›

True Color vs Faux Color

David Stearn
in General
I am fairly new to Astro Imaging and processing. I have become a big fan of Bill Blanshan’s HOO Narrowband Normalization Scripts for OSC. There is a debate among those that prefer “True Color” vs what some label as “Faux” color.

What are your thoughts?

Here is my latest HOO using Color Masking
https://astrob.in/y2j9n0/B/

Comments

  • BlockHeadBlockHead
    I am not certain I understand. What do you mean by True Color for NB? 
    You can certainly choose color mixes that result in colors that look like those of broadband imagery- but this doesn't have anything to do with actually being an approximation in any sense.
    NB simply has different color schemes...However, there are no intermediate colors such as with broadband. 
    NB uses mapped color schemes- that is the language I like to use.

    -the Blockhead
  • David Stearn
    True color meaning processing an image as it would look to the human eye vs an HOO, HSO or SHO version of the same image.
  • BlockHeadBlockHead
    We are tri-chromats. We blend large swathes of the spectrum together to create intermediate colors. There isn't a way to do this with NB since these wavelengths are not there in the first place. You can mix NB colors and try to to approximate broadband stuff..but as I mentioned this is arbitrary.

    What you CAN do and measure the true signal strengths of the Ha, OIII and SI. Then simply combine. This is NOT true color (in the sense of broadband)- but it is faithful to the actual intensity of the light recorded in each band. No one does this... since Ha almost always dominates and there are just hints of OIII and weaker SII.

    The true signal strengths is what SPCC gives you ...if you want it.

    -the Blockhead
  • David Stearn
    With Bill Blanshan’s scripts SPCC is not recommended.
    Using DBE, BlurX NoiseX and then an unlinked stretch the using the Pixelmath HOO scripts is the workflow.
    My preference is the Hubble pallet look. There are others that prefer the “natural” look.
  • BlockHeadBlockHead
    That was my point. There isn't really a reason to focus on getting the true signal strengths. However, it does act as a foundation in terms of a starting point from one NB image to the next. 
    You said there was a debate...it sounds like a preference to me. My explanation deals with the nature of what we are actually displaying. It is easy to star using the language loosely and confuse people on this point.

    -the Blockhead
  • David Stearn
    Just processed this today using the HOO script.
    IMG_4755.png
    2858 x 2084 - 9M
Sign In or Register to comment.