StarTools

Hi Ivo,

Just a quick question. Is there a way to apply noise reduction to only a part of an image? I have an image where I really like the star background. After noise reduction, the background has kind of a "mottled" appearance. I tried some of the settings and could not quite get the right "look" that I liked.

Can a mask be applied to noise reduction?

Before noise reduction (zoomed to 200%).
Post noise reduction.
I prefer a bit of noise over the "mottled" appearance.

Thanks,
Jim

Have you tried Denoise 2 (Grain Equalization rather than Grain Removal when switching Tracking off) in 1.6, or the updated Denoise in the latest 1.7 alpha? 1.7 has a Uniform Grain Retention parameter that sounds like it may be what you're after.

admin wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:02 am Have you tried Denoise 2 (Grain Equalization rather than Grain Removal when switching Tracking off) in 1.6, or the updated Denoise in the latest 1.7 alpha? 1.7 has a Uniform Grain Retention parameter that sounds like it may be what you're after.

Thank you Ivo!

I did try Grain Equalization Denoise in 1.7 alpha. I went ahead and tried grain removal just to see the difference and it didn't help.

I was just curious if there was a way to just mask the target and apply Denoise there. I am fine with the background stars.

No problem. The dataset is somewhat poor (only two hours integration) and in Bortle 8 skies with a dslr.

Grain equalization denoise worked great on the nebula (Western Veil), but the dim background stars were kind of smudged.

Thanks for responding and I very much enjoy Startools!