Image development by zones (general, ground and sky)
In Nebulb you can apply a general and zonal (ground / sky) development to the image using the "Develop" module in the right tools panel.
Development by zones
In the "Develop" module you can find the typical development settings (white balance, tonal and color adjustments), but with the advantage that you can apply them in 3 different ways (using the 3 buttons at the top):
1. Adjustments are applied to the entire image (by selecting the left button).2. The adjustments are applied only on the ground part (center button selected).3. The adjustments are applied only on the sky part (by selecting the right button).
In this way, as you can see in the following example, it is very easy to develop by zones in Nebulb to get the final image as you want it.
IMPORTANT: In order to develop an image by zones (ground / sky) it is necessary to define a mask for the sky before stacking. And in case the image is all sky (no ground at all) and, therefore, it was not necessary to define any mask for the sky, the specific development button for the ground will be disabled.
Order of application of development adjustments
The order in which to apply the zone development adjustments is completely indifferent (you can follow the order in which you are most comfortable). However, it is generally more straightforward if you follow the following order:
1. First you apply the specific adjustments for the ground and the sky (whichever you do first), i.e. those adjustments that only the ground part needs and those that only the sky part needs.2. Then, once the sky and ground are already adjusted, general adjustments are applied to the entire image (to leave the image with the final look you want).
Likewise, as above, the order in which each of the development adjustments are applied is also not important, although the most common way to do this is to follow the order in which the controls are (from top to bottom), i.e:
1. White balance2. Exposure / White / Highlights3. Blacks / Shadows4. Contrast5. Color (Vibrance / Saturation)
IMPORTANT: All adjustments in Nebulb are non-destructive, so you can do and undo as much as you want without losing image quality.
On the other hand, Nebulb allows you to apply development adjustments both before and after stacking, although they are usually applied on the image resulting from stacking. However, sometimes it can be interesting to apply some adjustments on the imported image (before stacking) to facilitate the visual selection of the sky mask, as sometimes the images are very dark and it is difficult to select the sky mask properly.
IMPORTANT: The development adjustments that are applied before stacking are not taken into account during the stacking process. That is, when stacking, Nebulb ignores the user-set development adjustments and applies optimal and automatic adjustments in order to always obtain the best possible result. And at the end of stacking, the user's development adjustments take effect again (they are only omitted during stacking).