Orion widefield processing help

[Ishan Mair]

Last weekend I tried some imaging from a dark sky. My first from a dark sky.
Target : Widefield Orion with Canon 1100D
Frames: 14 x 10 min ISO 800 + Darks + Flats + Bias
Camera: Canon 1100D (unmodified) Canon Kit Lens @ 39 mm f/5
Stacked in DSS....

I tried processing it but I am not able to make anything good out of it. So I thought it might be interesting to see what's possible.
If you would like to process it, here's the link to FITS output image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tpx8c3dyr3irtdu/Autosave.fts?dl=0

Thanks.

[martin_h]

A quick go with Pixinsight and Photoshop

[Ishan Mair]

Thanks Martin.  I see you've done much better than I could. So the data does have some nice nebulosity. If you could list the processing steps, it'd be great. I found the stars to be a problem. They just didn't allow the nebulosity to dominate.

[martin_h]

I used Pixinsight to remove a slight gradient, but could have used Photoshop, then Photoshop for a couple of simple curves stretches.......nothing special, nothing complicated, just keep your eye on the curve and pin the top end to stop Orion neb from blowing out to much and to keep the stars under control.

[wimvb]

And my go at it:

Only used PixInsight. I didn't remove as much of the gradient as Martin, because I didn't want to affect the faint nebulosity in the constellation.

The bottom right red glow should ideally be reduced further.

Used some noise reduction, and pumped up the saturation (too much for my taste, but wanted to show what you managed to capture). As Martin already noticed, the challenge in this image is to keep the stars and Orion nebula down. At the same time you'd like to enhance as much of the weaker nebulosity as possible.

You did capture a lot of detail, but ideally you'd need more time on target to reduce noise and enhance details.

Compare your image to this (taken with a modded camera, which picks up more of the red nebula):

http://www.starscapeimaging.com/page97/index.html

[Ishan Mair]

On 2/12/2016 at 22:07, martin_h said:

I used Pixinsight to remove a slight gradient, but could have used Photoshop, then Photoshop for a couple of simple curves stretches.......nothing special, nothing complicated, just keep your eye on the curve and pin the top end to stop Orion neb from blowing out to much and to keep the stars under control.

Nothing special..but your processing of course ! I was able to get close to what you've done. But that was only after playing with the image for hours.

8 hours ago, wimvb said:

And my go at it:

Only used PixInsight. I didn't remove as much of the gradient as Martin, because I didn't want to affect the faint nebulosity in the constellation.

The bottom right red glow should ideally be reduced further.

Used some noise reduction, and pumped up the saturation (too much for my taste, but wanted to show what you managed to capture). As Martin already noticed, the challenge in this image is to keep the stars and Orion nebula down. At the same time you'd like to enhance as much of the weaker nebulosity as possible.

You did capture a lot of detail, but ideally you'd need more time on target to reduce noise and enhance details.

Compare your image to this (taken with a modded camera, which picks up more of the red nebula):

http://www.starscapeimaging.com/page97/index.html

 

Thanks Wim. The gradient is due to a lamp post. Image is noisy, just about 15 subs stacked and the temperature here isnt too low. To be honest, my target was the witch head. Guess needs another go at it. The linked site has great images. Maybe I should get my camera modded as quickly as possible.

I somehow managed to keep the stars down a little bit. But I think I've destructed some minor detail in the Flame and perhaps everywhere else.