The Heart

[Shibby]

Nice, clear and moon-free last night so I was looking forward to getting some colour subs for various targets, in particular this one!

To add to my existing Ha for IC 1805, I gathered some 4min & 2min (lower ISO) subs; the idea of these being to try and maintain star colour on the brighter stars.

I combined this colour data with the Ha and came up with the following. This nebula is almost entirely Ha it seems, and it's suprising how little colour data is needed when you have a decent Ha layer for it! (I say this because it works pretty well when only comined with a few of these colour subs) Still, it takes the total integration time over 13 hours which is by far my record!

All comments & suggestiong are, as always, very welcome. I'm rather tired today so not sure my eyes are working properly!

Ha: 66x600s ISO-800

Colour: 23x240s ISO-800

Extra star colour: 18x120s ISO-400

Camera: Canon 450D, modded

Scope: Skywatcher 150PDS

Mount: Vixen GP

Guiding: Orion mini finderguider + SPC900 webcam (unmodded)

[Uranium235]

13 hours..... thats a long time! Bet youre desparate to move on now!

The only suggestion I can think of with this one is a little bit of contrast enhancement for the Ha layer, other than that - its great! Well worth the effort put in.

[Daniel-K]

lewis thats awesome it looks very deep in the middle there and the star color is great well done!

[steppenwolf]

I like this very much - keeping nice star colours when combining RGB with Ha can be challenging but I like the balance that you have achieved.

[Mark72]

Great image, Lewis!

Stars are perfect May be just a bit of local contrast enhancements.

Mark

[AndyUK]

I very much like this too - The nebula's got some lovely detail, but I particularly like the star colour you've captured / retained... and also the apparent lack of noise - Well worth the effort of 13 hours, and an excellent DSLR image...

[Gina]

Superb data in there Really lovely image Here's a tweek in PS - hope you don't mind and hope you like it

[Shibby]

Thanks all

No I don't mind at all Gina. Perhaps the image could indeed be pushed a bit further at this scale.

I will see what effect a hint of local contrast enhancement does for it too - thanks for the suggestion Rob and Mark!

[Shibby]

Ok, here's my tweaked version. Improvement? As suggested, I've used some contrast enhancement and pushed the levels a little more.

I've tried to keep the reds looking red; they usually turn a bit pink when bringing Ha into the luminance. To compensate, I add the Ha in lighten mode first, then apply more Ha luminance to the red channel than the others. Not sure I have fully achieved that or not...

There are blueish regions throughout the nebula that are just starting to show here, but mostly the Ha washes them out - maybe one day I'll get an OIII filter and try that!

[Shibby]

And here's a cropped region of interest. It almost stands up to this scale...

[Mark72]

That's is indeed an improvident, Lewis!

To remove pink cast you can also use selective color in PS.

Another way to preserve color is to add initial layer above the luminosity layer and change the mode to Soft light.

You can then play with opacity.

Mark

Mark

[Gina]

Lovely

[ollypenrice]

That's great. No other way to put it.

I say this a lot, I know, but I think there is green noise in there which PI's SCNR green would nail as would Hasta La VIsta Green, free from Rogelio's Deep Sky Colors.

Olly

[Shibby]

Your keen eye was quite correct as usual Olly! I tried out HLVG and it worked its magic. I also improved a few dodgy stars in the central cluster.

One of these days I'll get it right first time!

[AndyUK]

An excellent rework - Until you posted the HLVG'd image I didn't notice the slight green cast at all... (Well spotted Olly!)

[Gina]

Great stuff

[Uranium235]

Good rework Lewis, definitely more contrast now.