Horsehead nebula - reprocessed

[MikeODay]

Reprocessed to try to keep the stars small and find some detail in the Flame Nebula...

[MikeODay]

mmm ... jpg problems again.

The original is a JPG around 900k - the system converts this to a 124k jpg with poor quality.

I've tried TIFF and PNG versions but the system still converts these to 124k jpgs.

Does anyone know how do I get the system to just load the file I submit without reprocessing it?

[MikeODay]

ok, not sure if the site allows links but here is the original image:

https://500px.com/photo/85952827/horsehead-and-flame-nebula-orion's-belt-by-mike-o'day

[FunkyKoval35]

hmm... you need to do something with stars halo.. The central star does not look good this is only my opinion

[carastro]

Actually I don't dislike the central star, it's just a different presentation.

Mike, try balancing the colours, it's too red at the moment, and then reduce the green, it looks quite stunning.  I'll post it up if you've no objections.  Brings ouit the colour of the flame really well too.  

Carole 

[MikeODay]

Actually I don't dislike the central star, it's just a different presentation.

Mike, try balancing the colours, it's too red at the moment, and then reduce the green, it looks quite stunning.  I'll post it up if you've no objections.  Brings ouit the colour of the flame really well too.  

Carole

Thanks Carole, that would be great.

[MikeODay]

Actually I don't dislike the central star, it's just a different presentation.

Mike, try balancing the colours, it's too red at the moment, and then reduce the green, it looks quite stunning.  I'll post it up if you've no objections.  Brings ouit the colour of the flame really well too.  

Carole

I've redone the colour balance somewhat - I had trouble with the red though. If I reduce it too much the fine detail in the red nebula starts to disappear. Anyway, what do you think?

Higher quality JPEG: https://500px.com/photo/86027983/horsehead-and-flame-nebula-orion's-belt-by-mike-o'day?from=user_library

[MikeODay]

hmm... you need to do something with stars halo.. The central star does not look good this is only my opinion

Thanks for you comment.

"Alnitak" has serious issues in my image. I'm not sure why. My current theory is that it is caused by the optics of the newtonian I used. Alnitak was dead centre on my sensor (the image is slightly cropped) and with different processing it is possible to see the concentric rings around it extend way out into the image. I think what I have is a serious of reflections of the secondary (or possibly the front of the nebula filter) bouncing backwards and forwards off the primary and growing (and fading) each time. Next time I will make sure that Alnitak is off to one side and see if it makes a difference.

Cheers

Mike

[MikeODay]

Thanks for your comment....

[carastro]

This obviously doesn't look great because it was a copy of the posted file and a Jpeg so looks very Jpeg'd, but gives you some idea of the colour.  Doing this with the original Tiff file would produce a better result:

[MikeODay]

This obviously doesn't look great because it was a copy of the posted file and a Jpeg so looks very Jpeg'd, but gives you some idea of the colour.  Doing this with the original Tiff file would produce a better result:

Thanks Carole, the colours do look good and I see you managed to keep detail in the edge of the nebula. I'll have a go at being more aggressive with the reduction in the red.

Cheers

Mike

[Scott]

Thanks for you comment.

"Alnitak" has serious issues in my image. I'm not sure why. My current theory is that it is caused by the optics of the newtonian I used. Alnitak was dead centre on my sensor (the image is slightly cropped) and with different processing it is possible to see the concentric rings around it extend way out into the image. I think what I have is a serious of reflections of the secondary (or possibly the front of the nebula filter) bouncing backwards and forwards off the primary and growing (and fading) each time. Next time I will make sure that Alnitak is off to one side and see if it makes a difference.

Cheers

Mike

Mike, Alnitak is always a nightmare in this target so don't lose sleep over i . I think you've done a fairly good job of keeping it down and Carole has also done a good job on it too. (I might send her my stack of this one to sort out ). I upload my images to flickr and post from there.

Thanks for sharing 

[MikeODay]

Thanks Carole, the colours do look good and I see you managed to keep detail in the edge of the nebula. I'll have a go at being more aggressive with the reduction in the red.

Cheers

Mike

mmm, still can't get it like yours... when I try I just get an ugly colour cast to the whole image. In the one below the dark areas equal blue, red and green average values - that is, they are, on average, grey. If I pull the red down anymore I get cyan shadow areas.

Anyway, thanks for your efforts, I'll keep trying.

link: https://500px.com/photo/86131393/horsehead-nebula-by-mike-o'day?from=user

[MikeODay]

This obviously doesn't look great because it was a copy of the posted file and a Jpeg so looks very Jpeg'd, but gives you some idea of the colour.  Doing this with the original Tiff file would produce a better result:

Did you use Photoshop for this? If so, which tool?

I use curves to adjust colour balance. I set a large area colour sampler in an area I want 'neutral' and then I adjust the lower left of each colour curve until I get equal red, blue and green values. I then check that my 'white' areas are still white and adjust accordingly. Finally I adjust the mid tones to taste. Doing the above I can't get what you have here so I guess you do it differently, use a different tool or my lack of experience is letting me down.

Thanks again.

Mike

[MikeODay]

Mike, Alnitak is always a nightmare in this target so don't lose sleep over i . I think you've done a fairly good job of keeping it down and Carole has also done a good job on it too. (I might send her my stack of this one to sort out ). I upload my images to flickr and post from there.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks Scott, I'll keep working on it.

Hopefully this weekend (with the full moon gone) I might be able to grab a longer set and start again.

Cheers

Mike

[ollypenrice]

If you find the red is carrying the detail but is colour-dominating the image you could try doing a colour balance along Carole's lines (I think it's pretty close) and then apply the red as luminance to restore the lost detail. This might be a partial application at low opacity.

I deal with Alnitak in layers, doing a soft stretch on it as a bottom layer and erasing the top with a feathered eraser. You could use a mask but I don't find I need to. I do this in several iterations to keep it looking natural.

Olly

[carastro]

Did you use Photoshop for this? If so, which tool?

Yes, I think I just did levels and clicked on the middle eye dropper in RGB and then clicked on the sky background.  This is the shorthand way of balancing the colours.  The authentic way is to go into levels in each colour and drag the dark slider towards the histogram until all the colours line up, but I find the "shorthand" way works just as well.

I'd also follow Olly's advice on Alnitak, stretch in layers in small stages and rub out Alnitak to reveal the less stretched one below.  

Also I never thought about what he suggested about the red channel, so might be worth trying that too.  

Carole

[MikeODay]

Thanks Olly and Carole for the suggestions - I'm back at work now so I'll try again at the weekend to reprocess it.

Cheers

Mike

[MikeODay]

Ok, so here is the latest version... I ended up using the Hue adjusment tool to try to further reduce the red.

(Sorry about the messy image, the site keeps compressing my images ...

link to image without jpeg artefacts: https://500px.com/photo/86451997/horsehead-and-flame-nebulae-orion's-belt-by-mike-o'day?from=user )

[carastro]

That's looking a lot better except now you have introduced a nasty solid halo around Alnitak.  I suggested layer this new image over the top of your original process and then with the rubber tool and feathering, (or something 30%) gradually rub out the harsh bit of the halo to reveal the nicer bit of the halo below.

HTH

Carole

[MikeODay]

That's looking a lot better except now you have introduced a nasty solid halo around Alnitak.  I suggested layer this new image over the top of your original process and then with the rubber tool and feathering, (or something 30%) gradually rub out the harsh bit of the halo to reveal the nicer bit of the halo below.

HTH

Carole

Thanks Carole for the suggestion, much appreciated. In the version below I've blended back in an earlier version of Alnitak and slightly tweaked the colours again.

(link to original JPG (without artefacts): https://500px.com/photo/86816931/flame-and-horsehead-nebula-on-orion's-belt-by-mike-o'day )