The 400 hour image...

[tingting44]

how did you process this? i know you like using PS but this does have a PI feel to it

[ollypenrice]

how did you process this? i know you like using PS but this does have a PI feel to it

AAAARRRRGGHHH!!!!!!!!!  A mortal wound!   

Only joking.

All panels preprocessed in Astro Art 5 using flats, bias-used-as-dark and Bad Pixel Map.

ABE or DBE used to de-gradient the linear stacks in Pixinsight.

Individual panels from different cameras combined in Registar then co-registered to a master widefield template but not combined in Registar.

Images paritially stretched in Ps and then combined by eye using Ps tools to balance the brightnesses for a seamless blend.

At this point Tom and I will have done our own thing. What I did here was my own final stretch of the three images, ie L, RGB and Ha. Tom has more PC power than I so I could only do certain things to the whole image. I generally had to break it down into four or five sections and do the same thing to each. (Even just doing a 'Save As' took a couple of minutes...)

L was added to RGB conventionally enough in Ps using interations, boosting the RGB saturation under a partial L application, smoothing then re-applying till L was at full opacity with enough colour to fill it.

Ha was added to red in blend mode lighten. The application was rather thuggish! That's to say, to bring the Ha into play against the strong red layer I had to give it a massive contrast (S shaped) curve while it was in situ over the red channel. By doing this I could keep the low Ha signal below the red (to stop the entire sky turning red) while allowing the brighter Ha signal to lift the reds for the Loop and Meissa nebulosity, etc.

Images I already had from the TEC140 at higher resolution (Horse, Flame, M42, Running Man and M78 were taken 'as is' in finished form and registered/resized to the mosaic in Registar. They were then blended in using Ps, with adjustments to levels and colour balance as necessary and very much by eye.

Challenges included getting the overall colour balance consistent (Selective Colour in Ps) and keeping the seven big stars down. This was done using Layers and multiple stretches in Ps and took a long time. (Half a day on Rigel, for instance...) It's easy enough to get a small Rigel but not to get a small Rigel without a dark shadow around it. That took longer! (The final size of the seven bright stars is a matter of taste, though I noted their magnitudes and respected that as best I could. I felt they needed to be big enough to show the Orion shape but splitting Alnitak was a matter of professional pride so that set an upper limit on all seven!  )

So, Astro Art, Registar, Pixinsight (vital for DBE/ABE) and mostly Ps. (I'm a Layer-oholic.)

Olly

Edited February 21, 2015 by ollypenrice

[gajjer]

Just to reiterate.

Blooming heck!!!!

gaj

[Astronut1982]

That is a masterpiece!

Jeff

[tingting44]

AAAARRRRGGHHH!!!!!!!!!  A mortal wound!   

Only joking.

All panels preprocessed in Astro Art 5 using flats, bias-used-as-dark and Bad Pixel Map.

ABE or DBE used to de-gradient the linear stacks in Pixinsight.

Individual panels from different cameras combined in Registar then co-registered to a master widefield template but not combined in Registar.

Images paritially stretched in Ps and then combined by eye using Ps tools to balance the brightnesses for a seamless blend.

At this point Tom and I will have done our own thing. What I did here was my own final stretch of the three images, ie L, RGB and Ha. Tom has more PC power than I so I could only do certain things to the whole image. I generally had to break it down into four or five sections and do the same thing to each. (Even just doing a 'Save As' took a couple of minutes...)

L was added to RGB conventionally enough in Ps using interations, boosting the RGB saturation under a partial L application, smoothing then re-applying till L was at full opacity with enough colour to fill it.

Ha was added to red in blend mode lighten. The application was rather thuggish! That's to say, to bring the Ha into play against the strong red layer I had to give it a massive contrast (S shaped) curve while it was in situ over the red channel. By doing this I could keep the low Ha signal below the red (to stop the entire sky turning red) while allowing the brighter Ha signal to lift the reds for the Loop and Meissa nebulosity, etc.

Images I already had from the TEC140 at higher resolution (Horse, Flame, M42, Running Man and M78 were taken 'as is' in finished form and registered/resized to the mosaic in Registar. They were then blended in using Ps, with adjustments to levels and colour balance as necessary and very much by eye.

Challenges included getting the overall colour balance consistent (Selective Colour in Ps) and keeping the seven big stars down. This was done using Layers and multiple stretches in Ps and took a long time. (Half a day on Rigel, for instance...) It's easy enough to get a small Rigel but not to get a small Rigel without a dark shadow around it. That took longer! (The final size of the seven bright stars is a matter of taste, though I noted their magnitudes and respected that as best I could. I felt they needed to be big enough to show the Orion shape but splitting Alnitak was a matter of professional pride so that set an upper limit on all seven!  )

So, Astro Art, Registar, Pixinsight (vital for DBE/ABE) and mostly Ps. (I'm a Layer-oholic.)

Olly

lol

wow that is some processing work flow Olly! 

half a day processing single Rigel....wow

this has to be displayed as a full print, such a masterpiece needs to be displayed in all its glory, i really hope you find a company to print and display mate

i must have been processing my M31 data now coming on 2 months and its giving me real headaches, so something on this scale i must admire the work gone into it, its true what they say, the easy part is actually collecting the photon's lol

also looking forward very much to seeing your summer widefield

[jonnopfc]

        The word's fantastic, amazing, incredible etc do not do your picture justice it is truely inspersational and i feel will never cease to amaze those of us that have looked and those still yet to.

Hats off to you guys.

[mftoet]

Geweldig mooie plaat! Jullie hebben een fantastische prestatie geleverd! I assume you understand some Dutch by now; the "G-s" and "Ch" are pronounced like the G in Gouda - like a choking sound - which I've heard you pronounce so well. ;-)

[Dave Lloyd]

Truly amazing, I would love to see this as a massive print.

Congratulations Tom & Olly

This is also what 80 inch 4k TVs were made for. Edited February 21, 2015 by Dave Lloyd

[Stargazer33]

Hmm, not bad.

With images like that it is going to be harder and harder for agencies to justify the billions it costs to launch space telescopes like Hubble!

I never knew there was so much nebulosity around Orion. I take my hat off to your dedication and skill. Well done Tom & Olly.

[ollypenrice]

Geweldig mooie plaat! Jullie hebben een fantastische prestatie geleverd! I assume you understand some Dutch by now; the "G-s" and "Ch" are pronounced like the G in Gouda - like a choking sound - which I've heard you pronounce so well. ;-)

Thanks Maurice. If I'm not mistaken that means, My hovercraft is full of eels.  In trying to eat them all my choking sounds are getting better!

lly

PS Dutch is not listed in Google Translate. You need to complain!

[symesie04]

Olly, Tom i wonder if you had any plans on maybe submitting this into Astrophotographer of the year? I know you want to sell the image but i think this would do well in the competition and that may even increase its resell value. Plus as a bonus it means the rest of us monkeys get a chance to pop down to Greenwich and see it in its full glory before it clads some private companies reception somewhere and is lost to the real admirers for ever.

[mftoet]

@Olly: Dutch is listed in "my" version of Google Translate and translates the sentence to: Great beautiful plate! You have done a tremendous job!

Close enough to the actual meaning ;-)

Dutch is probably listed as 'Nederlands' in "your" version of Google Translate.

[Gazabone]

Who needs Hubble? That is outstanding and justifys every last minute spent on it. Fantastic job.

[goodricke1]

omg it's the eighth wonder of the world!! magnifique!!!

[PatrickGilliland]

That's a milestone image Olly/Paul!

Super work one of my longer term ambitions is to be able to generate a large and detailed mosaic and this will go down as one of the benchmark images for sure.

Also just a tad envious of all that data - if only!

Paddy

[Martin-Devon]

Truly masterful, an inspiration to all imagers - well done Tom & Olly

[Thalestris24]

It's such a stunning image, Olly, I was wondering if it would be ok to share the linked version with credits to you and Tom? Does it have a formal title?

Louise

[Hyperion76]

words fail me

[Ewan]

Well done Olly, you got it done in the end.

I knew it would be good but that's going to be a classic astro pic somewhere soon.

Stunning does not even start to describe the detail in there.

Fantastic work, the both of you, dedication to the last degree.

[Ewan]

PS I meant to say M78 is simply gorgeous, all that dust !!!

[ollypenrice]

It's such a stunning image, Olly, I was wondering if it would be ok to share the linked version with credits to you and Tom? Does it have a formal title?

Louise

PM'd

Olly

[Mick J]

Well I don’t know much about astrophotography but I know what I like,  and this is, as said before, is stunning.  The concept, the very idea, the time the work, outstanding.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Mick J

[cuivenion]

Incredible image!

[knobby]

I've already commented on this image ... but ! i've just looked at the smugmug linked version on my PC monitor ... speechless

[ollypenrice]

Again, thanks folks. Your kindness does matter to both of us and is deeply appreciated.

Olly