Re: [APML] Star Shaping

[Matt BenDaniel <matt@starmatt.com>]

At 12:57 AM 11/13/2001 +0100, Mikkel Steine wrote:
>Matt,
>
>> I've written an article on star shaping.  I invite you to read it and to
>> provide feedback, please.
>
>Very nice article. Thank you very much for sharing this! 

You're welcome.

>The screen shots are
>very helpful. It seems the color of the stars seem to be much better preserved
>after stretching when this technique is used. Did you develop this technique
>yourself?

Sean Walker taught me a basic form of shaping over a year ago. Recently Mike Cook and John Boudreau encouraged me to strive for even better results. Mike dropped a hint about using a separate layer. If you master layers, selection tools, masks and curves, then the technique is almost obvious. I think this technique must be very similar to Mike's approach, and from seeing Russ Dickman's pix, I think he has used something similar.

An important notion is that stars look better when they're not clipped. But an even more profound and general notion is that we can separately process each aspect of an image in a way that is best for that aspect. The trick is to find ways to isolate each aspect as a layer (or layer set) so that they can be adjusted independently. The aspects that I typically adjust are: vignetting, gradients, star shaping, and overall curves for nebulosity and background.
--
Matt BenDaniel
http://starmatt.com


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