I’m all about speed and quality when it comes to image processing. While I like to publish nice images, I don’t like spending hours on them to get them just right: I like to find quick and effective ways of improving image quality.

This article walks you through making two powerful adjustments that can make a dramatic difference in your images: enhance details of a nebula and dust areas and improve contrast.

The Results

First is the original image of Messier 42:

The image is average at best, even though it is made up of many exposures. The image is lacking detail in the nebula, and the surrounding region lacks contrast, which effectively hides large parts of the nebula.

Consider this image after making a couple of adjustments:

If you compare the two images, you’ll note that there’s a lot more detail in nebula, including the dusty areas, and the surrounding nebulosity has much more contrast and detail in it.

Download Sample

I have made the final PSD available for you to download and experiment with. To return the image back to its original state, delete all of the layers except the background layer.

Bringing Out Detail In the Nebula and Dusty Areas

I assume you’re using Photopea.com for editing images, however, these directions could be used for Photoshop as well.

While the image has some detail in it, the details are blurry and seemingly out of focus. This adjustment sharpens the details quite a bit:

1. Duplicate the background layer

2. Select Filter – Dust and Scratches

3. Enter or select a Radius of 2px and a Threshold of 1px

4. Select Filter – Sharpen – Unsharp Mask

5. Enter or select 35% for the Amount

6. Enter or select 35px for the Radius

7. Select 0px for the Threshold

8. Select Filter – Other – High Pass

9. Enter or select 10px for the Radius

10. Change the Layer’s blending mode to Overlay (you’ll find the blending mode above the listing of layers in the Layers panel – it defaults to Normal and has a small downward point arrow next to it)

Click the eye next to this layer to observe the significant difference this adjustment has made. Next, we’ll boost the contrast of the surrounding nebula.

Boost Contrast

You can quickly boost the contrast of the surrounding nebula by doing the following:

1. Duplicate the background layer

2. Select Image – Adjustments – Hue/Saturation

3. Reduce the Saturation to -100

4. Select Image – Adjustments – Invert

5. Change the layer’s blending mode to Overlay (you’ll find the blending mode above the listing of layers in the Layers panel – it defaults to Normal and has a small downward point arrow next to it)

This adjustment dramatically improves the contrast, bringing out the details in the nebulosity around the galaxy.

Adjust Hue/Saturation

Make a slight adjustment to the image’s Hue/Saturation.

1. Select the topmost layer

2. Select Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Hue/Saturation

3. Adjust the Saturation to about 40

Conclusion

In this article, you learned about two very powerful adjustments that provide excellent results for boosting details and enhancing contrast. The problem with these types of adjustments is that many people don’t know how to use them properly – this article demonstrated how to use the adjustments properly.