My 1st DSO image - any helpful tips?

[Adrian23]

Here is my first attempt at DSO imaging.

At the moment, my equipment is very basic for this kind of work (a 6" f/10 SCT on a goto alt-az mount, although I have just ordered my upgrade - a SW ED80 + a Celestron VX mount  ).

Due to the mount limitation of the alt-az setup, this image was produced from 10 light frames of only 20 sec each plus 10 darks and 10 bias frames using a Canon 500D at prime focus, then combined in DSS and manipulated in The Gimp (following the very helpful instructions given by Steve Richards in "Making Every Photon Count").

Does anyone have any helpful comments or tips (especially regarding post-production, as I found this the most challenging element of the whole process)?

Adrian

[swag72]

My first port of call would be looking at the histogram as the whole image is very red. I hope you don't mind but I did a quick screen grab with your image to show what I mean. I will gladly remove it if you're not happy with it being here, I just thought it illustrated the point and I'm not sure how au fait you are with the 'jargon'

When you look at the levels histogram on the right. you can see that it's very unbalanced and the red is further over to the right than the Blue and Green.

With levels and moving the black point slider you need to balance that up so that the curve is pretty much the same for all colours. It won't be exact, but it will balance the colours a little more.

Hope that helps.

[Adrian23]

No problem - this helpful pointer is just the kind of advice I'm looking for as this is going to be a very steep learning curve. I'll revisit it when I get chance and post the result.

Thanks again for your help.

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[Geuse]

Does look a bit red as said above but that aside, well done. I am just venturing into this hobby and i would be well chuffed to take an image like that first time round. Out of interest, were you dancing about like a child at xmas when you seen what you had captured?

[Adrian23]

Geuse - you must have been looking over my fence lol. When I saw the 1st preview image pop up at the back of my camera, my jaw just dropped!!! Even with only a 20 sec capture, I couldn't believe what I'd taken. As you can tell, I'm now hooked and can't wait for my new mount to arrive (already got my SW ED80 - a lovely new toy :-) )

In retrospect, I think I was a bit over enthusiastic with the red boost, as I didn't seem to be able to bring out much colour. Maybe a longer capture time would help? Also more practice with the post production tools will help. I'm under no illusions about the gradient of the learning curb I see before me ;-)

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[Langy]

For a first attempt that is really good, onwards and upwards.

Well done.

[idigitize]

Cracking first shot, i cant give any tips but perhaps waiting for your new toys to turn up

Without changing the topic of your thread too much, congrats on the new kit, but can i ask a few questions as you have obviously made a few decisions based on your recent posts, and feel im in a similar boat.

You went for the avx and ed80... What made you go avx not heq5 in the end?, did you get the c6-n for free or buy the mount alone? Are you in the uk and if so, did you find a package deal?

Sorry, just really curious and again, if you got this with your current setup, imagine what your new toys will bring.

[davefrance]

HI Adrian, Like you I am a novice at this and do not have any guiding or CCD camera to take it to the next level and beyond. I would be more than happy if that was my first attempt, as above perhaps a little less red would be good. I have no idea what colour the Orion nebula is, looks all grey to me through the scope, but does come to life when you look through camera viewfinder and on my first attempt I tried to match what I saw there.

Have attached shot +RGB histogram, and I think this is what Swag72/Sara was getting at, all three RED, GREEN, BLUE lie exactly on top of each other. Whether the peaks should be right over to the left I have no idea, but the picture looks balanced to me anyway.

Hope it helps a little.

[Adrian23]

Thanks Dave for that screen capture - I'll see if lining up the histograms improves my image (I'm sure it will).

Idigitize - I ended up getting the mount by itself. I've been watching the prices regularly and the price of the mount by itself at my local date shop has dipped well below the "package" price for it plus the c6-n. I ended up going for the SW ed80 because it takes up a lot less room, doesn't have the collimating issues of a newt ... Plus I just really liked the reviews that people gave it - seems like most people have "cut their imaging teeth" using it or something similar. I'll share the products of my new toys when it all comes and we have clear skies again.

Thanks once again for the advice and encouragement :-)

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[ardbeg74]

Hi Adrian,

Good start mate! It is a jaw droppingly amazing moment when it first pops out.  One thing you may want to consider though is taking flats, this will sort out the vignetting that naturally occurs. Its only going to add a couple of min to your imaging session and is well worth the effort  IMHO.

This is a good article about them:

http://www.alberts-astro.com/AP_Blog/2009/12/238/

Clear skies and enjoy the ED80   

Mark

[sandyshaw]

HI Adrian, Like you I am a novice at this and do not have any guiding or CCD camera to take it to the next level and beyond. I would be more than happy if that was my first attempt, as above perhaps a little less red would be good. I have no idea what colour the Orion nebula is, looks all grey to me through the scope, but does come to life when you look through camera viewfinder and on my first attempt I tried to match what I saw there.

Have attached shot +RGB histogram, and I think this is what Swag72/Sara was getting at, all three RED, GREEN, BLUE lie exactly on top of each other. Whether the peaks should be right over to the left I have no idea, but the picture looks balanced to me anyway.

Hope it helps a little.

Orion Neb Histogram.JPG

Hi, which application is that image from?

[davefrance]

Hi, which application is that image from?

Paintshop Pro X6

[sandyshaw]

Paintshop Pro X6

Ahh I thought I recognised it. Thanks for that.