First attempt at M42

[nmoushon]

So I finally figured out all the little tweaks I had to make to my SLR settings and decided to go out and shoot M42 because its the easiest one to find. Plus it was high in the sky by the time I got out.

Canon XSi with 100-300mm telescopic lens set at about 280mm for subs

100 1.6sec subs @ISO 1600

20 darks at same settings

Stacked in DSS with a decent amount of PS afterward.

If I where to take say another 100 sub and another 20-30 darks how much more would it enhance the image? Special since I have no means of tracking at the moment I'm thinking very minimal.

[msinclairinork]

Good effort! Certainly picking out the shape and the colours too!

I may be wrong (often are!) but taking another 100 or so subs I don't think will make a great deal of difference. The reason being the very short exposures. The more subs you take the better the signal to noise ratio - so cleaning up the image is what it does.

To get more signal though you need longer exposures, a faster lens or maybe a higher ISO?

If it is star trailing you are worried about, then how about doing a more wide field view of the constellation - it tends to be more forgiving when upping the exposure time. If you could even push to 10 or 20 seconds I think you would see a fair bit of difference.

hope that helps and keep at it!

Best of luck,

Michael

[LukeSkywatcher]

Cracking start. I really like this.

[nmoushon]

ISO 1600 is all my Canon has. I tried once with my friends sony, which has ISO3200, but the night sky turned orange/yellowish. I'm guessing from the tons of LP I have at my house. Can this be countered in PS or is there going to be that tint even afterward?

10-20sec exposure would require me to "zoom" out a bunch. I'm guessing between 18-35mm to keep star trails out. Would this "zooming" out make the details too small to see even after PS work?

[JimStan]

Check out this page :

Basic Astrophotography

About a third of the way down he has a chart that shows allowable exposure time for taking images without noticible star trails. Variables include angle above horizon, focal length of lens, etc.

Good luck. I think you can go a lot longer than you are going, and you will be surprised at how much more information you pick up on that target !

Jim S.

[JohnnyD333]

If you dont mind, I tried to pull out as much as I could from your image. Processing can really help, even with images with little data. I think if you push your exposure to about 20-30 seconds you will be surprised how much detail you can get. The first image is your image after I tinkered with it and cropped it, the second is an image I took of M42, same ISO, at 30 seconds, 200mm lens, through the trees, the third is the same but cropped. Since I got some star trails, stick with 20 seconds for now. Your doing a good job but push those exposures up!

[nmoushon]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Hopefully clouds will break by tomorrow night but not too hopeful. So will test several different things next time I'm out and will post my results.

Johnny-I had gotten what you got in PS but thought I was just over exposing it since it started having that green tint too it. But guess it was just my lack of knowledge. Thanks for doing that by the way.

[JohnnyD333]

Processing does help, but it only goes so far. Once its overexposed its hard to go back, but you are getting results which is most important. I always tell people to look at the SGL thread on the first image taken by each member, it puts everything in perspective and reminds you that we all start somewhere. Here is my first photo of M42 from last year and a photo of M42 from about a week ago. Just keep at it, you wont regret it. Good luck with you future photos:)

[Pete Presland]

absolutely keep at it and keep your old photo's to see the improvement you are making