Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

M31- difficulties with processing :/

Cec

By Cec
in Getting Started With Imaging

Recommended Posts

Cec

Cec

Posted
Posted

Hi,

Finally got my new scope up and running yesterday, first clear night in about two weeks!

Shot Pleiades, Orion nebula and Andromeda. Two of them didn't need much processing in my eyes, but Andromeda is another story..
There is much light pollution and I only had time to get 11*30sec exposure (before it disappeared behind some mountains).
I've got a free trial period of Photoshop and have tried working with levels and curves. But when I'm going to fix the background ("eye dropper" tool for black, Levels), the left side of the image is black/dark, and the right side is bright. If I use the eyedropper tool on the right side too, well, then my whole image is just black with a white blob in the middle.
Can someone here give some concrete suggestions on what to do with this image, or is there no hope because of too much light pollution or too few exposures?
If there is no hope of getting anything good from this, I'll wait until next clear night (sometime) and take more subs, maybe that's the only solution?

Thanks so much in advance!

PS: The image attached is a crop from the DSS result, not done anything yet in Photoshop here. And also, it's a crop since the real image is too big to be attached.

m31clip.PNG

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Thalestris24

Thalestris24

Posted
Posted

Hi

Lots more data would be good :). Gradients and light pollution are a common problem. I'd recommend searching for some of the very good photoshop tutorials - maybe on Youtube. You should be able to find something that deals with gradients, possibly via plugin like Noel's Actions, and maybe specific tutorials for M31 (I'm afraid I'm not an expert with PS). Startools is a cheap standalone package which you can try for free - it has good gradient wipe capabilities.

You can always resize an image and convert to .png to post on here, else upload to one of the photo hosting sites and post a link e.g. Flickr.

All the best

Louise

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Daniel-K

Daniel-K

Posted
Posted

 

5 hours ago, JR1987 said:

Download the free trial of Gradient Xterminator and do a youtube search on how to use it. Its very simple and will help you remove your gradients.

And HLVG .

I cant post a link on my ohone at work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cec

Cec

Posted
  • Author
Posted
8 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

Hi

Lots more data would be good :). Gradients and light pollution are a common problem. I'd recommend searching for some of the very good photoshop tutorials - maybe on Youtube. You should be able to find something that deals with gradients, possibly via plugin like Noel's Actions, and maybe specific tutorials for M31 (I'm afraid I'm not an expert with PS). Startools is a cheap standalone package which you can try for free - it has good gradient wipe capabilities.

You can always resize an image and convert to .png to post on here, else upload to one of the photo hosting sites and post a link e.g. Flickr.

All the best

Louise

Thanks for the reply!

I'll gather (lots) more data when the weather allows it! Since it's getting lighter outside it's just a small "window" at nights now to take pictures, it's a bit stressful heh heh

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cec

Cec

Posted
  • Author
Posted
8 hours ago, JR1987 said:

Download the free trial of Gradient Xterminator and do a youtube search on how to use it. Its very simple and will help you remove your gradients.

Hi and thanks for the reply!

I'll try the Gradient Xterminator, thanks for the tip! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cec

Cec

Posted
  • Author
Posted
8 hours ago, Daniel-K said:

http://www.budgetastro.net/

Try this guy.

Look at it this way.

Your on target

Your in focus

Your capturing data

Your well on your way :)

You should learn about flats darks and bias. These are calibration frames which will help clean up your data.

Buy a light pollution filter it will really help with the gradient.

Thanks for your reply!

Yup, I'm on my way, that's a good thing! :) I've taken both flats, bias and darks for the picture, so that bit is covered.
Maybe I'll try to turn down ISO next time when gathering more data. A light pollution filter is not a bad idea, but it'll have to be some other time, just spent a small fortune on the telescope + mount, it's not cheap in Norway!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cec

Cec

Posted
  • Author
Posted
29 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

I find that Pixinsight DBE works wonders for gradients/light pollution in backgrounds. It's not cheap but you can trial it for a month free.

Peter

Thanks for the reply and the tip! I'll check it out later today :smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Uranium235

Uranium235

Posted
Posted

This is with the 130pds? If so, welcome to the club! :)

Its a smashing little telescope and the more you use it, the better you will get. Dont forget to post in this thread when you start racking up the images:

(its a sort-of showcase for it)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cec

Cec

Posted
  • Author
Posted
1 hour ago, Uranium235 said:

This is with the 130pds? If so, welcome to the club! :)

Its a smashing little telescope and the more you use it, the better you will get. Dont forget to post in this thread when you start racking up the images:

(its a sort-of showcase for it)

 

 

Hi, 

Yeah it's with the 130pds :icon_biggrin:

will do! Maybe I'll get some inspiration in that thread as well! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Astrosurf

Astrosurf

Posted
Posted

That's a great start. The arms of the galaxy are very faint so you would need longer exposures to get more detail, but you would need to do guiding for that. But just add more data and see what you can bring out! I don't know what light pollution filters there are for Nikons, but it's a good idea to get one, as has been said here.

Onwards and upwards!

Alexxx

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cec

Cec

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, Astrosurf said:

That's a great start. The arms of the galaxy are very faint so you would need longer exposures to get more detail, but you would need to do guiding for that. But just add more data and see what you can bring out! I don't know what light pollution filters there are for Nikons, but it's a good idea to get one, as has been said here.

Onwards and upwards!

Alexxx

Thanks for your response, I'll look into the filter :) And yes, more data will be added. Would love to bring out those arms! Weather reports tells me there will be a chance next week :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.