Horsehead Nebula

[Andrew*]

levels: black and grey over to the right

colour balance: played to remove green and enhance red

used colour range selection and feathered to get the bright bits (e.g. Alnitak) a bit less dominant using curves.

Inverted that selection to brighten up the rest using curves.

Filter>noise>despeckle

selected the bright region around alnitak again and used gausian blur to remove some of the "steps". unfortunately they're still visible, and the stars are blurred too :insects1:

Also failed to get any more out of the horse's right (sic) wing.

I'm really envious of this excellent pic. The diffraction spikes add a nice dimention to it.

Andrew

[Sam]

Thanks Andrew,

I think my second one was the best one but ruined because of the lack of "flatness". Now that I've got the concept of flats working (I won't say I've got it sorted .... yet) they should get better . I'm not sure if I like the diffraction spikes or not - though there's not much choice with my system.

cheers

Sam

[Astroman]

Ya know what? I like the one you posted today first. Having tried in vain to observe this object, in scopes big and small, it has the feel of how it may actually appear in the EP. It illustrates very well the huge dynamic range between Zeta Ori, the Flame Neby and the very faint, illusive horsey.

Great capture! I'd leave it alone, frame it and be extremely chuffed.

[Sam]

Thanks Astroman!

[barkis]

Pretty much all has been said, and I do agree on the very natural look of this area, and I would hazard a guess that it would probably sit well against the real view, once you got to a distance near enough to make out the colours naked eye.

I.M.O anyway.

Ron.

[Cloudwatcher]

I think I agree with Ron here in that your latest version has kind of misty natural look that is pleasing to the eye.

I spent some time trying to combine the images in Photoshop hoping to get the best of both worlds,detail and realism,but the colour difference beat me I'm afraid. I kept getting magenta or green halos round the bright areas,very strange. :scratch:

Anyhow, this is the best of a bad bunch of 'worst of both worlds'.

Cheers

CW

(click as usual)

[Sam]

Wow CW you've some magic with that! Thanks!!

Sam

[Cloudwatcher]

Just been checking through the various abandoned combination images prior to binning and thought I'd post this one out of interest. Although it's a no-hoper overall,the meteor streak in midframe shows up well. Must admit I overlooked this originally...getting slack! Also meant to mention that the 'Flame' was well captured in your image,Sam,ruined here I'm afraid!

Cheers

CW

(click as usual)

[Sam]

Yeah I missed that to CW Good spotting!