Statistical Stretch vs GHS: Which Actually Works Better?

Is Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (GHS) still the king of star stretching in 2026, or does the new Statistical Stretch take the crown? In this PixInsight tutorial, we put these two powerful scripts head-to-head on deep sky narrowband data to see which one gives you cleaner stars and better nebulosity.

Achieving the perfect non-linear stretch without blowing out highlighted areas is one of the hardest parts of astrophotography image processing.

Since the publication of this video, version 2.3 has been released, but everything I go through in this tutorial is the same in both versions.

I'll walk you through:
How to install and set up Statistical Stretch 2.1.
A direct comparison: GHS vs. Statistical Stretch on the same dataset.
My final verdict on which tool belongs in your workflow.

Chapters / Timestamps:
00:00:00 The Battle for the ultimate stretch
00:01:38 Setting up Statistical Stretch 2.1
00:03:19 Statistical Stretch 2.1 features and options
00:04:45 Stretching with moderate highlighted areas
00:14:00 Statistical Stretch 2.1 vs. GHS
00:17:24 Stretching with very highlighted areas
00:20:32 My final thoughts
00:21:03 Showcase and ending

I'm Mårten, an astrophotographer based in Sweden (63° North). Subscribe for more technical deep dives into PixInsight and astrophotography!

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My images, information about my gear and contact information can be found here:
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Frosth Photography Instagram:   / frosthphotography  
Frosth Photography Youtube:    / @frosthastrophotography  
Frosth Photography Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...