steviemac500

The Iris Nebula. 18 hours in total over several nights. Processing in PI. I used John Rista's NR techniques and applied some slight deconvolution. I also de-emphasised the stars using the method detailed by Adam Block. I processed the nebula separately using Starnet in PI an deliberately didn't over saturate the stars. Finally I went back and slightly darkened the background. Hope you like it, comments and criticism welcomed.

https://astrob.in/b6esyw/B/

1 hour ago, tooth_dr said:

Agree with all you wrote @Xiga, APP does a great job at mosaics.

How do you turn this off for the panels?

You just select "No LNC".

Thanks, that's good info. I'll try it later on.

Yes, sorry I missed it off my workflow. Edited now. 

You said you used mosaic/separate as the second step. You need to use register/match instead. I’m sure there’s an error in the light vortex workflow as I get the same geometry issue when I use seperate option. If you read Warren Keller’s book he used this method and it works every time. 
 

By the way, I also use APP for mosaic construction. 

I'm looking for some advice. I have never successfully created a mosaic of M31 that I am happy with. For some reason I can never quite match the intensity or the colours across the panels which you can see from the image below ( the Lum is usually ok). I'm not so worried about the seams as I know I can sort that but I do need help with the rest please.  This year I made sure to take each filter on the same night. there is approx 1.5 hours of 300s in each RGB panel (x4) although i lost a when sifting them, and the Lum has 3hours in each panel My work flow is:

1. PI - Crop the edges

2. DBE each panel

3. Transfer to APP for mosaic construction - repeat for all RGB

4. DBE agan in PI

5. Register

6. Combine, background neutralisation, colour calibration

7. Noise reduction

8. Linear fit 

9. Stretch

Any advice would be appreciated - I've included both the stars and starless versions.

Steve

https://astrob.in/d5u2sd/0/

Funnily enough it does on my phone too but the laptop is fine. 

This is a combination of 300s and 30s subs, combined using layer masks in PS. 300s - 72 L, 24 each in RGB, 30s - 160 L, 50 each in RGB. Processed in PI. Hope you like it, comments welcomed as always.

Steve

https://astrob.in/jq513s/E/

Thanks Steve. My friend pointed me in the direction of a noise reduction tutorial which massively helped. I also used starnet to work on the stars separately this time. 

I've re-processed this with more of a focus on noise reduction and star colour.

https://astrob.in/we1kpm/D/

Hi, nowhere near the standard in the recent post but here's my take on 101. As per the post below, I've opted to keep the blues muted but I couldn't get the galaxy back to the brightness i thought was appropriate after doing HDR multi scale to bring out the core, any tips? 6 hours in L, 2 each of RGB processed in PI. Thanks for looking.

Steve

This is my take on the two galaxies. Total of 20 hours, 10 in L and 3 each in RGB. I was really pleased to see the IFN do I've opted to leave in some noise so as not to damage it too much. I always find this a tricky target to get right when it comes to the core and easy to oversharpen and leave too grainy looking but I'm fairly pleased with the end result. I am wondering whether to go and gather some more data to bring out the IFN more - if you've seen Sara's shot you'll know what I mean! Comments welcomed as always.

Steve

https://astrob.in/bt6x0m/0/

I've had another go at bringing the colours back to the blue more.

https://astrob.in/0g6ubn/F/

Here's my latest take on M51. Typical issue of not knowing when to stop and never being happy with the image..... I finally decided on this one with a slightly more muted colour scheme than previous my attempts. I struggled a lot with the background, probably due to shooting under moonlight for some of the subs. 100 x 300s in Lum, 40 each of 300s in RGB. Comments and criticism welcomed as always.

Steve

https://astrob.in/0g6ubn/E/

I have the Baader 1.25” and have never experienced anything like this. 

Thanks Dave. 

Very pleased to end the year with my Rosette in this month’s Astronomy Now. 

Thank you everyone. I appreciate all your comments. 
Steve

I remember taking my first NB shot of this in Ha when I first started out. I have been waiting a few years to try this in colour so here goes.

I took 10 hours of 1200s exposures in each of Ha, S2 and O3. I did decon, MLT for noise reduction and then combined in PS and adjusted the colour balance too. I then added the Ha layer in again to get some detail back which I felt had been lost in the combination. Finally, I reduced the magenta stars, SCNR and colour saturation. I thought about extra sharpening but then decided that I liked the softer look.

Hope you like it, c&cs welcomed as always.

https://astrob.in/ag6u0y/0/

Thank you all!

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the positive comments. 

This is my take on M42. It's an HDR image with a mixture of 300s and 10s in L and RGB. I also used 20mins and 10s in HA then used this to enhance the detail. Total of around 23 hours. 

Hope you like it! Hi res below.

https://astrob.in/q734k5/0/

Thanks Olly. 

I can never resist this target - one of the most beautiful in the sky. This my latest take on the Seven Sisters - total of 12 hrs, 6hrs of 300s in Lum and 2 each in RGB. Hi res link below. Hope you like it.

https://astrob.in/ro1vs3/0/

1 hour ago, Xplode said:

You should look at the alignment of the stars again, it's possible to get it much better, you might want to look into what order you do things when you splice the panels

I've used PCC and got the standard blue color, i think your images color is affected by the misalingment of the stars since they are used for the color calibration.

Thanks for the comments. I'm aware of the issues with the star alignment but it's only in one section of the mosaic. It's a simple fix by increasing the RNSAC tolerance - I just didn't take enough care first time round! When I add the HA I'll take a bit more care.

What I am really interested in is people's thoughts on the final colour as I said above, there seems to be a conflict about blue or brown.