This time out, IP4AP.com boards a new vehicle called PixInsight for which there is tremendous interest. Warren has teamed with PixInsight Expert Rogelio Bernal Andreo, an APOD imager and recipient of AICs prestigious Pleiades Award. Were confident that IP4APs succinct and to the point format will deliver the much needed context and chronology to the existing information available on PixInsight- the what to do and when to do it.
PixInsight is a very powerful and much less expensive alternative to Photoshop. New modules are being added all the time, eliminating the need for astro-specific, 3rd-party plugins as with Photoshop. Because it was specifically designed for Astrophotography, it has definite advantages over Adobe CS and we can see a time in the near future when its postprocessing abilities will surpass Photoshop in many areas.
Part-1 of our series will get you comfortable navigating in PixInsight. Youll learn how to Reduce, Align, and Combine quality master files; and while still in the linear space: repair Gradients with ABE and DBE, achieve proper color balance with ColorCalibration, and restore sharpness with Deconvolution.