Sword of Orion: 22.5 hours with a DSLR and CCD

[Mik3]

Fantastic image, one to be proud of.

[SkyJamie]

They are all brilliant Rob but i think the last image you posted is the best, awesome

Jamie

[Uranium235]

Thanks Jamie, if i get a chance this weekend i will try to put together a more definitive version minus the halos. I have a lot of data, so there is room for tinkering if i take my time with it.

[Chris]

Absolutely wonderful! your hard work and time spent is apparent because these are amazing!

[peter shah]

super image, great detail

[ollypenrice]

Really great stuff and that's what you have to do, work at it. The tweak towards blue has balanced it for me. Bravo. Quickies are quickies. This isn't a quickie.

Olly

[Nibor]

Amazing images!! - Very inspirational !!

[mytola]

This is really inspiring - I've been dreaming of doing something like that with my cameras. Thanks for sharing!

[Optical Dob]

Been waiting for this. I agree that the last image that you have posted is the best. Outstanding work. BTW I haven't a clue what most of you are talking about on this part of the forum but I know a great picture when I see one.

[Uranium235]

Really great stuff and that's what you have to do, work at it. The tweak towards blue has balanced it for me. Bravo. Quickies are quickies. This isn't a quickie.

Olly

Thanks Olly

Thats exactly what ive learnt this week. Something like this cant be just stacked and thrown together quickly thinking that because its DLSR colour, it will be already balanced.... I was so wrong! The lessons learnt from this one are something I can carry forward and expand on. I'll probably have the data set with me at SGL8, so if anyone wants to poke around with it threy're quite welcome to (just in case its cloudy.... but it wont be.. I hope!).

Hang on....thats a bit of a brainwave. If it does turn out to be a bit cloudy, maybe there should be a processing challenge or data sharing session.... assuming we're not all wearing the old beer (or cider/wine/vodka) goggles.

[earth titan]

Respect. Just goes to prove - If it's worth doing, its worth doing well.

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

[RikM]

Lovely image Rob, that last iteration is a peach It shows you really do have to put in the effort to get out the result. Well done that man

[Uranium235]

Cheers Rik I had another play about with the data last night by splitting the DSLR into its separate chanels and treating it like LRGB. Ive managed to improve the colour a bit more and deal more effectievly with those halos that popped up when pushing the blue data by using the magic wand in ps to select the stars affected, then just desaturated that particular shade of blue.

[Anweniel]

You've really given this one the treatment Rob, for me the second attempt sorted the colour and gave a tremendous amount of definition to the darker gaseous regions. The third rendition gives a huge amount more detail and you can really see how busy the region is. As Olly says some of the processing really is a question of taste and for me I prefer the second attempt in that some of the brighter detail is swamped by the sheer mass of dust brought out in the third and is much more colourful than the first.

Truly magnificent though - all versions, I think the best Orion I have seen this season.

[Uranium235]

Truly magnificent though - all versions, I think the best Orion I have seen this season.

Thanks But its nowhere near Ollys rendition.

Hopefully I can carry all this data over to next year and just keep adding to it. A complete CCD luminance layer would be a nice addition, but for a DSLR image (slightly supported by CCD) its exceeded my expectations.

[stargazer1960]

Beautiful image striking colour and detail.