Pelican two ways...

[Guest]

So the data for this was shot on Wednesday night, during an unexpectedly clear period in the early evening. These are both a stack of the same subs- 10 x 10 minutes in ha, taken with the Atik 460EX, through the Takahashi FSQ106N. However, we have both processed the data and our results are vastly differing. Therefore, we have decided to put it to the vote- which image do you like best? We're not saying whose is whose yet!! Please help us to decide which is best.

Dave and Zoe

[Paul M]

Two nice images but if I had to frame one for over the fireplace I'd go for the first (brighter) one.

The field stars are more sparklier

[Thalestris24]

Hi

First one, though something in between the two might be ideal!

Louise

[ChrisLX200]

Second one, first is a bit over-cooked for me...

ChrisH

[Martin-Devon]

I'd also go for the 2nd image, looks more natural and subtle - star size also looks better - all personal taste though. With H-alpha it's possible to push the curves time after time and end up with a bright silvery looking image if over-cooked; I'm not saying the top image has gone that far, but possibly it's going in that direction a little. Having said all this, goodness knows I've been guilty myself on numerous occasions of over-doing the curves in H-alpha with many of my images! 

Martin

[Mr Bergman]

Second one! Looks more natural. /Erik

[asmmargod]

2nd one. Looks quite mean and with an "atmosphere" of horror

[VikN46]

Hi, +1 for the second image, seems a bit more natural and I can see more nebula in the dark lane between the two main areas. Great image  regardless though

[Singlin]

The nebula of the first and the stars of the second.

[AstroGZ]

2nd one. Although both a great images!

[AstroGZ]

Sorry, both "are" great images. Can't wait to be able to edit posts.

[x6gas]

This is great data - congrats - and both are excellent but I prefer the higher contrast of the first; the second looks a little flat to me...  That said, something in between would be ideal :-)

[wxsatuser]

2nd one for me.

[Guest]

Thank you to everyone for their kind replies- it's very close but I've just edged into the lead.

Zoe

[x6gas]

Ha!  Hadn't realized it was a competition!

[Guest]

Not a competition as such- we just couldn't agree on which was the better image (we often don't in our processing) so decided to put it to the vote.

[MartinB]

Sorry to be a bit late! The second looks more like a gas cloud so gets my vote

[Phillyo]

2nd for me. I like the softer approach. Both lovely though.

[ollypenrice]

In the first one some of the faint data is clipped. Look at the dark regions. The second one has gas in there where the first one is all black. Black clipping is a serious sin!! 

However, the second one is insufficiently stretched above those nice low signal regions. That's easy to fix. In Curves, pin the faint stuff where it is, put in a subtle lift above that and then flatten the upper curve to a straight line so as to keep the stars down.

So both have their strong points but only the second one can be processed further. The faint data is lost from the first.

Olly

[Thalestris24]

I have to admit I tend to just look at things from a purely aesthetic point of view rather than a technical one. Perhaps, with more experience, I'll learn to be more discriminating and maybe do my own processing a lot better!

Louise