Got called out for my washed-out star trails

I posted a 30 minute star trail stack from my backyard in Tucson last month. Someone commented 'you're clipping the highlights so hard the core detail is gone.' I checked my raw files and they were right, I'd pushed the whites too far in Lightroom. Now I keep the histogram peaking just below the right edge and check each sub. Has anyone found a better way to keep star colors without blowing them out?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage_perry2d ago

I saw a video about using a soft light layer to protect star color.

wrenwilson2d ago

Man I used to just crank the whites slider until the stars popped. Then I processed a shot of Orion and the whole belt just turned into a white blob, zero color left. Now I make a separate layer just for the stars and adjust that one super gently. It keeps the reds in Betelgeuse and the blues in the Rigel system actually visible.