M42 composite

[Spikey]

My first attempt at a composite and I thinik it's turned out quite well.

The long exposure image is a stack of approx 1.5 hours of 3 min subs, ED80 pro with 0.8 F/R, Canon 1000D controlled with APT & SW LP filter. Guided with ST80, Atik 16ic and PHD.

Short exposures are 10 x 20-30 seconds with the same equipment.

Darks and flats applied to both sets of images and stacked in DSS.

I used PS 7 and followed a layer mask tutorial to achieve the end result.

I have akso tweaked the levels and curves but only very slightly as my meddling only seemed to make the picture look worse.

[cloudbuster]

nice one spikey....very impressive! just woke up to yet another clear moonlit sky, so won't be doing this target just yet!

[Black Knight]

Very nice Spikey, I bet you're pleased with that. I'm itching to have another go at this myself .

[PaulB]

Very nice Spikey,

Lovely detail, and your guiding looks spot on.

[duncan.p]

Very nice..........

[Telrad]

A phenomenal image of M42 Spikey! Excellent

[SJJ]

Really nice image Spikey.

[Spikey]

Thanks for the positive comments. I've oriented the picture now and added a touch more colour at the expense of a touch of nebulosity but I think it gives it a slightly more contrasty look.

I'm keen to add a load more data to this as I'm sure like many of us it was the first nebula I had ever oggled through the EP

[Gra]

Well done Spikey, thats quite impresive.

[ollypenrice]

Very good indeed. Have you tried a softer stretch for the Trapezium? I suspect there is more data in there.

Olly

[Catanonia]

Congrats mate, well on your way and nicely done with the differing sub lengths to bring out the core. You have started to master the basics, onwards and upwards now.

Great image

[Quatermass]

Great job spiky lovely image

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk

[Spikey]

I did try to add some more data but the clouds scuppered most of my subs so instead I've had a final play and stretched the trapezium layer mask slightly more. Also knocked down a bit of the RGB and a touch of Red to try and improve the noise.

Thankyou for the kind comments and advice I have received, it is appreciated.

[dave_galera]

Looking better each time you have a go at, really good detail in the core area now, and the noise is much reduced. Great image.