Over the weekend I took several hours of data of NGC 2903 (The Perils of Changing Your Method ). I have taken several passed at processing the image.

I started by creating baseline combined, aligned, and stretched L/R/G/B images using MaximDL for reduction, CCDStack for combination, and PixInsight for stretching. These images have served as my baseline for all processing attempts. In that first processing session, I did a quick and dirty (so I thought) combined color image. I did minimal noise reduction, and sharpened only with a hi-pass filter in Photoshop. I figured I’d get a chance to see how it looked in color. It was an OK image.

My frustration has come from my subsequent attempts at finishing the image. In my second version, I did extensive work in PixInsight to sharpen the details of the galaxy. But the finished image didn’t look as nice on the printed page as my quick and dirty version. The outer arms were too dark, and i lost nebulosity surrounding the galaxy.

Last night I tried to split the difference — keep the outer areas lighter while still enhancing the inner detail. I failed completely. It lacked the sharpness in the center, had good detail in the outer arms, but the mid-area nebulosity was lost.

So the two times I spend more effort on the image, I just make it worse. Aaargh.