North America Nebula - feedback on the colour treatment please

[Bob Andersson]

Hi folks,

I'm currently at work on a four panel mosaic of the North America nebula. The nebulosity visible in the image below is entirely from H-alpha subs while the stars are from separate RGB exposures with the nebulosity removed.

The colour of the nebulosity has been modified from my usual deep red by using a "No Stars" version of the RGB data. That RGB image was a good deal shallower than the H-alpha data but it seemed to indicate colour shifts away from pure red in the brighter areas. As a result I used an RGB "No Stars" image, with red and a little blue added to the darker areas of the image via a curve to provide colour information that would otherwise have been lacking in the very dark areas of that RGB image, as a "Color" layer in Photoshop to modify my usual H-alpha colouration of the "No Stars" H-alpha data.

The image below is slightly cropped and one quarter scale but hopefully it is good enough for me to be able to request feedback on this method of colouration. Does it work, does it look unnatural or is it a step too far? Thanks for your time.

• 

Bob.

[ultranova]

Holy Cow , I think I now have Retinal damage, only joking, hold on a minute just letting my eyes adjust lol.

To me its over the top, buy hey beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

It does give it a 3d appearance though

Me personally I would cut the saturation down by around half. other wise nice pic

[Gina]

I think that's terrific - quite amazing - and yes a wonderful 3D effect

[Guest]

This is a toughy! Usually I like to keep the red under control but in this instance I think it works - especially if you're going to put it on the wall - I've found printing cuts the impact considerably.

It's a really accomplished image - interesting processing too.

David

[Martin-Devon]

Great image, very "deep" and detailed, I especially like the way you've brought through the stars over the nebulosity. In terms of colour, it's a tad too red for my taste, but visually it is nevertheless very impressive.

[Bob Andersson]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the feedback. The (version 1) mosaic is now up on the board in a separate thread. It turns out that some browsers aren't displaying the above image correctly with the colours way too saturated despite the colour profile being flagged as sRGB. Not a problem with Firefox, which has colour management built in, but obviously a problem for me if I want others to see my handiwork in roughly the same way as it appears to me in Photoshop. In the final mosaic I've stripped the profile info.

Bob.

[farunj]

Awesome!! Beautiful!!