos.

[@rickcudmore8156]

Can you please go over the numbers you used in the custom curves input/output step at 4:22. I saw 245/255 and 128/128 but I'm not sure which set was used.

[@AVAstronomy]

You are correct in that both sets of numbers are used. You do the 245/2 55 first and then click the center of the graph which should be 128/128

[@shipwright6122]

The heavens declare his glory 🙏🏼✝️

[@AVAstronomy]

Amen!!

[@stevenrobinsonpictures]

Question, do you remove CA if present before this and how? Camera raw filter and manual is usually what I use. But if you increase star colour before fixing this, you could be glowing stars purple on their circumference no?

[@AVAstronomy]

Yes, I would remove CA with camera RAW before this process. I find camera Raw filter to be very effective at removal. What is causing your CA? I found with some of my lenses that stopping down from 2.8 to f4 gets rid of the CA completely.

[@stevenrobinsonpictures]

@@AVAstronomy Yeah I was cheating a bit doing a 200mm 2.8 shot with my DSLR of the Cali Nebula just wanted as much light as possible. (I usually shoot at 200 f4) So with the aggressive stretching using archsinh, CA came up. I decided to just use a camera raw filter on a layer before your technique. Fair enough do you think?

[@zacharymartin6101]

I have a question does adding color make the picture false color thanks 😊

[@AVAstronomy]

Great question and the short answer is no. At least not with this technique. It doesn’t add color but rather increase the saturation and vibrance of the color that’s already there. Stretching data deceases color with every stretch to the point where all star color can be gone after a few stretches. This color preserving technique helps restore the color that’s already there. Also, if overdone the stars will not look good. The idea is to tastefully restore color lost due to stretching/processing the data. Hope that helps.

[@hael8680]

Unfortunately when you bring those stars (which you had removed with starnett) back on top of a nebula you have been working on and use either "screen" or "color add" function, the colors all get washed away.

[@AVAstronomy]

Yeah, it’s not a perfect solution. I find myself only using starnett in heavy star fields that take away from the nebula

[@matthilton8959]

What filter did you use in this image?

[@AVAstronomy]

The L-pro