How to combine images to prevent core 'burn out'

[Vega]

Having processed and stacked RAW shot's of the Orion Nebula. I have one final image showing loads of detail of the outer part's of the nebula but a burnt out core. I have another which shows the detail in the trapezium etc quite well but obviously less detail elsewhere due to quicker exposure times etc...

How would I go about combining the two to show the core along with the outer detail ? (I have Paintshop Pro). I have tried adding a duplicate layer, setting the opacy to 50% and cutting and pasting a feathered part of the core but when the layers are combined you can clearly see an edge to the pasted section ... looks horrible.

Any help would be great.

Matt

[MikeD]

Here is the info you need.

http://www.astropix.com/HTML/J_DIGIT/LAYMASK.HTM

Mike.

[Vega]

Just the ticket, thanks Mike

Had a play and results are great

[radioactive]

Just the ticket, thanks Mike

Had a play and results are great

Would love to view the result if you can

[Vega]

Original Image

Original with short core exposure combined

I need to get more practise in with playing with the mask. It's more tricky with Paintshop pro as the mask is invisible on screen most of the time. I've managed to burn out the bright stars to the left a bit, not sure how I did that.

Matt

[Albireo380]

Great combined image Vega, and top marks for asking the question. I had been wondering myself. Also, good link Yfronto - saved me lots of time by providing a great link.

So ... thanks to both of you (he then retires "thanked out".

Tom

[Beyond_Vision]

Thanks for the excellent link Mike and nicely put into practice Matt.

Regards

Kevin

[Vega]

Hi Kev... I did my successul combine by interpreting your guide and using Paintshop Pro 8. However, I installed Photoshop CS3 to have a go with that and having probs enabling the gaussian Blur filter on the layer mask. The filters are all greyed out unless I use the 'convert for smart filters' option. But doing this messes up the layers (the mask seems to dissappear). Which version of Photoshop does your guide refer to ?

Matt

[centroid]

I thinks that's an incredibly good result for a first go at combining diffferent exposure length subs Matt.

Well done indeed.

Dave