Cone Revisited

[gnomus]

I've had a week of constant cloud and another week is forecast.  So I took another look at my picture of the Cone https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/265129-cone-nebula/#comment-2907347

I wondered if this looked a bit flat.  Anyway, I decided to have a go a boosting the contrast just a tad....

[swag72]

Looking at them both Steve I think that somewhere inbetween would work better. This one seems to have lost detail towards the bottom left and had become 'clumpy' if that makes sense at all.

[gnomus]

2 hours ago, swag72 said:

Looking at them both Steve I think that somewhere inbetween would work better. This one seems to have lost detail towards the bottom left and had become 'clumpy' if that makes sense at all.

Thanks @swag72  This is exactly the sort of feedback I am looking for.   At some point in the processing, I lost the bottom left altogether and I had to cobble something together using a blend of an earlier version and v9.  I might have known I couldn't pull the wool over you guys' eyes.

Is your 'clumpiness' my 'contrast'?  It looks a little fiercer in the reduced version than full size, but I agree I probably overdid things.  

I'll have another go in the coming week of 'dreechness'. 

[ollypenrice]

I avoided looking at other peoples' comments before deciding, and then tried to resist my usual 'somewhere between the two' but Sara broke the ice on that one - so somewhere between the two for me too!

Hmm, nice comfy fence, this one...

Olly

[gnomus]

21 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I avoided looking at other peoples' comments before deciding, and then tried to resist my usual 'somewhere between the two' but Sara broke the ice on that one - so somewhere between the two for me too!

Hmm, nice comfy fence, this one...

Olly

Was that you I saw rioting in Marseille last night, Olly?

[Davey-T]

Preferred the first one myself Steve, latest one looks overblown and loosing detail, bear in mind that I know nothing but I know what I like

Dave

[ollypenrice]

32 minutes ago, gnomus said:

Was that you I saw rioting in Marseille last night, Olly?

Gotta do something when the moon comes out....

[gnomus]

4 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Gotta do something when the moon comes out....

I assume it was the suggestion to add RGB stars to a Hubble Palette image that set you off (again).

[gnomus]

Somewhere between the two?

[swag72]

I think that is better than the rework that you started this thread with for sure ............. but I'm flicking between the original and this one and there's just something that is drawing my eye to that left hand side that I can't put my finger on. On reflection maybe a lot less of the rework and even more towards the original.

But this is all subjective and my opinion is which I prefer. That's what's so great about astro........ you do what YOU like  You develop your own style..... So if you like the edits more than the original, then that's the main thing.

[gnomus]

11 hours ago, swag72 said:

I think that is better than the rework that you started this thread with for sure ............. but I'm flicking between the original and this one and there's just something that is drawing my eye to that left hand side that I can't put my finger on. On reflection maybe a lot less of the rework and even more towards the original.

But this is all subjective and my opinion is which I prefer. That's what's so great about astro........ you do what YOU like  You develop your own style..... So if you like the edits more than the original, then that's the main thing.

I totally agree that people should have their own style.  On the other hand, I would be foolish to disregard the advice from people like yourself who are experienced imagers, who get top quality results and who are kind enough to take time to make suggestions to help out mere mortals.  I'd clearly pushed the first revision too far, but I just didn't like the colour on that first version in the other thread.  The danger of pushing the 'contrast' (using Local COntrast Enhancement in PS and Dark Structure Enhance in PI) is that you can lose details in the shadows.  I think this is what you were telling me.   So .......

 

[ollypenrice]

1 hour ago, gnomus said:

I totally agree that people should have their own style.  On the other hand, I would be foolish to disregard the advice from people like yourself who are experienced imagers, who get top quality results and who are kind enough to take time to make suggestions to help out mere mortals.  I'd clearly pushed the first revision too far, but I just didn't like the colour on that first version in the other thread.  The danger of pushing the 'contrast' (using Local COntrast Enhancement in PS and Dark Structure Enhance in PI) is that you can lose details in the shadows.  I think this is what you were telling me.   So .......

 

Now that looks unprocessed, to me, which as an avid processor is precisely what I'm after (but don't always get.) Life is full of ironies... This version has a lot to say but isn't shouting.

Olly

[ChrisLX200]

I find it difficult to get the depth of texture in an all-Red nebula image so I tend to use a combination that changes the colour (in NB images) to more of a golden-brown. An extreme example is below: taken 2 years ago not long after I started imaging (!) and the colours I use now have changed a bit, however if you compare (for example) the Fox Fur section then I think there's more texture visible in the brown image. Personal tastes differ though :-)

ChrisH

[gnomus]

@Barry-Wilson noticed that I had managed to get a blue cast into the latest.  I didn't see it at first.  Whilst folks have been very kind (as usual) there does seem to be a preference for the colours of V1 (on another thread).  I overlaid V1 in PS and set the blend mode to colour.  I also did some further work on the background.  I thought I'd present the 'original' original version (V1) and the latest revision:

ORIGINAL

LATEST

I still see more detail in the latest revision.......

[Gina]

A big block of hydrogen can be very difficult to get much detail in which may be why I usually prefer NB imaging.  That's now looking pretty good though