Eastern Veil in bi-color - experiment with unsharp in PI

[graemlourens]

Hi everybody.

I guess you had enough of this target, but i liked how it turned out.
As i use every new target to experiment with some new processing issue i have or new trick, this one was devoted to handling luminance from bi-color targets in different ways. I found out there are major differences in how to combine HA & OIII to LUM, and still trying to figure out how to ask you guys the right questions to understand this more. I'll post a separate topic for that soon

And also this was my first time using Unsharp in PI instead of deconvolution. Just wanted to see if decon is worth the effort vs the very easy (but dangerous) unsharp. (Not sure what to think yet to be honest)

Comments, critics, proposals, anything warmly welcome as usual!

Kind regards, Graem

[Bonnylad]

Visually, that's stunning.

[graemlourens]

Hi John.

Thank you very much for your kind words!

Kind regards, Graem

[johnrt]

That really is *very* good. You have hit the amount of sharpening right on the button, just the right amount and there is some fantastic detail to see! Well done!

[Barry-Wilson]

A gentle touch of Unsharp (whether Lum, Lightness or RGB) can be effective as long as you remember to protect stars and the background with an appropiate mask: stars over sharpened destroy an image I think.  You've executed this well Graem and your image is excellent.  I wouldn't see Unsharp as a Deconvolution substitute though, and I've found that mastering Deconvolution an advantage, Unsharp can complement though. 

[graemlourens]

Thank you very much for your comments!

Indeed Unsharp is 'destructive' and on the other side deconvolution is trying to reverse atmospheric distortions (seeing). I read a lot of comments of various people saying that they are not bothering anymore with deconvolution, as its sometimes very tricky, and takes much longer than unsharp and  that the results are similar. I wanted to see for myself to what extent this is true. Personally i think it depends on the target. Galaxies where you are looking for all those small details i would invest the time in deconvolution, as it brings out tons of details.

My Unsharp activities were limited to only the bright areas (using a range mask), but you will see, that my stars that are contained in the nebula itsself, are way sharper than the background stars (and show a little ringing), as i was not able to remove all the stars out of that unsharp mask. (I should have invested a little more time in this i guess)

Kind regards, Graem

 

[alan4908]

Very impressive Graem, the detail is excellent and the 3D effect is outstanding !

Alan

[graemlourens]

Thank you Alan!

Indeed this target was a joy to process with all that strong signal, and really is rewarding in terms of depth. After a tough round with NGC6888 earlier last month, this was like holidays!

Kind regards, Graem

 

[andyo]

Thats a stunner really like the depth and colour to this just great well done

[ollypenrice]

I would just mirror John's comment. Very good indeed. Sharp where it should be, gentle where it should be, and the two complementing each other. Background just nice, stars good... What more can one say?

Olly

[graemlourens]

Thank you so much, very encouraging feedback!

[ultramol]

That image makes you feel that you  are actually there, amazing......just amazing