I have much to learn, but has become obvious that obtaining the images is the easy part. More of my time has been devoted to figuring out how to make the images semi-presentable through the post processing software than actually defining and acquiring the targets.
My current flow is something like this:
Obtain narrowband or RGB series (FITS format).
Register and stack the various series in DeepSkyStacker (DSS), or Pixinsight (Pix).
Stretch the images in Pixinsight (histogram transformation). I have also tried FITS Liberator (freeware) for stretching.
HDR multiscale transform the separate stacks in Pixinsight.
Export as both FITS and TIFF (16 and 32 bit)…..just in case.
Import into Photoshop (PS) and set up layers for levels/curves, and color mapping.
May use Gradient Xterminator, and Topaz labs Denoise 5.
StarSpikes Pro for that artistic touch.