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Masks
Fundamental Concepts
This is a members-only video found in PixInsight: Fundamentals: Masks: Section 01.
First Take/Variation Demonstration
This is a members-only video in PixInsight: Fundamentals: Masks: Section 03. This video will look very similar to the first video you watched… but my…
Object Masks Part 1
This is a members-only video in PixInsight: Fundamentals: Masks: Section 04.
Object Masks Part 2 (Deconvolution)
Published in 2018. (and original video) This is a members-only video in PixInsight: Fundamentals: Masks: Section 05. This section covers more information on using…
Clone Stamp as Paint Brush For Masks
Published 07-09-2024 This video shows how to use the Clone Stamp process as a paint brush. This technique is particularly useful for masks where…
Clone Stamp and Symmetry
Published 2024-02-16 This video shows a cosmetic solution to fixing a small number of star artifacts using the Clone Stamp tool. It takes advantage…
Star Masks (MLT)
Published in 2018 (an original video) This is a members-only video in PixInsight: Fundamentals: Masks: Section 07. With the advent of SXT this idea…
Star Mask Process
Published 2018 This is a members-only video in PixInsight: Fundamentals: Masks: Section 08. The StarMask process is almost “quaint” at this point. This video is…
Star Mask Creation
Published 2018 This is a members-only video in PixInsight: Fundamentals: Masks: Section 09. This is a continuation of the previous section on the StarMask process.…
Contour Masks
<p><img src="//sh-cosmiccanvas.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Video_Posters/contourmasks.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> n<p> </p> n<p><!--StartFragment-->This is a members-only video protected by copyright (Clear Skies Astronomy LLC).<!--EndFragment--></p>
LRGB
LRGB Blending
Published 07/04/2018 In this lesson we take a closer look at the techniques used to adjust the blend between Luminance and Color data via…
Luminance Preparation (M83 Demo)
Published 05/17/2024 In this video the Luminance is prepared by taking into account brightness levels at each step. HDRMT is also used to manage…
Selective Rejection
Selective Rejection with GAME (Script)
Published 03/14/2021 Here is the latest and greatest version of Selective Rejection, an Adam Block innovation. Harmut Bornnemann added a small feature to his…
Selective Rejection 2024 Demo
Published 2024-11-04 This video shows a new example of the use of selective rejection to solve what looks like an insurmountable problem. Selective Rejection…
Selective Rejection NB Demo
Published 07/07/2023 This video comes from a person that presented me with a problem when using Selective Rejection on Narrowband images. In this video I…
Selective Rejection Galaxy Demo
Published 10/03/2021 In this section we discuss selective rejection.
Selective Rejection Original Concept (the Adam Block innovation)
This is the original version of the Selective Rejection video I made. I re-made it for PixInsight Fundamentals in a slightly more streamlined fashion.The version…
Miscellaneous Techniques
Color Corrected HDRMT
This section highlights Russ Croman’s method of producing color corrected HDRMT enhanced images when applied to a color image. Please also refer to https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?threads/color-corrected-hdrmt.15769/post-101922 (especially to grab…
Masked Stretch Artifact Correction
Published 04/20/2021 Masked stretch comes with some tell-tale artifacts that easy to see in final images. Compensating for these artifacts is an area of…
Single Hue Color Blip Removal
<p><img src="//sh-cosmiccanvas.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Video_Posters/colorblip.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> n<p> </p> n<p>This is a members-only video lesson protected by copyright (Clear Skies Astronomy LLC).</p>
A Fix for Star Color Fringing
Published 08/05/2019 This lesson demonstrates a method (actually a few) that minimizes the color fringes that are sometimes seen around stars. Both the newly…
Inverted HDRMT Example (Eclipse with Earthshine)
This video shows a technique to bring out the subtle details of Earthshine in a solar eclipse image. This is a…
Clone Stamp and Symmetry
Published 2024-02-16 This video shows a cosmetic solution to fixing a small number of star artifacts using the Clone Stamp tool. It takes advantage…
Star De-Emphasis
Star De-Emphasis using BlurXTerminator
Published 05/27/2024 As shown in many other videos, this is a somewhat go to/standard method of star de-emphasis these days since BlurXTerminator does such an…
PixInsight De-emphasis (Adam Block innovation)
Published 12/16/2020 This is a simplified version of my star de-emphasis technique that takes advantage of the Starnet process. I still recommend watching the…
Star De-emphasis Script (Adam Block method)
Published 08/15/2021 This video explains how to use the star de-emphasis script written by Maxim Valenko. Add Maxim’s repository to your PixInsight installation and…
The Original Star De-emphasis (2018)
This video is the original star reduction (de-emphasis) technique I developed in 2018. It later became easier with the advent of star removal software and…
Analytics
Using a Pedestal for NB Images
Published 03/28/2021 Using a pedestal to prevent over-subtraction of dark frames is a common necessity for narrowband imagery. In the video learn what to…
Calculate Gain and Read Noise
Published 01/31/2019 Learn a little about Poisson Noise and calculate the Gain and Read noise of your detector. These concepts pervade image processing generally…
Common CMOS Gain Error (non-matching)
Published 2024-05-22 You might wonder what you gain by watching this video? Well, that is the answer. Not only does it address this frequent…
Look at your Flats Closely
Published 07/05/2020 This lesson comes from Office Hours with Adam. Here a gentleman is having problems getting his flats to work. I demonstrate what…
DSLR/OSC StarAlignment Problem and Solution
Published 04/08/2020 It is possible to have StarAlignment “succeed” in the alignment process with OSC/DSLR images- and yet the images will not be aligned!…
Troubleshooting: Flat Field Images Not being Calibrated
Published 2023-11-17 This video highlights a very common mind trap. It appears that Flat Field images are not being calibrated by biases or darks..and…
CMOS Darks and Flat Darks: Part 1
<p>This lesson focuses on a common issue- often encountered by CMOS camera users. A demonstration of the problem and its solution is shown. In addition, the method of fine tuning flats is also shown. </p> n<p><img src="//sh-cosmiccanvas.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Video_Posters/flatdark_comp_advert.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="337" /></p> n<p> </p> n<style></style>
CMOS Darks and Flat Darks: Part 2
<p>This lesson focuses on a common issue- often encountered by CMOS camera users. A demonstration of the problem and its solution is shown. In addition, the method of fine tuning flats is also shown. </p> n<p><img src="//sh-cosmiccanvas.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Video_Posters/flatdark_comp_advert.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="337" /></p> n<p> </p> n<style></style> n<style></style>
CMOS Darks and Flat Darks (Proof Bias/Flat Dark)
Published 04/28/2020 This lesson focuses on a common issue- often encountered by CMOS camera users. A demonstration of the problem and its solution is…
FWHM and Cosmetic Correction
Published 05/18/2020 Here is a PixInsight Forum response that demonstrates the nature of Cosmetic Correction, Star Detection, and SubFrameSelector all in one sweet small…
Black Spots in Images
Published 09/10/2021 This video investigates and solves a typical issue that users encounter.
Flat Field Panel Centering (Issue) and RZ Cass
Published 2024-12-31 This video shows the effect of a poorly aligned flat field panel. It is easy to make this error and you should…
Troubleshooting: Over Subtraction (Dark Frame)
Published 2023-11-26 This video describes how to analyze an image with dark (pixel) spots in terms of what could be the issue (and what…
Filter Wheel Issue (and no MasterLight)
Published 2023-12-07 This video demonstrates an issue with the filter wheel and the identifying the problem in the data. It is a common error…
Night Sky Flats
<p><img src="//sh-cosmiccanvas.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Video_Posters/nightskyflats_poster.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="587" /></p>
Fixes
Fix StarAlignment Issues with BXT
Published 2024-01-19 This video shows the solution to a common problem. A member provided data in which WBPP aligned images in 4 out of…
Scattered Light
<p>In this video Adam demonstrates a surgical way to remove scattered light from an image where the colors are distinct. </p> n<p> </p> n<p><img src="//sh-cosmiccanvas.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Video_Posters/ruined_poster.JPG" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> n<style></style>
Fixing Scattered Light with NSG
<p><img src="//sh-cosmiccanvas.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Video_Posters/poster_scatteredlight_NSG_fix.JPG" alt="" width="806" height="858" /></p>
Satellite Rejection
<p><!--StartFragment-->In this section, we discuss some of the finer points of rejection based on a question from a member of AdamBlockStudios.<!--EndFragment--></p> n<p><img src="//sh-cosmiccanvas.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Video_Posters/rejection_nihal_poster yt.jpg" alt="" width="933" height="600" /></p> n<style></style>
BlurXTerminator: Removing Colored Star Bloat (Chromatic Fringing)
Published 2023-06-07 This video demonstrates a usage of BlurXTerminator to minimize color halos around stars where one channel is fuzzier than the others. The video…
Star Rejection Artifacts
Published 2023-11-23 This video shows an artifact that comes from misshapen stars and rejection. See the issue and the solution.
TroubleShooting: Sexagesimal Invalid Values
Published 2023-12-07 This video shows that having a “60” in the minutes or seconds place of a sexagesimal value will cause an error and,…
Batch FITs Header Editor Script
<p><!--StartFragment-->This video shows how to use Mike Cranfield's BatchFitsKeywordEditor script to fix incorrect or missing metadata in FITs headers. In seconds you can correct files that otherwise would not work correctly in PixInsight.<!--EndFragment--></p> n<style></style>
Clone Stamp and Symmetry
Published 2024-02-16 This video shows a cosmetic solution to fixing a small number of star artifacts using the Clone Stamp tool. It takes advantage…
Faint Glows and Dust Donut Removal
This video is featured in the PixInsight Fundamentals workflow section- but it deserves to live here as an independent video. The technique demonstrated can work…
Combining Old and New Data (one kind of example)
Published 05/20/2020 In this lesson I demonstrate one way to combine old and new data that are relatively similar to one another. If nothing…
Walking Noise, Large Scale High Rejection and More
Published 2021-07-13 This is an impromptu session to describe a few issues and solutions in a current processing project. This is a unique window…
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Description
This course is a treasure trove of solutions, techniques, and insights—curated from years of real astrophotography experience and designed to save you from frustration, wasted time, and the feeling of “why didn’t anyone tell me that?”
Many of these lessons are born directly from challenges faced by imagers like you: how to fix scattered light, remove star color fringing, prevent over-subtraction, correct flat-fielding errors, and more. Other videos explore innovative methods—like Adam Block’s original star de-emphasis techniques, advanced mask usage, or selective rejection strategies—that you simply won’t find elsewhere.
It’s not just a catalog of fixes; it’s also packed with creative techniques and deep diagnostics that help you better understand what’s happening in your data—and how to take control of it.
Yes, you might come here for one solution. But you’ll leave with tools you didn’t even know you needed—until now.
