First Galaxy:M51

[jnc71106]

hello

this is my first go at a galaxy any and all comments welcome picture taken with equipment in my sig

50x lights 30s iso800 unguided using my eq5 synscan

20x darks 30s iso800

10x bias

Stacked in dss but apart from that I haven't done anything to the image as I'm clueless about Photoshop etc

would really welcome any comments on how i can improve the picture for next time think im in need of a coma corrector for sure

[Fenriz]

Nice first galaxy, looking forward to capturing mine. Well done.

[jnc71106]

Had a go at adjusting some levels in dss and I'm much happier with pic now. Going to try and do something in ps as well to see what else I can get from it

[JKB]

Very nice. Do you have the final stacked TIF image? I think there is more to pull out from it. Happy to have a play if you like.

Cheers

[jnc71106]

Very nice. Do you have the final stacked TIF image? I think there is more to pull out from it. Happy to have a play if you like.

Cheers

I have got it yes and I'm more than happy for you to have a go. How can I send it to you?

[JKB]

Hi PM me you email and I'll send you a link to dropbox you can upload it to.

Cheers

[JKB]

Hi

I had a little play in PS. Hope you like. Have uploaded the reworked TIF back to Dropbox for you.

Played with Curves, and got rid of the faint star trails and used RC Astro GradientXterminator.

When you finish stacking in DSS make sure the R G B all align and move them slightly right. Also click on the Saturation tab and raise it too. (I set mine at 20%)

Cheers Jamie

[jnc71106]

Thank you that's much better than I have managed to do

I'm sure in time I will learn how to use dss and ps etc

And it's encouraging to know that the detail was in there somewhere

Thanks again JKB

[JKB]

More than welcome. It is a lovely image especially as it's not with huge exposure times. Just shows what can be achieved.

Cheers

[jnc71106]

Thank you and thanks for your help. Would there be a big difference if I went up to 60 secs exposures

here is the best i could manage with ps

[JKB]

Hi

Yes 60s would be good. I did it with 90s but had to throw a lot away because of startrails. Thats a much better re-process. Without wanting to sound rude but you are taking the images in RAW mode with the 'image cleanup' setting turned off aren't you. I only ask cause i didn't once and it took me a long time to realise why I couldn't get a reasonable image!

This was mine at 90s

Cheers

[jnc71106]

Hi

Yes 60s would be good. I did it with 90s but had to throw a lot away because of startrails. Thats a much better re-process. Without wanting to sound rude but you are taking the images in RAW mode with the 'image cleanup' setting turned off aren't you. I only ask cause i didn't once and it took me a long time to realise why I couldn't get a reasonable image!

This was mine at 90s

Cheers

That's a really good pic. Yes I'm shooting in raw mode. Image clean up I'm not sure didn't even know it had that setting on the camera does that make a big difference then

[JKB]

Hi

Yes the Long exposure noise reduction. The 400d has it i'm sure. Turn it off! Then when you have finished imaging take a few darks (same ISO and Exp) and a few bias (Max shutter speed) obviously both with lens cap on.

That might make a big difference. It did to me as I didn't know I had the setting and did't know it was turned on either!

HTH

[jnc71106]

I've had a look and can't find anything in the camera menus looked online as well and there's no reference to it so I'm guessing this model doesn't have it. Maybe it's to old

Is there a ratio of lights to darks/bias/flats etc ?

[JKB]

THe EOS 400d does have it. GO to menu - custom functions (Cfn) and I think it in the second one. Has 3 modes: Auto. On or OFF

Make sure camera is set to M to find it. As for darks etc, I usually take 5 of each for 45mins total exposure. 10 for 1hr and 20 for more than an hour

HTH

[jnc71106]

Ah yes I found it now it was already set to off thank you once again

[jnc71106]

This is the final image I think I have exhausted my ps knowledge completely

[JKB]

Now thats a really nice image, well done !