A little help..

[andyhicks]

Hi everyone,

Im hoping some of you could help me out a bit?! I managed to get a bit of scope time last night and have my first subs of M42. Orion nebula was partly the reason I got into AP and after two years of waiting and building up kit ive had my chance, shame the conditions were bad and EVERYTHING went wrong!!

Still, ive got an image which 'resembles' M42 so Im quite happy and a little proud Just the subs were getting me excited. Right, so.. i only had a short window of about an hour from when it popped out from behind a tree and then dissapeared behind a house and we've established conditions were'nt good so I managed 14 subs @ 1min10 with 5 darks, 9 bias and 9 'flats'. I stacked them up in DSS and then did my best to process the result.

My effort at least is better than the final image DSS gave me (although some detail is sharper in the unedited), Im aware of how tricky processing actually is and need lots of work. If you wouldnt mind im looking for people to see what they can do with it, that way i will know what potential/limitations this particular image has and I can learn a few things!

Theres a few things im not happy with, and i dont think there is anything particularly good about this image, but its my first M42 so an exciting time for me. I wont say what I dont like about it as id like to see what others come up with. I suppose what im looking for is a distinction between how good an image actually is to what can be done in processing, for example, i think ive done all i can do but if someone does better then I know more processing skills are required rather than subs or a new bit of kit!

Just getting the hang of posting up images so here are the links to my new flickr page!

The unedited TIFF:

noeditresize | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

and my effort:

M42 Orion Nebula | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

If anyone can help me Id really appreciate it! Thanks

Andy

[andyhicks]

I keep looking at it and Im unhappy with the quality of the background, I know its not supposed to be solid black but its a bit mottled and not flat..best way I can describe it..

[Martin-Devon]

V2 secondeditresize | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I've probably over-sharpened it a bit.....

You'll likely receive dozens of versions!

[andyhicks]

More the merrier!

I like that a lot, it's a lot crisper and the background is nice and solid. I need to look up how to sharpen, I've seen the tool in GIMP but it seems when I fiddle with things like that... Nothing happens! Either it's my coarse vision or it's very subtle changes. I can't seem to see any difference!

Thank you very much you've alreay shown me it can be a lot better! Now I need to replicate what you did!

Andy

[JohnnyD333]

Hey Andy,

I think you have a great shot of Orion, especially your first effort. You should be happy you got something, many people (including myself) get very poor results their first time. If it makes you feel better, there is a whole thread on this site dedicated to our first images, we tend to forget that we all started somewhere.

Anyway, back to your photo. There is a descent amount of noise in the image. The best way to deal with this is to take many subs and many darks, Im talking at least 15 of each. Sadly, our DSLRs will produce noise because they are not cooled like their CCD brothers. You happen to have a Canon and I believe there is software to help you program the camera to take darks automatically. I have a Nikon and do it manually, its a real pain.

You also have the processing end of imaging. With an image like this, you can use software to remove the noise (Noiseware has a free trial), it works surprisingly well but is no replacement for darks. I would also use GIMP (its free) or, if you have the money, Photoshop or Pixinsight to pull out the details of your image. There are tutorials on the web and on this site for these programs. It is a steep learning curve, however, in my experience its all about taking images and practicing the craft. Keep at it and good luck. I posted your image after I ran it through Noiseware and GIMP, I know you wanted a darker background:)

[Martin-Devon]

Nice image JohnnyD333 - out of interest how did you post a JPEG file in a "reply" message to a thread. All I could find were links to URL's (so web-based) to add a picture to a reply?

[JohnnyD333]

I clicked on Andy's image, then right clicked, and saved the image to my computer. When I replied, I clicked the "Go Advanced" button under the comment box and went to "manage attachments". From there I chose the edited photo in my documents folder and uploaded it. Give it a shot, thanks for the compliment:)

[Martin-Devon]

Got it! Thanks for the tip. Your version is definitely smoother than what I have done below.

[Cloudwatcher]

A sharpened and darkened version..........shows a bit more detail but may have overdone it.......