In the image below, you’ll see all of the files the folder contains (along with a couple of my own images). You’ll first need to make sure that you have downloaded the tool ( here), and extracted the files onto your computer. Running the StarNet++ tool on your images is very simple. For Photoshop users like me, you can just use the application on its own, and simply drag-and-drop your images into the tool to remove the stars. There is also a PixInsight module for StarNet++, for users of that software. More technically, it is a convolutional residual net with encoder-decoder architecture and with L1, Adversarial and Perceptual losses.” “StarNet is a neural network that can remove stars from images in one simple step leaving only the background. Nikita’s description of this program is as follows: Here, you’ll also see a number of example images and best practices for the tool.
The author ( Nikita Misiura) has provided documentation for the software in this Cloudy Nights thread. Related: HaRGB Image Processing Tutorial. The Lagoon Nebula in H-Alpha (Stars removed). I can now apply this layer as a luminance layer to my color image to add a dramatic punch to the original image. Here is a look at an image captured in h-alpha with the stars removed.
A traditional narrowband image will, of course, include the many stars that surround your deep-sky object.īy removing the stars from your narrowband image (such as h-alpha), you can avoid discolored stars by applying this layer without the worry of introducing black spots or a slight blur.Ĭombining narrowband images with a full-color image is something I regularly do to add an impactful punch to my images, and StarNet++ allows me to do this in a more efficient way. StarNet++ is a useful way to blend narrowband images into your regular color (broadband) images.
In this StarNet++ tutorial, I will show you how to use the software, and how you can use the starless versions of your images to improve your photos. This can be a great way to add depth and impactful details to your subject. Personally, I prefer to blend the starless version of my astrophotography image with a regular (“with stars”) version for a hybrid image. Subjects that include large, bright stars (such as the Orion Nebula shown above), can be tricky to process because the “glow” from the bright stars may be left behind. For example, a dim nebula like NGC 7822 (at the top of this post) with small stars within the field.Ĭomparing my original image of the Orion Nebula with a starless version. A quick example of this would be to brighten the outer regions of the Andromeda Galaxy without making the surrounding stars brighter and overpowering.Ĭertain subjects are better suited for a starless variation than others. Now, I include StarNet++ as a part of my workflow at this stage.īy separating the stars from the nebula or galaxy in your images, you can control and manipulate the data in a more deliberate way overall. I even wrote a tutorial on removing stars in Photoshop, and it was my goto method for removing/reducing star sizes for many years. This technique is used by many amateur astrophotographers to help reveal the delicate structures of their deep-sky object. The process of reducing or removing stars in an astrophoto is not a new concept in the astrophotography image processing world. Related: My Complete Astrophotography Image Processing Guide Why It’s So Useful What you choose to do with the starless image you create is up to you.Ī starless version of the Tadpoles Nebula. Suddenly, I was seeing starless astrophotography images pop up on Instagram and Astrobin daily.Īt first, I thought that the StarNet++ application was a plugin for PixInsight, but I soon realized that it was a stand-alone software that can be used without any additional software. He used it to remove the stars from his image of the Wizard Nebula, and it worked astonishingly well.įollowing that, I saw many discussions about StarNet++ and how to use it. I first heard about StarNet++ from Chuck Ayoub on his YouTube Channel. I think it is an invaluable tool to have when processing your images, and I personally use it all the time.
StarNet++ is a simple program that allows you to remove the stars from your astrophotography images. Use StarNet++ To Make Starless Astrophotography Images