really struggling with images

[cal1985]

hi all, im really struggling with tamming out the faint nublousity in orion.. i know my setup is very basic and that a new mount is a must, but i thought i would be able to get a little more than what i have... the iso was 800 and exposures varying from 8secs to 15secs there was 48 stackable images in total and used photoshop cs4 to process.. any critism and help is much needed... thanks in advance

[astromerlin]

Hi, Well it's a good start, I think you need longer exposures and combine different exposure lengths, something i'm learning at the moment.

Compositing 2 Different Exposures via Layer Masks

hope this helps

[James.]

Looks like a good start. You could use a bahtinov mask to help focusing and perhaps select a faster ISO to get some more deatils. The 300D should be able to go to ISO 1600.

However DSOs are going to require longer exposures, and to do that you'll need good tracking and probably autoguiding of some description.

Another option to consider is lunar shots with a webcam and pehaps a barlow. That way the tracking isn't as important.

James

[Sparrow]

Hi Cal,

The amount of nebulosity that you've captured looks about right for 15 second subs at ISO800 but I think you should be able to improve it by refining your processing techniques.

Your image looks very noisy for a stack of 48 images. I suspect you've got a bit more than you think - how did you stack the subs? - did you stack them using DSS (Deepskystacker)? Also, were you saving the subs as RAW files or just jpg's ? - If jpg's, then you will lose detail.

Regards

John

[Quatermass]

Your in luck I have been working on a series of tutorials for photo shop using the orion nebula and flame nebula. I will be adding more as well so if you take a look at my blog and visit my utube channel boodlewoodle

Your going to need longer exsposures 15 second at 800 will get the core but you need to go up to 45 or 50 minimum to get more detail if you can. I suggest stacking 40 main shots ten at 30 seconds iso 1600 ten at 40 ten at 55 and ten at 60. To that add 30 darks. That should give you better results. Use the bahtinov mask to focus. Pm me if you have any more questions ;-) qm

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk

[cal1985]

hi all thank you for your input,. the images were in RAW and stacked using Registax. DSS wouldn't identify enough stars and would only stack1 image out of 166!! 48 were usable.. i have a 900nc webcam for the moon and planets. (which i love doing ) but its the faint duzzies i want to get.. i tried using iso 1600 but i found this was burning out the core. i tried on a very windy day so i will try again but when its calm. i have been able to get 40sec subs with calm weather and hours of polar alignment! god i need a good mount lol! roll on tonights lottery numbers ! thanks again to all your help.. 1 last question, is there anything that i can do in photoshop to get this anybetter?

[Quatermass]

hi all thank you for your input,. the images were in RAW and stacked using Registax. DSS wouldn't identify enough stars and would only stack1 image out of 166!! 48 were usable.. i have a 900nc webcam for the moon and planets. (which i love doing ) but its the faint duzzies i want to get.. i tried using iso 1600 but i found this was burning out the core. i tried on a very windy day so i will try again but when its calm. i have been able to get 40sec subs with calm weather and hours of polar alignment! god i need a good mount lol! roll on tonights lottery numbers ! thanks again to all your help.. 1 last question, is there anything that i can do in photoshop to get this anybetter?

Lots more you can do in photoshop to improve your images if you having trouble with deep sky stacker try the following settings its better then registax for deep sky objects for sure and check out my tutorials and blog for some tips on using the mask ect.

A good clear wind free night would be good to fingers crossed

Under stacking parameters.

Result:

select "standard mode" leave EVERYTHING else blank.

Comet:

standard stacking

Light:

Kappa-sigma-clipping

kappa set to 2.00, number of iterations set to 5.

Every thing else blank.

Dark:

select "median"

Tick "hot pixel detection

"

everything else blank.

Flat:

select median

Bias/offset:

Median

Alignment:

Automatic

Intermediate files:

Tiff

Cosmetic:

Select both detect ho

t and cold pixels.

Set hot and cold filter size to 1px.

Hot detection threshold I use 83%.

Cold detection threshold 50%

Everything else un selected

Output:

Should be ok as default settings.

In register settings, use 10% star detection threshold.

[Quatermass]

With the eq2 mount you will be struggling you really need an eq5 mount with a single ra drive motor so you can track and do longer exposures. I had the eq2 and a sky watcher 130p when I first started but moved up to the eq5 and then bought a single ra drive for it, much much better. Still with what you have I reckon you can get quite a few good shots but you will be struggling with out an RA drive motor with the tracking and will only be able to do short exposures before you get star trailing issues.

[cal1985]

Lots more you can do in photoshop to improve your images if you having trouble with deep sky stacker try the following settings its better then registax for deep sky objects for sure and check out my tutorials and blog for some tips on using the mask ect.

A good clear wind free night would be good to fingers crossed

Under stacking parameters.

Result:

select "standard mode" leave EVERYTHING else blank.

Comet:

standard stacking

Light:

Kappa-sigma-clipping

kappa set to 2.00, number of iterations set to 5.

Every thing else blank.

Dark:

select "median"

Tick "hot pixel detection

"

everything else blank.

Flat:

select median

Bias/offset:

Median

Alignment:

Automatic

Intermediate files:

Tiff

Cosmetic:

Select both detect ho

t and cold pixels.

Set hot and cold filter size to 1px.

Hot detection threshold I use 83%.

Cold detection threshold 50%

Everything else un selected

Output:

Should be ok as default settings.

In register settings, use 10% star detection threshold.

i just watched your tutiorial on the hide all layers mask.. fantastic little tip that can make such an improvement. im gonna go through them all and learn back from basics. i always find if i keep going back to say.. levels and curves, there is always something new to learn that i didn't know before hand.. your tutiorials are very good easy to understand and a great learning tool... much appreciated

[Quatermass]

Glad you liked the tutorials Im going to add more to them covering all that I have learned over the last year working in photoshop hopefully others will find them helpful. It was frustrating trying to find tutorial on photoshop as they are so scattered around so Im going to try to build up a good collection of them that cover pretty much every thing I do to work on my images. If you have any requests let me know and I will put it into the tutorials.

The tutorials are best viewed full size but I try to say what buttons and tools I am pressing and using as I go along. Might be lucky and get a clear night tonight fingers crossed..

[Rob L]

Your in luck I have been working on a series of tutorials for photo shop.

These are great, I've just watched your tutorial on "Using the histogram, levels and curves" - really helpful.

Thanks, Rob.

[Quatermass]

Thanks Rob its fun making these and hopefully it will help others. I hate learning from books and its much better when some one is able to show you what your doing. The Orion Nebula is such a wonderful subject I remember how I struggled with it in Photoshop last year so if these can ease the process then all well and good. I love this forum and the great images we get to see so this is my way of putting something back.

[dph1nm]

Your image looks very noisy for a stack of 48 images.

I agree! This does not look anything like 10mins worth of exposure. Looks more like a single 15sec one. I suspect the stacking ...

NigelM

[cal1985]

brilliant, well im ganna try and stack using DSS with the parameters mentioned above. yet again i would like to say a big thank you for all the help and tutiorials from quatermass, these i really am looking forward too. there really is nothing like being shown first hand what to do and what impact everything has.. looking like a very clear night tonight so orion is going to be a good target... also really fancy andromeda but worried i will be disapointed with the results because of my lack of tracking.