Dive into the world of hybrid processing, a method that harnesses the top features from multiple astrophotography processing tools. In this tutorial, Nik Szymanek, award-winning astrophotographer and contributor to 'Astronomy Now' magazine, walks you through processing the large FOV galaxy, NGC 247, using both APP and Affinity Photo.

The journey starts with APP, where Nik delves into stacking, composition, and light pollution removal - laying the foundation for subsequent post-processing. A brief detour into PixInsight allows for deconvolution using BlurXTerminator (though this step can be substituted or skipped), before transitioning to Affinity Photo. Here, Nik leverages its robust photo editing capabilities, detailing LRGB combination, star and noise reduction, and the nuanced color adjustments necessary to produce an award-worthy galaxy image

Contents:

APP - Part 1

- Stacking

- Cropping

- RGB Combination

- Light Pollution Removal

PixInsight - Part 2

- Blur Xterminator

Affinity Photo - Part 3 & 4

- LRGB Combination

- Noise Xterminator

- Star Xterminator

- Colour manipulation

- Tone Mapping

- Mask editing using layers