Advice needed

[edarter]

Hi All,
First post here having bought startools recently. I've been capturing a 2 panel image of the Eastern veil nebula as my latest project but I am struggling to get a result of it from ST. that I'm happy with I use APP for stacking and have followed the recommended settings on the ST guides for stacking in APP. I *think* I'm just pushing settings too hard, finding it difficult to judge how far to go for each, especially in the stretch after doing a wipe maybe? Below is a comparison of what I got from the same final image in ST and APP as a comparison. The APP one seems to have better control of the stars and colour but is not stretched as aggressively and lacks detail? The ST one definitely draws out more detail but seems less natural and I'm not sure which part of the process I'm overdoing to cause that. Any advice gratefully received!

Thanks
Ed

APP image below:

ST image below:

[happy-kat]

i would use autodev and set a ROI and manage the level of stretch more to create the stretch you feel balances detail to overworked.

[edarter]

Ok, thank you. I did that for the 2nd stretch (post wipe) but maybe I was still being a bit too greedy and need to peg it back further. I will have another go and see how it comes out.