Crescent Nebula reprocessed

[StargeezerTim]

No imaging here in Essex. Wall to wall clouds...forever 

So i have had a go at reprocessing an earlier crescent from a couple of months ago. 30 X 5min, iso 1600 + massive gradient 

I have improved my processing skills a bit, mainly in using layers to target bits of an image and improving colour through LAB colour in PS. Here is the original:-

Here is the new version. There is still the gradient but I can live with that! I'm convinced that processing is crucial and must say that a couple of months subscribing to Photoshop CC has made a big difference. From novice to advanced beginner!

Helpful suggestions and criticism welcome... May the weather gods be with you....

[PeterCPC]

Looks better to me. Have you tried GradientXterminator as a plug in to PS? You can have a 30 day free trial. Remember to get the correct one for your PS - 64 bit I would assume.

Peter

[StargeezerTim]

Looks better to me. Have you tried GradientXterminator as a plug in to PS? You can have a 30 day free trial. Remember to get the correct one for your PS - 64 bit I would assume.

Peter

Thanks Peter, I did try it once, it expired...could always try again I suppose. I do have the DBE tool on Pixinsight LE that I am getting slowly better at using. I also have the gradient reduction tools on Noel actions. I find that if I use gradient removal at this stage, it tends to take away most of the vibrance and colour and if I use it at the start of the process, it seems to strip the file of a lot of usable data when I later stretch. With this image, a lot of the background nebulosity dissapears when I remove the gradient. I will have a go with this image and see if I can get an acceptable result. Tim. 

[Scott]

" I'm convinced that processing is crucial ".

It's not only crucial, It makes all other aspects of imaging pale into insignificance. Ok, that might be a bit harsh but seriously, How many of us started down the path of dso imaging thought that if we could only get our rigs right then the rest would just fall in place. In my view (and i'm really only just coming to grips with it), no matter how good your raw data, if you aren't prepared to put in a lot of hard work learning and putting into place processing techniques then we just aren't going to have a polished image.

I bought a book a while back on dso imaging and on reading it I discovered the author sent his data off to be processed. how he's got the cheek to call it his image is beyond me. If I go out and buy all the bits needed for a painting and got an artist to paint something, I'd certainly not call it my painting. (I didn't finish the book)

I'd rather look at the countless images here on sgl by folks like myself. they may not be world class but they are ours .

I've noticed your imaging posts over the last few mths Tim and they're coming along in leaps and bounds so kudos to you.

[laudropb]

Definitely an improvement. You are making steady progress. Well done.

[StargeezerTim]

" I'm convinced that processing is crucial ".

It's not only crucial, It makes all other aspects of imaging pale into insignificance. Ok, that might be a bit harsh but seriously, How many of us started down the path of dso imaging thought that if we could only get our rigs right then the rest would just fall in place. In my view (and i'm really only just coming to grips with it), no matter how good your raw data, if you aren't prepared to put in a lot of hard work learning and putting into place processing techniques then we just aren't going to have a polished image.

I bought a book a while back on dso imaging and on reading it I discovered the author sent his data off to be processed. how he's got the cheek to call it his image is beyond me. If I go out and buy all the bits needed for a painting and got an artist to paint something, I'd certainly not call it my painting. (I didn't finish the book)

I'd rather look at the countless images here on sgl by folks like myself. they may not be world class but they are ours .

I've noticed your imaging posts over the last few mths Tim and they're coming along in leaps and bounds so kudos to you.

Thanks Scott and Laudropb,

I just had a go using the Soft and hard Gradient removal in Noels actions and the pixinsight LE  DBE. The DBE gave the best result. Noels hard removal action took away all colour from the background but the soft action did a bit better. Here is the DBE result...   No doubt I could do more tweaking on the background but thats it for now!