M51 1st Attempt

[Dannyefc87]

Shot of m51 from tonight, 29mins worth of 60 sec exposures, mixture of iso 800 - 1600. Stacked in DSS and poorly processed in Photoshop CC. Any advice/criticisms welcome. Thx 

[PeterCPC]

It's very difficult to offer anything as you have not given any details of the equipment used.

Peter

[bogdog]

for a first attempt well done,processing can be hard if you are not used to the programmes involved

you haven't stated if you had taken dark frames to stack also? taking some dark frames at time of taking your picture then stack all of them

together would reduce the noise,this will help when you get to the processing stage,

maybe try again with your stack but dont go to harsh with adjusting contrast/levels to get rid of noise ..it wont work

i'm no expert so take with pinch of salt ,others will try to help you if you have questions 

maybe try just stacking the iso800 files see what you get,iso 1600 gives more noise which you dont need

then just adjust the curves lightly and watch that the highlights dont over expose

but well done on your first attempt

[Dannyefc87]

Sorry was half asleep when I posted, equipment used - SW Equinox 80, HEQ5 Pro, Canon 100d (standard), no filters or guiding. No flats or darks used, camera ran out of battery didn't have it in me to stay up any later haha just about stacked it, 5 minute tweak on Photoshop CC and posted it. Thanks for looking and any advice in greatly appreciated.

Danny

[Dannyefc87]

Made another quick attempt now that Im a bit more awake, cant seem to get rid of the purple/blue hue to the image though. I find it very hard to get the natural looking colour I see on the better images people post on here, not sure if it is my processing skills (lack of haha) or the unmodded camera. Probably the former as I think the ability of my equipment far outweighs my abilities and will do for some time to come.