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How do you feel about your images?

swag72

By swag72
in Imaging - Discussion

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Quatermass

Quatermass

Posted
Posted

I do the best with what I have but lately I have less intrest in producing a wonderful looking image and more intrest in using my SLR camera to find galaxys and take a closer look at them. Take m77 for instance, Almost impossible to see well in the telescope but by taking shots with my slr and processing them in deep sky stacker and photoshop I can see it really well. Its like a second way to observe and study faint objects.

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk

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rocketandroll

rocketandroll

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I must admit to being quite chuffed with some of my pics.... though as others have said... with time, I look back and I'm gradually less chuffed :-)

Having only started out on this hobby in March last year (must get used to 2011 being 'last year'!) with the target of taking a vaguely recognisable photo of a nebula and one of a galaxy within my first year.... I think I have significantly surpassed all of my original expectations...

The trouble is... your expectations are always one step further ahead of your skills and your budget :-)

I think the real big thing for me is... I'm now happy to show my images to other astro geeks without feeling I have to appologise for them being bad because I'm a newbie :-)

Ben

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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But the driving me bonkers bit doesn't show cos I've always been bonkers.

Goes with the territory, Olly - just think what we put ourselves through for a picture of something we can't even see to verify that we have captured it correctly - bonkers? - oh yes but bring it on matron!!

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johnrt

johnrt

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I stay in the imaging game for nights like tonight......

It's been clear as a bell all day and I don't have to be in work early tomorrow - just as it's gone dark a cloud bank has rolled in so I'm going to to renew my bias calibration frames.

Awesome!!!

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Tim

Tim

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Oh good question Sara, why do you ask?

Ironically, the best images I have taken in my obsy, are ones that I have never posted or shared or even shown anybody. The reason being that they are technically very accomplished, are two hours long, and show up extremely faint Ha emissions around planetary nebulae. Not exactly exciting, and not at all pretty, but really hard to achieve.

As for the rest, can't say I've ever been 100% happy with them, when you take them you know for a fact there are things that could have been better, even if you fix them in processing.

Look at it this way, even the Hubble processing team have seen fit to have some of their images reprocessed by selected individuals....... :icon_salut:

Keep it up, you soon reach a level of "Actually, that's not too bad at all!"

:p

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swag72

swag72

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Great replies folks - Good to see a whole raft of comments here.

Why do I ask Tim? Ho hum!!

Because I don't think I am the personality type to keep rising to the challenge day after day to produce that good image. I see the world in black and white, grey is a very hard colour for me! Capturing the image is the easier part, you've either got the data or you haven't. You can go through a list of things to improve your data capture - It's a right / wrong task.

Processing however, does my blumming head in. I like to see an end product and I like to follow pre-determined steps to get there. I like to know that if I do something, the consequence will be x and y. Processing is so full of variables, all changing, what is good for one image of one type isn't good for the next image of the same type.

I find it very frustrating, and not in a bonkers matron way - Just plain annoying and depressing. As I have yet to produce an image that I am pleased with, I wondered if everyone else felt the same!

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Sara, it is screamingly obvious that you are PRECISELY 'the personality type to keep rising to the challenge day after day to produce that good image.' Don't fight it. You are, like those who have responded, hooked on the beautiful journey.

Just don't imagine that it has a final destination.

Infinity and beyond............................

Olly

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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I too always prefer to find repeatable processes / recipes wherever I can - A year or so ago I tried to document a set workflow that would work for all images... but with all the variables associated with this imaging lark, I finally decided it wasn't really possible... (If it were, I guess it would be possible to create a script to run automatically each time - Oh how simple that would make things!)

In the absence of a single repeatable process, I'm slowly trying to accumulate a list of different processes that can be used (many gleaned from the SGL boards) so that I can then pull down from that as and when I come across a situation that might benefit from it. However, for me, levels and curves seem to be pretty much the main element, and now that I've discovered Registar (thanks Olly!) that certainly takes all the pain out of channel registration...

However, I still can't stop the feeling that I'm mostly scratching around in the dark after that and could possibly do a LOT better with the data that I've collected... but I don't think there is only one way to process data to get the same result, and similarly I think there are many ways to get a "satisfying" image out of the data, even if it isn't necessarily to everyone's (or anyone elses) taste :).

I'd hazard a guess that if we were all to look back at our first image (which we were probably totally chuffed to bits with at the time) we'd now all pick a multitude of holes in it... and realise how much we'd now learnt since then. But if I look at some of the amazing images posted on the boards here, I realise just how much more there is to learn... or simply accept that there are some that really are well beyond my reach as I either don't have the resources, the skies, the time or the committment (let alone the skills!). I therefore decide to enjoy the hobby as much as I can anyway... (although I'll admit that there are times when the weather really, REALLY gets me down and I feel like selling the whole lot to fund a hobby significantly less frustrating and much less expensive!)

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James

James

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I've reserved judgement on most of my images. :roll eyes: In every case within a month or two of taking them and processing them I learn a new processing trick that would improve the previous picture but which then reveals it'd be nice to have a little more data or that some of the data isn't quite right etc.

For those of us afflicted in any way with OCD it can be a bit of a nightmare but it's a hell of a challenge and I know everything I've done can be improved and usually over time is gradually improved. I'm usually happy in the end to leave an image as it is and use it as a benchmark to compare future images.

I guess what the last two paragraphs really mean is that I think my images always have room for improvement but as long as I can improve them I'm quite happy with them... if you see what I mean...

James

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SPOD

SPOD

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I am having problems with taking images with my set up. What I can see with my eye I am reasonably happy with ( maybe more lenses etc will help ) but.....one of the problems is, is that even though I have read Registax, or Astrocapture...it is not in a Numpty Language, Monkey see Monkey Do format which I can understand. :):icon_scratch:

I read and read until my eyes water but still don't get it.

I wont give in, but I do find it frustrating....makes matters worse when I see what you guys put up on the Forum. ;):icon_salut:

Gives me something to aspire to though.

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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A year or so ago I tried to document a set workflow that would work for all images... but with all the variables associated with this imaging lark, I finally decided it wasn't really possible...

I love the post-processing part of this game and the really good bit about this aspect of imaging is the above point, every image is different and requires a unique set of processing steps. Post-processing is the one aspect of imaging that I do still get better at as time goes by as I learn new techniques - it is this challenge that keeps me playing.

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Sam

Sam

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Generally I'm pretty happy with my images. I have modest kit so I'm usually quite pleased with what can be produced when compared to more expensive kit. I don't get out anywhere near enough of the time to make the most of the good weather - mainly because I have a big family and a busy job and have to balance things.

Though I'm happy with my images I'm always looking out for how to improve them - mainly how to improve guiding and stretching my kit as far as it can go.:)

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NickK

NickK

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Frustrated. :)

I spent this evening doing most things correct - except leaving the lens cap on to reduce the aperture to 2" for Jupiter.. then 6x10 minute guided images of M45 wasted lol. I'm almost at the point now I can sit on the sofa next to the missus and have the scope imaging outside.

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Jessun

Jessun

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I am so new to this that every tiny step is a hurdle, but it's rewarding to overcome these hurdles one by one. It's just amazing to have an entire Universe sending photons our way as an eternal treat. Like a private fire works display in slow motion.

I struggle with the lack of opportunity to image more - mainly weather related and this is a bit like being denied a sugar fix or something similar. That's all that annoys me. Once the subs start stacking I am really pleased regardless of the odd 'mistake' made in the process.

Maybe with experience the bar is raised for a 'fix' or the sence of achievement, but for a beginner it's really rewarding. So I feel fine about my images, all of them. But then when I want to see a good one I need to log onto SGL! Phenomenal skills on here!

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Tim

Tim

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Wow, great quote Luke!!

Think that sums it up Sara.

Of all the variables with DSO photography, the least varying are narrowband nebulae. Its the same steps time after time.

But galaxies, clusters, planetaries.......they all require a certain touch.

You just need to find what suits your personality best, and then practice. The more you do, the more enjoyable it becomes because routines become easy.

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reddoss

reddoss

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I am never satisfied with an image. Like many others here, I spend hours tweaking them in PS. Unfortunately, many of the difficulties we face can only be really solved by throwing money at the problem i.e. a Paramount SE instead of an EQ6. As this is not a realistic or affordable choice for most, we just have to make do with the equipment we have and the locations where we live and learn from others, thanks to sites like SGL. All of which makes me think that astroimaging would not be as popular as it is without the aid and assistance given via the internet. I'm sure many people would have given up long ago otherwise.

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MikeD

MikeD

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The main issue I have with my images is knowing that before the post processing even starts, I could have done better.

It's things like, knowing the the sky conditions were less than perfect for a given target. Being surrounded by houses on all sides so that RGB work is always going to be affected by which house had its upstairs lights on during which set of exposures.

But at the end of the day they are still my images of beautiful objects in the night sky and I am always pleased that I took the time to take them, and sometimes it dose all come together, good skies, no back garden spotlights on and Low wind.

Mike.

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