NGC 6960 - Veil Nebula

[PhoenixRising]

12 x 5 minutes,

20 darks,

20 flats,

20 bias.

My second "proper" attempt. Am having problems getting what I see on screen to match what outputs as a jpeg though. In the image theres alot of blue stars and its a bit harshly processed, but on my screen, it looks loads better. I've monkeyed around with colour settings in CS but to no avail. Anyone any idea? Any tips gratefully appreciated.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/36181193/ngc6960.jpg

What it looks like on my screen:

[ollypenrice]

There is a lot of green in there. In narrowband the nebula shows strongly in O111 (green) but here you have green stars as well. Firstly have a look at the histogram in all colours individually. As a rule of thumb the top left of each peak should be lined up. Then I'd use curves to lower the green and raise the blue, for a guess.

I don't have LP so I can't be much help other than that.

Olly

[Simms]

Yes, to see how it will look when posted to jpeg - in Photoshop, click on

View -> Proof Setup -> Monitor RGB

You can use CTRL-Y to toggle between soft-proofing on and off - but if you are primarily processing for the web then keep it on.

However, you may find that your images are not profiled or do not have a colour profile attached to them.. If the proofing thing doesnt work, let me know and we`ll see how to drag your images into a standard gmaut such as sRGB or AdobeRGB.

We could also go into colour managed browsers and how that can affect what you see, but for now this should help you.

Be aware, this will NOT alter anything in your file, its purely for seeing how images will output to certain formats - I use it when designing albums - I download a printer profile from my album manufacturer and with a properly calibrated screen what I see on screen matches what the prints look like EXACTLY! (Handy when an album costs me in the region of £500 cost).

Hope this helps!

Al

[PhoenixRising]

Many thanks Simms,

I've left the proofing on as you said. I also downloaded a Samsung profile and driver for my monitor and added it to windows and assigned the profile in CS4 now everything matches up, thank you for putting me on the right path, I've wasted hours on this. I have to say, it's been horrendously frustrating taking up this hobby, I've had to be patient as there's alway hurdles EVERY step of the way! So many thanks. One question, if leaving "proof colours" ticked, allows me to see how its going to look for the web, will it not print like that also? What's the point of unticking it?

[Simms]

No, the monitor profile is for monitor/web viewing only, printed will look very different (for example, the luminescence cannot be replicated on printed medium, a bright red or florescent green on the screen will print as a darker/flatter colour) , that's why you need to download a profile for your printer, however this is also dependent on the inks you use, the paper stock and also making sure your printer is properly calibrated - however this is best reserved for when printing for profit and not pleasure, the best way of finding a profile that matches your printer (for casual use) is to print off an image on your printer, hold it up against your screen, then select the various soft-proof profiles available as default until you get a near match - then just use that when processing for print.

DO NOT get this confused with the colour spaces and profiles that can be found under EDIT -> COLOUR SETTINGS in photoshop, NEVER select your monitor profile as your RGB working space, its probably best to leave this as sRGB (IEC61966.xx) - actually its probably just best to select the `Europe General Purpose 2` for day to day use. Colour management and profiles was the biggest single headache for me when processing and printing for a living.

Sorry for going on, buts its a tricky subject to convey without ballsing up all your other settings.

[roundycat]

As an aside, I would dig into the Windows Display settings and choose a much darker grey for your application background. No point in being blinded by it.

Dennnis

[PhoenixRising]

thanks guys