Rosette Nebula: a first attempt at "Funny Colour" (HaHaRGB)

[Notty]

Very impressive image.  I've nothing technical to add as I'm using Star Tools myself and getting to grips with the same camera as you and trying to do something similar but not identical to you on a different target. I tried combining an L channel with my Sii/Ha/Oiii but the L killed the image with noise basically, so like you I tried to use the Ha as L, and binned the other 3 50% and it doesn't look too bad, but despite double the integration times you had (30s x70 each) the Oiii and Sii data is just too weak to get a result like yours, so I think I've ended up with Ha on Ha with a lot of noisy but faint input from the other 2 channels.  A key part of the leaning curve for me is to what extent you pre-process each channel before combining for the final process.  It's a very interesting learning experience.

[Filroden]

17 minutes ago, Notty said:

Very impressive image.  I've nothing technical to add as I'm using Star Tools myself and getting to grips with the same camera as you and trying to do something similar but not identical to you on a different target. I tried combining an L channel with my Sii/Ha/Oiii but the L killed the image with noise basically, so like you I tried to use the Ha as L, and binned the other 3 50% and it doesn't look too bad, but despite double the integration times you had (30s x70 each) the Oiii and Sii data is just too weak to get a result like yours, so I think I've ended up with Ha on Ha with a lot of noisy but faint input from the other 2 channels.  A key part of the leaning curve for me is to what extent you pre-process each channel before combining for the final process.  It's a very interesting learning experience.

Thank you! I had no idea how much more noise was in my L channel until I bought the Ha filter. It gives a much cleaner image. It's almost as if it propels me into space. I've not yet bought OIII and SII filters but from checking integration times from other images, I've often seen 2 to 3 times as much SII data being collected compared to Ha; presumably because it is much weaker and would otherwise be drowned out by the Ha. 

I think you're right about how much each channel is processed before combining. I find it easier to work in mono but the danger is that you could lose colour balance (in RGB anyway). I've traced my problem with my RGB back to a poor removal of backgrounds. I may rework my colour process once I have more data and combine before extracting the background.

[Barry-Wilson]

Good progress Ken - keep them coming.

[Filroden]

I managed an extra 10 minutes of data for each of Ha, R and G a couple of nights ago (in the few minutes of clear sky this year). I made the simple mistake of forgetting that NGC2239 was now in a southerly direction and my 60s exposures showed considerable field rotation (meaning I also could not test the flatness of the field now I'd adjusted my camera back focus distance). Nonetheless, as the processed image needed to be heavily cropped anyway, I decided to reprocess the entire data set.

I trialled a number of blend methods again, but this time a simple LRGB combination with Ha replacing L produced the most pleasing result (which I'm now calling v3). Before combination I took the RGB data into Photoshop to reduce star size, increase vibrance and apply a Gaussian blur so that colour from stars not visible in the Ha data would not bleed through so much. I also think I managed to reduce some of the colour gradients better in this process. Again, I trialled applying DBE to individual colour channels and to the combined RGB image. I got a much better result applying it twice to the RGB image. The first application removed sky gradient and balanced the colour. The second application removed a diagonal blue gradient that remained.

This is now composed of 60 minutes of Ha, 25 minutes of B, 33 minutes of G and 23 minutes of R. I did not use any of the original L data I had captured.

I just wish I could get a few more hours of data!

[darren west]

thats stunning 

if i could get pics like that my house would be decorated in them 

 

[Filroden]

1 hour ago, darren west said:

thats stunning 

if i could get pics like that my house would be decorated in them 

 

Thank you. It just takes practice and perseverance. Lots of perseverance! I'm lucky to have a good scope and camera. My mount limits my exposure time to between 15s and 60s depending where in the sky my target it but stack enough and you can get a half decent image.

[darren west]

1 hour ago, Filroden said:

Thank you. It just takes practice and perseverance. Lots of perseverance! I'm lucky to have a good scope and camera. My mount limits my exposure time to between 15s and 60s depending where in the sky my target it but stack enough and you can get a half decent image.

I'm very new to all this ( a few weeks) and really enjoying it all , i only have a 8 inch dob skywatcher at the mo so I'm aware that this kinds photography is not possible with my current set up 

im currently upgrading eye pieces as funds allow then at some point ill upgrade the scope but ill already have decent lenses 

i did wonder if it was possible to keep the scope but mount it to something that would allow me to track 

thanks