M31 - Second Attempt

gnomus · February 22, 2015

This is my second go at M31. First one can be found here: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/230301-is-this-a-focus-or-dew-problem/?p=2488473

These are at 800 ISO with my Canon 600D attached to the Skywatcher ED80 (with reducer)

Guided by the ZWO ASI attached to the Skywatcher 9x50 finderscope

20 x 300 seconds

15 x 30 seconds

20 x Flats

No Darks

(All from 21 February 2015 - I completely messed up my choice of target - I couldn't decide between this and Horsehead - and found after a couple of hours that M31 was disappearing rapidly behind the roof of my house. No doubt the images will have been affected by the heat rising from the roof. Oh well ..... I live and learn, albeit very slowly, it seems.)

Processed almost entirely in PixInsight....

... I find it difficult to get any success with HDRMultiscale Transform - all settings seem to suck the contrast out of the image, and I don't seem able to recover it. (I am learning by following Harry's excellent videos.) As such, I took the image into PS to 'sharpen' the dust lanes (using the High Pass Filter and 'Soft Light'). It would be nice to find a way to do this sharpening in PI - even minute quantities of Atrous Wavelets seem to generate noise.

I can get more 'dramatic' colours (deeper blues and reddy browns), but I am not sure if I prefer a more 'naturalistic' look.

I'd be grateful for suggestions as to how it can be improved. At least it is better than the last attempt.

kalasinman · February 22, 2015

Really a fine job indeed. The colors are natural and pleasing. The detail is very good too. Thanks

tingting44 · February 22, 2015

thats real nice! wish i could give you some pointers but i am also banging my head against the wall trying to process my M31 lol

you done real nice tho considering how low M31 is getting at the moment

A40farinagolf · February 22, 2015

Brilliant image; unfortunately I'm not competent to give any constructive feedback.

When you took the original images how big was M31 on the LCD panel of your camera?

I am a relative rookie and took an image of M82 last night, it is very small on the screen and you have to zoom in to see anything and I used a EOS550 on my APO130.

It would be good if you could attach the original file to show me please.

Apologies for hijacking the thread.

gnomus · February 22, 2015

The image I posted is uncropped, save for a few pixels round the edge. M31 is a large object. M82 is much smaller. You might be better trying M82 through your C9.25 (if you can), or go for an image featuring both M81 and M82.

gnomus · February 23, 2015

Here's a version with a bit more colour boosting and some additional sharpening. I'm not sure which I prefer... Any thoughts?

kalasinman · February 23, 2015

second one by a hair's breadth.

tingting44 · February 23, 2015

i prefer the 1st version, 2nd one is a touch too browny for me, thats just me tho

lensman57 · February 23, 2015

That is a good one.

A.G

Brent · February 23, 2015

Lovely image and what a difference to your 1st attempt - you must be pleased!

I also prefer the first image, somewhere in between would be good I think.

gnomus · February 23, 2015

Lovely image and what a difference to your 1st attempt - you must be pleased!
I also prefer the first image, somewhere in between would be good I think.

Somewhere in between you say...

... OK... I've blended 1 and 2. What about?

tingting44 · February 23, 2015

best so far, from my eyes

gnomus · February 23, 2015

best so far, from my eyes

Thank you. As a beginner, I'm rapidly learning that this processing malarkey is turning out to be the hardest part of the AP game - namely avoiding the temptation to nudge that slider just a little further!!! I agree that version 2 is a little brown. I got carried away a bit with the red and yellow hue saturation controls.

tingting44 · February 23, 2015

Thank you. As a beginner, I'm rapidly learning that this processing malarkey is turning out to be the hardest part of the AP game - namely avoiding the temptation to nudge that slider just a little further!!! I agree that version 2 is a little brown. I got carried away a bit with the red and yellow hue saturation controls.

oh yes my friend! i am too lol, the easy part really is capturing the data! ive been working on my M31 for months now, and still not happy to post it online

yes less is more with processing, when i started i use to crank up sharpen, then crank up noise reduction and job done lol, oh how little did i know

gnomus · February 23, 2015

.......
yes less is more with processing, when i started i use to crank up sharpen, then crank up noise reduction and job done lol, oh how little did i know

Yes. And the strange thing is I went through exactly the same phase with my terrestrial photography. You would think I would have got it by now .....

Brent · February 23, 2015

Somewhere in between you say...
... OK... I've blended 1 and 2. What about?

Works for me also! Very nice :smiley:

gnomus · February 23, 2015

Works for me also! Very nice

Thank you.

Zadoq · February 24, 2015

I think your 3rd image, with the 2 blended is the best one - by a whisker. It's really a lovely image. Lots of details and nice natural colours (to my eyes anyway). Well done

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M31 - Second Attempt

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