first andromeda

libraryman · October 2, 2011

Hi, this is my 1st real go at Andromeda, i think i'm getting there but i can see some issues with it, i dont have a coma corrector yet but it's on my list, i can also see what i presume is amp glow bottom left!

the image is 15x300secs, with a canon 350D and astromik clip filter.

i have a lot more data i.e 4x 600 sec and 20x 120sec but i dont know how to use it.

is there a way of mixing the lights and darks to get more info?

Ray

libraryman · October 3, 2011

O.K wrong question: compressed tiff file now of 15 x 300secs subs guided with qhy5 on 50mm finder stacked in dss then (still very much learning) a small stretch in cs4,

i have some additional subs of different lenghths, are these best stacked all together with the 300sec subs or seperately then layered in cs4?

Ray

scarecrow · October 8, 2011

Hope you dont mind but a little curve in ps goes along way.

libraryman · October 9, 2011

Nope don't mind at all, i'm assuming there's some colour in there somwhere!!!

I was quite happy with it for a 1st real go at it though i can now see vignetting lots of noise and seagull stars, the amp glow seems better though.

Ray

Spikey · October 11, 2011

I like it, thats a good first attempt.

Try increasing the saturation in DSS and it should bring out the colour before saving the final TIFF.

I've had a quick play to get rid of some of the vignetting at the expense of clipping the black slightly.

libraryman · October 12, 2011

Cheers Spikey, i guess it could have been worse, the real point for me is that this is the culmination of around 2 years of building up kit, learning the ropes and fitting it in between work and weather.

i dont belive people trying this for the 1st time really consider the effort that's needed to get good consistent results whilst fitting it into a budget, it's a hard learn't skill and not an easy road at all so i'm quite pleased with the result from my basic kit and the pleasure i have reaped from my limited succsess has been worth it, this is about my 4th attempt at a target and the 1st real attempt at M31.

Thanks for the comments and processing.

Ray

Quatermass · October 12, 2011

Thats a great image for a first attempt and got my attention as i have just got a canon 350D from ebay. I think you have lot more in your data and some careful tweaking with levels and curves will really bring it all out. Theres a ton of tutorials in the photoshop sticky and I have a lot of links to good free tutorials if you need any. Cant wait to get my canon and do the same hope we can compare notes on this I love the Andomeda Galaxy and my old camera just didnt capture enough detail for me.

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk

Quatermass · October 12, 2011

Heres a great tutorial on improving the dust lanes from Astrodons site its the one called Tutorial 5. High Pass Filtering in Photoshop

Heres the link

Astrodon Imaging - Tutorials

And heres another great one if your working on Andromeda

Astrophotography by Tom Diana - Photoshop Techniques

libraryman · October 12, 2011

Cheers for that and thanks for the links, i'm useing CS4 so this is going to be really usefull for me.

Good luck when you get the 350d i contacted Andy at astronomiser and bought one of the adapters to power the camera from 12volts along with that i bought a second hand clip filter for light pollution, together those two items help me a lot.

However i admit to haveing a lot to learn, retirement next year might give me the time and I'm going to try and cool the camera some time, to get the best out of it before i commit to a more expensive camera.

i might even attempt to ruin it by diy filter removal!!!

Ray

Quatermass · October 12, 2011

Heres a load more to keep you busy please feel free to send them on to others most are in the sticky but this is about all of my bookmarked tutorials for photoshop that I have collected from the net. Warren Kellers massive dvd collection costs about 54 quid from here

http://www.iankingimaging.com/show_p...p?category=111

You need to scroll right down to the bottom to order the dvd tutorial from Warren Keller if you can afford them I cant just yet but was thinking about it as they are pretty good.His bringing out a book soon which will be worth getting for sure.

http://www.mistisoftware.com/astrono...ess_PS_ILM.htm

Atalas Astronomy

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/...300Dastro.html

ASTRO-CHAT - Astronomy :: View topic - Deep Sky Image Processing - some useful Online Resources

http://www.noir.org/tutorials/2dTuto...ics/index.html

http://www.noir.org/tutorials/2dTuto...ing/index.html

Correcting for Vignetting - Photoshop Techniques for Astrophotography

http://myastroimages.com/Astro_Imagi...ials/index.php

http://starizona.com/acb/videos/Phot...%20Basics.html

http://starizona.com/acb/videos/Phot...0Advanced.html

http://sharmaastronet.ipage.com/PS1.pdf

Compositing 2 Different Exposures via Layer Masks