My best so far..

[all-on-black]

Here's an image i've taken of M42.

What are your thoughts?

Unguided, no filters, taken using a modified Canon 450d on a skywatcher explorer 150pds eq5 pro synscan. polar aligned using align master and eqmod.

15 x 150sec lights

15 darks

15 bias

15 flats.

I know there is bad gradients, and the colour may be a bit too much. My neighbours treat their kitchen light as a strobe any time i'm in the garden which is great for creating gradients in my images.

This was the first time i've processed in PS, using PS2 after stacking in DSS.

Opinions very welcome!

[valvenus]

wow that's beautiful well done

[all-on-black]

Thanks, I forgot to also say that it was at ISO 200.. I was worried about the light pollution but I managed to process nearly all of it out, so next time i'll go for ISO 400 and hopefully get more detail.

Then I need to understand the idea of layering a more detailed/less blown out trapezium!

[ollypenrice]

Certanly I'd back off the colour saturation by a long way but this is a good crack at a remarkably hard target.

Pixinsight has the best anti-gradient weapon, Dynamic Background Extraction. But Gradient Xterminator for Photoshop is good value as a plug in.

For layer masking different exposure times some old gimmer   wrote a How To for Astronomy Now, Jan 2014 editiion, or you can find a good explanation here, though later Ps versions differ slightly. http://www.astropix.com/HTML/J_DIGIT/LAYMASK.HTM

Olly

[oldpink]

right now I can only dream of pictures like that

[Langy]

Very nice.

[Twiggles]

Very nice. If you want some other tips, check out this months Sky at Night magazine, has a feature on photographing M42 and some processing tips.

[Robbo AR]

That's a great picture , really nice.

If you are after Photoshop processing tips I heartily recommend this guy's youtube channel , I've learned loads through watching his videos.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvLpugEDmDVQr1JDptAsbQg

[Dreadz]

Great pic. Well done

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[VikN46]

Great pic, just brought myself the 150pds EQ5 synscan ( not used yet because of the rubbish weather!). If I could get anywhere like that for a first go I will be grinning like a Cheshire cat!! Looking at the forecast my time may come tomorrow night,, here's hoping

[all-on-black]

Thanks all. I've been watching a lot of youtube video's including those of doug german and have learnt an insane amount.

I've also had a second go at processing the same image after using gradient xterminator and trying out some other methods, and have had a pretty good result. I've also lowered the amount of saturation 

Here's my latest result..

Thanks all. I've been watching a lot of youtube video's including those of doug german and have learnt an insane amount.

I've also had a second go at processing the same image after using gradient xterminator and trying out some other methods, and have had a pretty good result. I've also lowered the amount of saturation 

Here's my latest result..

[VikN46]

Wow big difference! the first was fab but this is really good, shows what can be done with plenty of time and patience!  Well done !!

[Robbo AR]

Massive difference , really really nice image !

[Pete Presland]

much better 2nd image, sometimes less is more with the processing. some very nice faint detail coming through, next a stop shorter exposure for the core as well? 

[Killie]

A huge difference there, would love any chance to take DSO inages.

[all-on-black]

Thanks all!

Every time I look at the new image I can't believe I took it myself!

I already have another image for the core made of 20x10sec exposures, but i'm still not quite able to get it looking right with the layers. Composite imaging is a whole new level for me but i'm looking forward to conquering it!

Cheers