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1. Affinity Photo Pros And Cons 2020
2. Pros And Cons Of Affinity Photo
3. Affinity Photo Pros And Cons Chart
4. Affinity Photo Pros And Cons Llc
5. Affinity Photo Pros And Cons Meaning

This post is a bit different than my regular in-depth tutorials. This is where I scribble down notes and thoughts about my experience switching from Photoshop (PS) to Affinity Photo (AP). As I continue to learn AP and collect more notes, I’ll add them to this post. It’s an informal work in progress. Akvis sketch for mac torrent.

It’s uncertain when Affinity Photo’s full version will launch, but when it does it will be available for purchase in the Mac App Store for about $49.99. A Windows/PC version of the app is said to be in works, but again no solid timeline is available. Pro: Speed and reliability. Affinity Photo is one of the best photo editing software for PC. It features an impressive choice of simple-to-use tools, for instance, it allows you to crop a photo, use drawing brushes, select any area or remove the red-eye effect.

A free trial is available with all Affinity software. Give them a try to see if it’s worth the investment. And be sure to read our Affinity Photo vs Photoshop comparison as well. Affinity Designer Templates. We're covering the basics of Affinity Designer, helpful tutorials, comparisons with other apps, and the best templates and assets to use.

To give some context of where I’m coming from, I have around 20 years experience working with Photoshop (and other Adobe apps). Like many others, for me working in Photoshop is second nature, I don’t even think about it. After Adobe changed their pricing model to monthly/recurring charges (so it’s like renting instead of owning), I started looking for a good alternative, but could not find anything suitable until discovering Affinity Photo around six months ago. Affinity Photo sells as a one-time purchase, and a very affordable one at that.

Why I switched to Affinity Photo: Easy. It can do (most) everything that Photoshop can do for one payment instead of endless payments.

So what was my first impression of Affinity Photo six months ago?

Everything is different

Well not everything, but it took several months to learn the new software and adapt my workflow. For many, using Photoshop is just effortless. You don’t even have to think about it. So naturally switching to something new requires time, determination and patience. For long-time Photoshop users, that’s like THE big hurdle in switching: having to start at zero and relearn everything. Apart from the general layout of panels and menus, Affinity Photo’s UI/UX is much different than it is with Photoshop.

Some things are the same. Some things are missing. Some things are different. Some stuff is completely backward. All 100% worth it though because no monthly payments.

If you’re new to graphics work and have never used Photoshop, Affinity Photo will feel very intuitive. But if you’re coming over with years of experience working with Photoshop, there will be pain. It will take some time to reach the same efficiency levels with Affinity Photo.

Pros

As with any software-switching experience, there are pros and cons. Here are some notes from when I first got started with Affinity Photo (AP).

I prefer owning instead of renting.

Affinity Photo is a solid Photoshop alternative with no recurring payments. One-time purchase and you own the software. No monthly/yearly payments. No renting. And not just for Affinity Photo, but also Affinity Publisher to replace InDesign, and Affinity Designer to replace Illustrator. Now I’ve got everything I need without having to pay more $$$ every month.

I haven’t needed to go back to Photoshop for anything.

Affinity Photo is just as capable as Photoshop. For the graphic design work that I do, so far AP can do it all. I’ve not needed to use Photoshop for anything, and in fact did not even install it (or any Adobe products) on my new machine. I’m sure there are some deep features that I’m missing out on like “Puppet Warp” or whatever, but it doesn’t matter because I never use them.

Some things about AP are just way better than Photoshop.

While much of Affinity Photo works very similar to Photoshop, there are some features that are just way better. For example:

Centering and aligning layers. AP displays the distance (vertical and horizontal) as you nudge the layer, so you can be precise visually instead of relying on dragging a bunch of guides around like you have to do with Photoshop.

Likewise when adding shapes like rectangles and squares, the width and height are displayed in a little box so you can add shapes of specific size without extra clicks and fussing with guides. Just way easier.

Separated Mode. You gotta check out the option, Window ▸ “Separated Mode” is very cool, and an easy way to view all open documents and rearrange items as needed. One of my favorite AP features.

Other big pros.

Faster. On my machine, Affinity Photo loads up much faster than Photoshop.

Works offline. With Photoshop CS and beyond, you need to connect to the Adobe servers every 30 days to renew and update, etc. With Affinity Photo, you never need to go online for anything, unless you want to download the latest version and upgrade, etc.

No weird restrictions. Like with Photoshop CS there are limits like “one login one computer” so you can’t work across multiple devices (e.g., laptop, pad, mobile). With Affinity Photo, you can flow from computer to laptop to mobile without having to waste time logging in and out for every handoff.

No lockouts With Adobe you can get locked out of your account so you can’t use the software. I’ve heard reports of people getting locked out for 24 hours for stupid things like login issues or trying to use the software on multiple devices. With Affinity Photo, you never get locked out and always can use the software. Why? Because you own it. And aren’t chained to some account in order to use it.

No weird random advertisements

When you work with Adobe Photoshop, everything is routed through Adobe servers. That means Adobe can “serve” you advertisements whenever and however they would like. While you try to work, they will serve up a new panel resource, or some dialog popup, basically (not so) cleverly disguised ads that you have to click away like swatting flies. Not so with Affinity Photo. AP is standalone software that’s not routed through some third-party server somewhere. That means you can work in peace without having to deal with weird random ads.

PSD file format. Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, AP opens and handles .psd files perfectly. At the time of this writing AP can’t save new files in PSD format, but working with existing PSD files is no problem.

Cons

Fortunately, six months into learning Affinity Photo, I can find only a few real “cons” or downsides. I may discover more cons going forward, but for now here are the biggest things that need improvement:

• The Affinity documentation tends to be vague and unhelpful
• There is no way to save workspaces/layouts (HUGE downside)
• The whole “non-destructive” process thing is a waste of time

Let’s discuss each of these.

Affinity documentation needs help

The Affinity documentation is aimed at experienced users who know what everything is and where things are located. There are very few (if any) screenshots that actually show what things are and where to find them. Instead it’s just a bunch of abstract pedantic, Adobe-esque steps that look logical but tend to be unhelpful at best.

For the love of usability add some screenshots that actually SHOW what things are and where to find them.

As a new user reading through the documentation, I find myself asking “well what is that?” and “where is that located?” Seriously, “where is that, I can’t find it anywhere” type questions. The Affinity docs just assume way too much, like I have no idea where to find “The Something Tool” or whatever that’s just assumed common knowledge. I know one thing, it’s not in the same place as it has been for 20+ years working with Photoshop.

Fortunately, Affinity has a growing community and a healthy support forum, where you can find answers to specific questions, hunt for clues, and you know the drill. You’ll also find lots of other good resources when looking for answers about Affinity Photo when searching online. Lots of people getting on board and contributing their own findings, solutions, and tips.

One workspace for everyone

That sounds great, right? But in reality people have different workflows and love it when they can easily switch from one to another. With Photoshop, you can fine-tune a thousand different workspaces and save them all. And then you can switch to any of them as needed depending on the project or task. So utterly helpful and time-saving it’s beyond words.

With Photoshop, you get unlimited workspaces. With Affinity Photo you get one.

The ability to switch to a preset workspace that’s optimized for specific tasks helps save time and boost productivity. It’s just such a basic fundamental feature that apparently we’ve all been taking for granted. With Photoshop, you can switch to a predefined workspace for each project, and have it dialed it juuust right for optimized workflow. With Affinity Photo, you get one workspace and that’s it. The ol’ “one workspace for everyone” idea may sound like the most wonderful thing. But in reality it’s a missing feature.

Non-destructive workflows are a waste of time

The big thing I think that I don’t like about Affinity is the whole non-destructiveediting process. I wish there were a way to disable it. It may be useful for some, but for others it’s just more work, requiring extra steps to the same job.

What is the point of a non-destructive workflow if it is less efficient than traditional workflow?

In Photoshop, when you edit a layer it is edited. In Affinity Photo, when you edit a layer you get another layer to use for the editing. The idea is to “protect” the original layer so you can return to it later if needed. So instead of YOU deciding when and where to duplicate a layer, the program enforces it as a rule. It’s just a waste of time aimed to help people are incapable of managing layers on their own.

Notable Differences

My day-to-day is BUSY. So when switching to Affinity Photo, it had to be “hit the ground running” to keep my work moving forward. Of course, the proper way to learn anything new is to read through the documentation. Maybe watch some training videos, or get lessons online somewhere. Maybe that’s how I should have done it. Instead I just jumped right in, fully expecting Affinity Photo to be very similar to Photoshop.

And delightfully, for the most part, AP is very similar to PS. But there were some stumbling blocks. Here is a working list of confusing and/or problematic differences between Affinity Photo and Photoshop. Along with any related workarounds or tips.

The little things.

• There is no way to set the default directory for exports
• Try creating a simple color gradient that fades into transparency lol
• No crop from selection; you have to copy, then go “New from clipboard”
• Cropping images is a chore, the crop tool is clunky, awkward and inaccurate
• Backgrounds are not transparent by default, you need to select “Transparent Background” when creating a new image

Some of these items are kind of a pain, but most I can live with. But there are some bigger differences and details that should be mentioned.

The bigger things.

Here are all the big issues and/or mysteries that need dealt with when switching from Photoshop to Affinity Photo. In no particular order.

Images are all vector by default

Screenshots and other images are vector-based (non-rasterized) by default. So if you try to select part of an image, then copy and paste, it won’t work. You need to click on the image layer and tell it to “rasterize” before you can copy from any selection.

No “Save for Web”

Affinity Photo provides nothing close to Photoshop’s awesome “Save for Web” feature. There are roundabout ways of sort of optimizing certain aspects of an image (like using the File ▸ Export feature). But the hot “one-stop shop” save-for-web sauce is not a current feature of AP.

“Save as” limited to Affinity file format only

Saving a file (e.g., File ▸ “Save As”) is limited. You can save only as .afphoto file type. The only way to save a file in a specific format, like JPG, PNG, etc., is to create a new file using File ▸ “Export”.

Clipboard dimensions not utilized

Like when you grab a screenshot of something you find on the Web, and want to paste it into Affinity Photo for editing, etc. In Photoshop, when pasting clipboard contents, the new document is automatically created with the same size. This does not happen with Affinity Photo. In AP, if you want the canvas to be the same size as the clipboard contents, you have to go to File ▸ “New from clipboard” (or press Shift+Option+Command+N).

Switching between documents

Switching between documents is a bit different in Affinity Photo. You can either go to View ▸ Views and select your document. Or you can click on the document’s tab (located below the context toolbar on top of the user interface).

Getting the document dimensions

In Photoshop, you go to the menu ▸ Image to get the document size. With Affinity Photo, you need to select the Hand tool and then look in the upper-left lower menu bar (context menu) to see the dimensions.

Picking colors now a chore

In Affinity Photo, selecting color from an image is way more complicated than it is with Photoshop. You can’t just choose a color from anywhere in the image and have it populate the color palette. Instead you have to use the “Color Picker” tool, and then click on the image to load the color into the “sample color” thing, and then from there you can click on the sample color thing to apply the color to the image. And it’s actually even more complicated than that, as there are related settings in the toolbar that determine how the color is chosen and applied, etc. And if those settings aren’t correct, the color picker won’t do what you need it to do. Very frustrating.

Pastes the entire image instead of just the selected area

In some cases (like with rasterized vectors) you can’t copy a part of the image and paste only that part into a new document. Instead it keeps the entire image and only displays the part you selected. Apparently there is no way to truly crop the image data so that there is nothing outside of canvas edge. Makes it very difficult to perform basic tasks like vertical and horizontal centering. Very confusing. Still trying to figure it out.

Pasting screenshots just random

With Affinity Photo, pasting screenshots into existing documents (like when layering a bunch of screenshots), the image placement is just totally random. In Photoshop you can grab screenshot after screenshot and paste them into a document they always will be aligned with the canvas edges. In AP it never does that; instead it just pastes screenshot in apparently random locations on the canvas. I think the position of the mouse/cursor has something to do with placement, haven’t solved this one yet.

Shift-lock is backward

For example, when resizing an image using the select tool. In Photoshop, you always pressed shift while resizing to keep/lock the aspect ratio. Simple enough. But for some reason Affinity Photo reverses it so its backward. If you resize and DON’T press shift, the ratio is locked. To change the ratio, press shift. Sure it makes more sense, but serious pain re-learning this basic Photoshop skill.

Random empty documents

For example, I spent an hour putting together 80px x 80px document that contained like 20 layers (icons for my projects). After exporting all the layers as PNG images, saved and closed the document. Then later when re-opened, the document showed nothing: just an empty canvas with nothing showing. All the layers were showing in the layers palette, but no content was displaying in the document window. I tried everything I could think of, then tried all of the Affinity Photo docs and forums, etc. Finally gave up, just consider it a (hopefully one-time) loss.

Some images displayed super tiny

This is a weird one. For some reason, certain images when opened are displayed super tiny, like way way way zoomed out. So the entire image appears like a dot on the screen. Not a deal-breaker because you can just zoom in as needed. But still very mysterious and frustrating to deal with.

Closing Thoughts

Since first putting together notes for this article, I am much further along in transitioning from Photoshop to Affinity Photo. Many of the things that I was confused about or frustrated over, as listed in the article, well. now they make more sense. Rather than re-writing the article based on this new, more familiar perspective, I share it as-is.

I hope this helps some folks who are looking for a realistic alternative to Photoshop. Maybe thinking of making the switch from Photoshop to Affinity Photo. Yes there are lots of differences, pros and cons, but overall the experience is 100% worth it. After years with Photoshop, the process of re-learning how to edit graphics using Affinity Photo is challenging. But it’s also helping me to break out of my comfort zone, improve workflow, experiment with features and try new things.

I want to see Affinity succeed. Hopefully they don’t make the mistake of following Adobe’s monthly/recurring pricing model. Keep it one-time purchase always. Renting software is for the birds.

Post-processing astrophotography images is mandatory: you cannot avoid it. It can be a fairly long and technical process, but it is necessary to squeeze out the most you can from your images.

Everything begins with pre-processing your images, a step including image calibration and image stacking, which we have already covered in this article.

After that, it is time to post-process your stacked image with your software of choice. In this article, we will discuss the different options that are available to post-process your astrophotography images.

Note: Don’t miss the detailed video at the end of this article, It was created to help show you how to process your images with some of the software mentioned in this article.
Click here to skip to our Image Processing Demo Video.

What Does Post-Processing Mean In Astrophotography?

In astrophotography, the post-processing includes steps that are crucial to the quality of the final image. Those steps can be summarized as:

• Histogram stretching
• Gradients and light pollution removal
• Stars color calibration
• Stars reduction and Stars removal
• Sharpening and noise reduction
• Final tweaks

Of the steps mentioned above, it is worth to spend a few words on the Histogram Stretching, as it is of utmost importance in deep-sky astrophotography.

What Histogram Stretching Is And Why You Need It

With image stacking, you have combined all your light frames (the actual images of the sky) into a single image with an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio.

With deep sky astrophotography, this stacked image can be surprisingly dark, with only a few bright stars visible.

There is nothing wrong with it, as all the details and information are there, but hidden in the dark background. And this is why this process also goes under the name of background extraction.

Histogram stretching can be done manually using Adobe Photoshop or in automatic/semi-automatic way using astrophotography software such as Astro Pixel Processor, Star Tools, or His Majesty PixInsight.

A rigorous explanation on how digital data are recorded and how the histogram works can become fairly technical and is beyond the scope of this article.

To keep it simple, let’s say that when you perform the stretching of the histogram, you are broadening the histogram. Thus pushing details that were crammed in the blacks towards the middle tones.

And you do that slowly, in small steps, to ensure retaining the best possible image quality.

The process allows us to take full advantage of the image stacking process, and it results in a cleaner, brighter image with a lot of details that were not visible (or barely visible) in the single exposures.

Stars Reduction / Stars Removal

Star reduction is another process that is standard when editing deep-sky astrophotography.

While it seems odd that you want to shrink or remove stars from a photo about stars, this process aims to make the multitude of visible stars in the image less imposing and distracting.

By reducing enlarged stars due to the histogram stretching and by removing the smallest stars, you make the deep sky objects in the image more visible, as shown in the image below.

The procedure is particularly useful when shooting deep-sky objects, such as nebulae, that are in the Milky Way Band.

Software For Astrophotography Post-Processing

We can group the software for astrophotography post-processing in two categories:

1. generic photo editors, such as Photoshop, Gimp, Affinity Photo, etc.
2. Astrophotography editors, such as StarTools, Nebulosity, Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight, etc.

The main advantage of generic photo editors over specific astrophotography editors is versatility.

With a generic photo editor, it is easy to post-process all kinds of astrophotography, from deep-sky imaging to lunar and planetary shots, passing for star trails and starry landscapes.

In this article, for example, we discussed how to stack starry landscape images in Photoshop.

Not many astrophotography editors are this flexible.

Here is a list of software that are most commonly used to post-process astrophotography images.

Adobe Lightroom CC

Generic Photo Editor | Commercial From $9.99 Subscription Plan | Windows, Mac OS X, IOS

Pros

• Easy to use
• Powerful image development and image organizer
• Easy integration with Photoshop
• Can use photographic plugins

Cons

• Can’t do the complex editing needed for astrophotography (histogram stretching, Stars Reduction, etc)
• Limited to cosmetic tweaks

Adobe Lightroom is a popular, easy to use and fairly powerful RAW developer and image organizer.

Its usefulness in astrophotography is somewhat limited, as you cannot perform complex tasks such as histogram stretching, advanced light pollution, and gradient removal, star reduction, etc.

On the other hand, it is a terrific editor for the final cosmetic tweaks to your image and to organize them in collections, per tag, and location. Lightroom is also great for color proofing your images before printing them.

If you are subscribing to the Adobe Photography Plan, you also have Photoshop CC included for free. And here is where things get interesting.

To get the best from the two worlds, load your stacked images in Lightroom, organize them in collections, and call Photoshop from within Lightroom for the astro-specific editing (histogram stretching, etc.).

Then make the final tweaks in Lightroom.

Adobe Photoshop CC

Generic Photo Editor | Commercial From $9.99 Subscription Plan | Windows, Mac OS X, IOS

Pros

• Versatile and Powerful Photo Editor / Image Manipulation Software
• Suitable for deep sky and planetary astrophotography as well as star trails and starry landscapes
• Astrophotography Action Sets and Plugins Available
• Subscription Plan with Photography Bundle

Cons

• Lacks Some Advanced Features for Astrophotography

Photoshop is one of the most commonly used software in the field of photography editing and image manipulation, and it can be used to post-process astrophotography work.

If you are a beginner astrophotographer, you are on a tight budget or you already own Photoshop, you should give it a try as all the basic post-processing steps can be performed in this software.

If you need more advanced features, you can also expand Photoshop capabilities thanks to many astrophotography related Action Sets, Plugins, and Panels.

Finally, with Camera Raw filter and other photographic plugins (like for smart sharpening and advance noise reduction), you can perform with ease all the final tweaks an image may need.

As a Photoshop user, I tried many plugins and action sets for astrophotography, and here is my must-have extensions list.

Astronomy Tools by ProDigital

Actions Pack For Deep Sky Astrophotography| Commercial $21.95 | Windows, Mac OS X

A rich set of actions suitable for post-processing astrophotography images. The set includes actions such as star reduction, enhanced DSO, light pollution and color gradient removal, sharpening, and noise reduction.

Photokemi’s Star Tools by Ken Mitchel

Actions Pack For Deep Sky Astrophotography | Commercial $14.95 | Windows, Mac OSX

Similarly to Astronomy Tools, this action set is most useful for deep space astrophotography.

It offers advanced star removal and star reducing actions, semi-automatic histogram stretching, different sharpening and noise reduction actions, as well as actions such as nebula filters and star color enhancement.

There is also a set of extra actions, available for $6.95.

GradientXterminator by Russell Croman

Plugin For Deep Sky Astrophotography | Commercial $49.95 | Windows, Mac OS X

This plugin is a gradient removal tool that is easy to use and extremely effective. Despite a rather steep price (a trial is available for you to test the plugin), this is a terrific add-on for Photoshop, if you are serious about deep-sky astrophotography.

Hasta La Vista Green! (HLVG) by Regelio Bernard Andreo

Plugin For Deep Sky Astrophotography | Donationware | Windows

Despite its old age, this plugin is still useful, and it does an excellent job of removing green noise and the green casts such noise may cause in some images.

Astro Panel By Angelo Perrone

Panel For Starry Landscape And Deep Sky Astrophotography | Commercial | Windows, Mac OS X

Astro Panel consists of a rich set of functions and methods that produce high quality starry landscapes and Milky Way images.

It is also easy to process Deep Sky Photos thanks to advanced functions for reducing digital noise and hot-pixels, eliminating the gradient, managing artificial flat, and much more …

Furthermore, astronomical images aside, you can use the Astro Panel to edit classic landscape images too.

Affinity Photo

Generic Photo Editor | Commercial $49.99 | Windows, Mac OS X, IOS ($19.99)

Pros

• Affordable
• Powerful
• The interface and commands are similar to Photoshop for an easy switch
• Suitable for deep sky and planetary astrophotography as well as star trails and starry landscapes

Cons

• Lacks third-party actions sets, plugins and panels

Affinity Photo from Serif Lab is a great, affordable alternative to Photoshop, and you do not need to pay for a subscription plan.

With Affinity Photo, you can carry out with ease all of the basic astrophotography post-processing.

But since there are no plugins, action sets, and panels to help you out, you have to learn to do things manually, even the more advanced tasks such as star reduction.

Gimp

Photo Editor | Freeware | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

Pros

• Freeware
• Great community and lot of info available
• Powerful
• Suitable for deep sky and planetary astrophotography as well as star trails and starry landscapes

Cons

• Interface a bit confused
• Lacks third-party actions sets, plugins and panels

Gimp is the historical freeware alternative to Photoshop. Since it is freeware and on the market for many years, there is a big community of users, so it is easy to find relevant tutorials and guides to help you out.

The software has a slightly confusing interface, particularly if you are trying to switch from Photoshop, but it is powerful enough to let you edit your astrophotography images with ease.

Unfortunately, there are no third-party action sets, plugins, or panels to help you automate some tasks. As with Affinity Photo, you have to learn how to do everything manually.

Star Tools

Astrophotography Post-Processing Tools | Commercial $45 | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

Pros

• Affordable
• Multiplatform
• Offers many advanced tools
• Trial without time limit

Cons

• Interface bit confusing
• Convoluted workflow
• Slower than other software

StarTools is a deep-sky post-process editor that does everything you need except the initial light frame calibration and stacking.

Once you have the stacked image from, say, Deep Sky Stacker, you can post-process it in StarTools, taking advantage of the many tools the software has to offer.

The interface is a bit confusing, and it may take a while to get used to the convoluted editing workflow.

Fortunately, the trial version never expires, so you can take all the time you need to experiment with StarTools before deciding if it is for you or not. The only limitation of the trial is that you cannot save your results.

SiriL

Multipurpose Astrophotography Editor | Freeware | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

Pros

• Freeware
• Multiplatform
• Active Development
• Suitable for different kinds of astrophotography
• Fairly easy to use
• Powerful full-grown astrophotography software

Cons

• Develop the image is a lengthy process
• Interface a bit confused

I’m no expert with SiriL, but it is probably the only full-grown astrophotography editor that is freeware and multiplatform.

Siril will allow you to perform all the essential steps in your astrophotography editing workflow, from image calibration and stacking to (manual or auto) histogram stretching and post-processing.

Affinity Photo Pros And Cons 2020

Since it is free, if you are looking for an astrophotography package, SirilL is worth downloading and having a go with it.

Nebulosity

Deep Sky Astrophotography Editor | Commercial $95 | Windows, Mac OS X

Pros

• Capable full astrophotography editor
• Can calibrate and stack your images
• It offers many advanced tools

Cons

• Not abandonware, but development is somehow slow
• The interface feels old and not very user friendly

Nebulosity 4 was my first software specific to astrophotography. It is intended for deep sky astrophotography and is fairly easy to use.

It offers a good way to calibrate and stack your images, and you can use it for stretching the histogram, tighten the stars, calibrate the background colors, and perform sharpening and noise reduction.

Pros And Cons Of Affinity Photo

But the interface is not as intuitive, it looks “old,” and while development is there, it is not as quick compared with other software.

Astro Pixel Processor

Deep Sky Astrophotography Editor | Commercial €60/Yr (Renter’s License) Or €150 (Owner’s Renter) | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

Pro

• Great deep sky astrophotography package
• Powerful
• Easy to use
• Batch processing
• 30-days free trial available
• Suitable for creating stunning mosaic with ease
• Active development
• Rental license available

Cons

• Vignetting removal tool could be better
• No Stars Reduction methods available

Astro Pixel Processor is my goto software for my deep sky astrophotography and I decided to go with the renter’s license to always work with the latest version of the software.

The interface is easy to navigate, options are explained by text messages that appear when you hover on the options with the mouse, and the different tabs are numbered.

This means that there is no guessing in establishing the best workflow: just follow the numbers from 1 to 6 and jump at the tab number 9 for post-processing the stacked image.

You can run all the steps once at a time or set them up and run all with a batch processing: this way, you can do other stuff while the software calibrates and stacks your images.

Affinity Photo Pros And Cons Chart

If you are looking for a way to edit your deep-sky images and create mosaics, I vouch for Astro Pixel Processor.

PixInsight

Multipurpose Astrophotography Editor | Commercial €230+VAT | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

Pros

• The best and most complete astrophotography editor on the market
• Multiplatform
• Suitable for Planetary and Deep-Sky astrophotography
• 45-days free trial available

Affinity Photo Pros And Cons Llc

Cons

• Expensive
• Extremely steep learning curve
• Requires a powerful computer to run smoothly and conveniently fast

Affinity Photo Pros And Cons Meaning

I will be honest with you: I requested a trial (and it was granted twice), but both times I ran away from PixInsight screaming in despair.

Not that PixInsight is bad or lacks crucial functions, but because it is very complicated to use for beginners and the learning curve is very steep.

Granted, PixInsight, being the software of refinement for the category, there are tons of tutorials and guides online (Light Vortex Astronomy has some of the best ones and are free). But you need to spend a lot of time in front of your computer, particularly if you have an old one.

But if you can master it, you will be rewarded with Pro-grade deep sky astrophotography images.

A Comprehensive Video About Post-Processing

In this video, I show you how to post-process a deep sky image using some of the software discussed in this article.

While it is not a complete tutorial in post-processing deep sky images, it gives you a feeling of how easy (or not) is to use those software and where they differ.

Conclusions

Stacking astrophotography images is only the first step in the lengthy astrophotography editing process. In this article, we have discussed the different software that is available to post-process the stacked image to obtain a compelling image of the night sky.

Some are free, some are commercial, some are specific to deep sky astrophotography while others are generic photography editors, and they all have their pros and cons.

This guide will help you to decide which software is best for you.

Personally, I am a fan of Astro Pixel Processor for deep sky astrophotography, as it is powerful and easy to use, and of Photoshop for its flexibility.