IC405 - Flaming Star Nebula, finding this CCD imaging tricky

[VikN46]

Well between gift wrapping, trifle making and all the rest, I managed to get out on Christmas Eve and got 6 hours of imaging in.

I have played with the data so many times and get different results every time so I am going to leave it as it is until I can gather more data. At least I have managed to practice but I have to say I am finding it quite a challenge to process the data, no doubt down to my lack of experience ( I think I said the same when I started out with my DSLR )

My basic initial processing is roughly:

Stacking in DSS.

A bit of a stretch in PS CC to bring out the detail a little.

Then align the channels in Nebulosity 3.

Then taking the image to CCD Sharp and running each image through it.

Reopening in Neb 3 and batch saving from FITS to TIFF to allow processing and colour mapping etc. in PS CC.

I really don't have much idea of what I am doing and slowly working things out for myself I also tried some tutorials and hopefully I am aiming in the right direction.

If anyone has any pointers, do's and don'ts, comments and links to any tutorials etc. I would be most grateful and any suggestions of an object that may be easier to gather data and practice on.

So I have 3 versions, two mapped to R= HA, G= OIII B=SII and one mapped to R=SII G=HA and B=OIII for the Hubble one, it isn’t very good but I tried

SW Equinox 80 APO and Flattener

EQ5 Pro Synscan GOTO.

Guiding: SW 9x 50 finder guider and QHY5.

Atik 314L+

Baadar HA 7nm, OIII 8.5nm and SII 8nm

Using: Artemis capture, PHD, DSS, CCD Sharp, Nebulosity 3 and Photoshop CC,(version 2 stacked using Pixinsight trial).

20 x HA 600s

10 x OIII 600s

6 x SII 600s

1x1 Bin

No calibration frames ( I will take some bias and flats as I know they will help a lot, I just ran out of time)

Sorry for the long post, thanks for looking.

Version 1 - I think this is my preffered version as to me it seems more natural

IC405 - FLAMING STAR NEBULA by VikN46, on Flickr

Version 2 - stacked using Pixinsight trial

IC405 PROCESSED WITH TRIAL VERSION OF PIXINSIGHT by VikN46, on Flickr

Version 3 - Hubble attempt

IC405 FLAME NEBULA NARROWBAND by VikN46, on Flickr

[toxic]

nice images there VicN46 and you aint wrong ccd is a bit different especially mono.