tiff file directly from Deepskystacker and doing just this little bit in Gimp and you get that much detail? Are you leaving out any part of the process? If I understand correctly, you are taking a. I can't say I'm getting the dramatic change in the image that you are getting here. I've attached screen-prints (not actual original files) of the before / after of the Horsehead nebula region. (your original TIFF is still safe/ unedited) Under the Input Levels (at the top of the pop-up), pull the white triangle from the far right, pull it left, until your image is further enhanced (skip this if you don't like it).Then if you want to enhance further you can try this (optional, only if you like the result):.You can do it more than once if needed in different areas that are supposed to be black. This makes what's supposed to be black actually black. Then move this dropper into the area that's supposed to be black say outside of your central/object of attention AND click.Look to the right of this button, you'll see 3 droppers, one black, one gray, one white.This will make an immediate improvement to your image - its like a little bit of magic. Push the 'Auto Input Levels' button from the middle of this pop-up screen titled 'Adjust Color Levels'.

Look under where it says 'All Channels' on this pop-up screen.You are on the 'Adjust Color Levels' pop-up screen.Choose Levels (not Curves) - this method is quicker and easier than the Curves method.Open the output/stacked file with Gimp 2.9 or later (2.8 won't open that kind of TIFF).So, Stack your multiple shots before doing the following. First, output your astro photo from your Stacker program (like DSS) to a TIFF file ( i use an OSC, just one full-color file).Even a very faint object can look great with this method. Found the following by accident, but you can quickly make great results in Gimp 2.9 (a free program) to put the final touches on your stacked astrophoto.

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