I think you'll find the Histogram Transformation tool to be the best choice. It gives you manual control and you can tweak it, see the outcomes as you go, and refine it on the Curves tool. Keep an eye out for the Curves video that I am going to make soon. It is the other half of the equation.

I am glad you found it useful. It definitely makes the whole process a lot easier and puts you back in control.

The internet can be full of toxicity. I've long since decided just to mute trolls and move on without giving them further thought.

It's the curves where you want to do your fiddling, and when you learn curves the fiddling goes very fast.

That makes perfect sense. An emotional connection is a perfectly valid reason to enjoy a style.

I wish I could help you here, but not being color blind I don't think I could give you good experience-based advice. There are so many other elements to color that also need to be adjusted, such as saturation, vibrance and temperature. Where the black point begins is just one part of that equation.

Manually stretching the histogram through the HT tool allows you to have precise manual control. Over time, you will learn to recognize relevant data vs optional data and/or noise on the histogram and can control what you want to incorporate. You can choose whether to stretch to keep all the information or reduce for contrast. You can see the outcomes immediately. It's all in your control. The curves tool takes this further and gives you additional refined control over the light curve. Automation isn't always better; sometimes it's just automated. PixelMath is okay for recompositing plates back together but it essentially just does something like a screen or overlay composite. With Affinity Photo (and there are probably other good tools for compositing plates back together) you can see the outcomes live as you sample each compositing method. This can lead to some interesting and occasionally very nice results you wouldn't have otherwise gotten. In future videos, I will cover these points further.

@@neverfox Sorry, I thought you were referring to that GHS script for PixelMath in the top right of my desktop, third icon down from the right, visible in most any of my editing videos. I tried the script and didn't care for the outcomes. Haven't used it in ages. I dabbled a bit with the GHS tool you're referring to but felt it was unnecessary. The HT tool stretch isn't finicky; it's use is straightforward and it can be made in a few seconds. Good old HT just seems a more elegant tool for the job to me.

Exactly! I cannot figure any worthwhile reason to go about using GHS. It is just reinventing the wheel, or, in this case, the curves tool, which is a much more elegant and precise tool for the same task.

PixInsight and Affinity Photo.