Working with good data makes image processing a far easier task. I don't think we'll see any significant variations between the submitted images. My thanks to Larry1969 for posting ...
BTW, I live in the northeastern portion of the USA and actually shut down my observatory from mid-October to mid-March due to the extreme snow and cloudy conditions (I'm a couple of miles from a major ski resort). The very, very few nights that are clear enough for imaging, always seem to occur during the full moon ... of course! Therefore, I'd would like to request that David reconsider his decision to change the
AP processing challenge to a monthly basis. Thanks ...
Here's my submission processed entirely using Photoshop.
- Curves
- Levels (set background to 35)
- Curves
- Levels (reset background to 35)
- Crop image to include only M97 and M98
- Resize image to 1600x1194
- HLVG (remove any green in background)
- Tone Mapping (NIK Collection)
- Deep space noise reduction (Astronomy Tools)
- Pseudo Deconvolution using Smart Sharpen
- Selective noise reduction (NIK)
- Selective High Pass sharpening
- Vibrance (color saturation)
- Increase Star Color (Astronomy Tools)
- Levels (reset background to 35)