1st Attempt at M51 under a washed out sky

[LostNSpace]

Hi All

Last night wasnt exactly ideal conditions for getting out and imaging with the moon being so bright, but you have to take the opportunities when they arise.....

So i had a crack at M51.....

58 x 25sec subs ISO 800

Stacked in DSS with Darks and Flats

I did also take a few subs 30secs @ ISO 1600, DSS didnt want to know these though.....

(click to enlarge)

Focussing was a tad out but im quite happy with the result.....

Mark

***tried working on processing a little as the image above looked a little faint***

(click to enlarge)

[Cloudwatcher]

I think that is the finest pink galaxy I've ever seen! In fact it is possibly the only pink galaxy I've ever seen (whilst sober that is)!

Joking aside,I had a very quick dab at the centre section of the image which is just a tad red,as you know but I'm short on time at the mo' so have lightened it a bit to show some detail. I think the next step should be to make another layer,desaturate it and play with the opacity levels till it looks 'about right' or apply a blue filter maybe. Anyway it will be well worth you giving it a go I'm sure.

I think there could be some good detail in there and have saved a copy to work on when I have more time.

Good luck

CW

PS just seen your second image........ much better...... keep at it.

Click as usual.

[cygnusx1]

Well done Mark, a bit of a small target for the fov but it came out well :thumbup:

[LostNSpace]

Thanks CW......

I cant tell what the colour of the 1st image is though, pink you say .......

There is probably still a little more to bring out of the image as you say.....

Thanks Kevin, a smallish target yes, but a quite easy target with it being face on.....Would of liked to take more subs though but it disappeared behind a bank of clouds.....Still happy with what i have ended up with though......

[legion48]

Great result Mark and nice process CW.

[LostNSpace]

Thanks Tony....

[greenkat]

I wish my sky was washed like that , great pic

[Cloudwatcher]

Hi Mark,

I've done a bit more work on the image and attach 'working images' of what was done.

The first shows an inverted image of the original after the burn tool had been used to bring up some of the detail. The second is the image re-inverted and some limited work done with the dodge tool.

Number three is the lightened 'pink' image and number four has had a desaturated copy of No.3 overlayed and blue filter applied. A bit of blurring around the edges and some sharpening of the centre and you have an unmistakable M51.I hope!

Just read your PM and hope this helps.

Cheers

CW

Click as usual.

[LostNSpace]

lol GK......

Im lucky in a way to have tall trees at the end of the garden and the moon is at a nice height to disappear behind them right now taking away some of the direct moonlight.....Other nights though i could do with a chainsaw as some of the objects i want to capture, M8 & M20 inparticular, by the time they are at a nice height to image they have gone out of sight behind the trees.....

Cracking work CW, and thanks for the tips.....I have never used Burn/Dodge when processing, its not an option that i can see in PS E6, although you can do this in Gimp......I may try and process the next images using Gimp and see what i come up with.......Anyways, thanks for the tips, it seems straight forward, putting it into practice maybe another thing though