Oh Joy! finally using PI on M42...

[cloudbuster]

Ive finally worked out why my M42 lacked any real colour...a result of using DSS badly. Now i'm starting to learn the basics, PI, along with the help of Harry's tutorials, is a joy to use...and after nearly a year, its about time:

failand 16.1.12

skywatcher 200pds 8"

Canon 40d

CLS light pollution filter

800 asa

11 subs 15 sec

10 subs 30 sec

10 subs 1 min

10 subs 2 min

10 subs 4 min

5 subs 5 min

darks as above, but with only 10 darks at 15 sec, instead of 11

40 bias 1/8000th sec

50 flats 1/250 mode

stacked in DSS

Processed in Pixinsight

Hoping very much that you like the image...please give me your comments.

cheers

bob

[Simms]

Thats a wonderful image of M42 - any chance of a linky to those tutorials?

[Daniel-K]

this is how im trying to get mine to look but just cant may i what you mean by using DSS badly?

[AndyUK]

That's much better saturation Bob - Now you know "the secret", there'll be nothing to stop you now...!

[Ibbo!]

Very nice

and the background is not jet black as a lot of PI processed images appear on my monitor,and I much prefer this

is it me and my monitor that makes me think that PI(and I have tried it)makes the background sky look very black

[Zul]

Awesome!

[ollypenrice]

That really is very good indeed, isn't it. Strong,subtle colour, gentle, natural processing.

I'm quite certain, though, that with your short subs you could get even closer into the Trapezium. PI has great tools but, for me, high dynamic range on M42 is still best done using Ps and layer masks;

Compositing 2 Different Exposures via Layer Masks

Anyway, a fine image of one of the great, but most difficult, objects.

Olly

[Beardy Bob]

Sorry, I might have missed someting here, but what is PI?

[angusb1]

Each rework is bringing a better image Bob Liking the colour in this one.

[angusb1]

Sorry, I might have missed someting here, but what is PI?

PixInsight is an image processing tool

[Looking Up]

Good image! PI is an excellent program, and with Harry's tutorials its easy to create a simple work-flow,the more complex stuff is another story.....

Spencer

[Tom OD]

Here you go Simms The link to Harrys tutorials http://www.harrysastroshed.com/pixinsighthome.html

Tom

[cloudbuster]

Thanks for the comments guys...and thanks TOM OD for adding the link....i just aint had the time! and Melibum, in answer to your query...im no expert on DSS. i just used the recommended settings, but when saving the resulting image in DSS, I chose the bottom of the two options (cant remember what they were called tho!!!!!). saturation was set at 15%.

hope this helps.

cheers

bob

[SlipperySquid]

Great shot mate, it's nice when things start falling in to place

Matt.