M51 from SGL7 (Spiral in the mist)

[RikM]

The thin high cloud made a mess of my 7.5min subs but I'm glad I stuck at it because I got something out of it at least.

What do I need to do to improve this one? I feel I'm lacking colour and sharpness in the galaxy.

[Gina]

Lovely image

[RobH]

I like that a lot Rik.

It's very naturally processed and remarkably deep.

Great stuff

Cheers

Rob

[Anweniel]

Honestly, does it need improving Rik? Its a great image

[Chris]

Not Sharp? looks very sharp to me, even the edge on galaxy in the background looks sharp, great image!

[Frogpills]

Pesky high cloud eh!

The colour and sharpness are good in my opinion.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone around here who is totally 100% happy with their images. When looking at their own images I'm sure many peeps will ponder the 'I wonder if i just ...' train of thought.

[Black Knight]

Looks pretty good to me as well. Very nice image Rik

[Stargazer Jack]

Nice image, well done despite the cloud.

[Quatermass]

Looks good to me Rik you could try using highpass filter with hide all layer mask on the dust lanes but it looks pretty sharp already.

[Gina]

I think that's a great result. To be able to do as well as that with thin cloud is amazing.

[RikM]

Looks good to me Rik you could try using highpass filter with hide all layer mask on the dust lanes but it looks pretty sharp already.

Thanks.

It's already had high pass filter, local contrast enhancement using curves, selective colour tweak, and a saturation boost all layered in using masks. I used match colour set to neutralise on the background. This as far as I felt I could push the data without it turning too noisy.

I think I just need more contrast in the raw data to work with.

[Gina]

Gosh, you certainly worked hard to get all you could from your raw data - that is a very good result - well done

[RikM]

Here's a single sub (resized only) to show what I started with. 7.5 min at ISO1600 with an unmodded 1000D. The final stack was 38x of these.

[Gina]

Um... where?

[RikM]

Um... where?

It's a URL link dropped in. It shows on my screen but sometimes they don't show up for a while.

Here's a normal attachment.

[Gina]

Thank you Yes, just shows how stacking really dredges the detail out

AND... should give encouragement to beginners to take lots and lots of subs and stack them - the results can be amazing

[Beyond_Vision]

Thats come rather well Rick I bet you are glad you did stick at it. Very nicely processed too

Regards

Kevin

[Adz]

Wow gorgeous detail in the spiral arms from pictures that start out so red and washed out, well done

[Jessun]

I used match colour set to neutralise on the background.

Rik could you tell more about this? (I'm new to PS)

Cheers

[RikM]

Rik could you tell more about this? (I'm new to PS)

Cheers

In the final tiff after stretching I ended up with quite bad colour gradients on the right and bottom of the picture. I made a star layer (search martinb's tutorials for this) then duplicated the background and cloned out the galaxy(s). With the duplicate layer selected go to Image->adjustments->match colour. Then you check the box that says 'neutralise' and adjust the colour saturation or colour intensity (can't remember exact name) and decrease it a bit until the background looks better. Then using a layer mask and paintbrush on the mask, let your galaxies show through and set the star layer on top. It is quite easy to get it wrong and end up with a bright red galaxy on a grey background so be gentle is the key.

This is a new technique for me too and I am just learning. there is a nice video tutorial on Astronomy shed that shows how to do it, but I thought they got some bits wrong so tried my own similar way and it seemed to work okay. Next image if I have the same gradients I will try and refine the method. It didn't work with my M101 image though, it made the background too green??? Probably I did something wrong.

[Pete Presland]

a mess ? i could always post my feeble effort but then again.nice image well done

[JimStan]

Post #15 looks a LOT like my efforts ! :-(

Jim S

[Uranium235]

This was with the 150P and the 1000d?

If so, it will give me another reason to hang on to mine nicely done!

[RikM]

Yes, unmodded 1000D+MPCC and 150P single speed on an NEQ6 with a QHY5 finder guider.

I think it's a really nice scope. I have done a couple of trial runs with the 250PX now though and get much smaller sharper stars, so I can see myself doing more with the bigger scope in future. I don't know if that's simply down to the better resolving power of the larger mirror?

[Uranium235]

I would think it would also have something to do with the fact that youre losing a smaller % in apeture to a central obstruction with the 250, hence more contrast. But having said that, you cant cart out a 250 at a moments notice like you can with the 150P