9+ hours of DSLR M42, reprocessed

[MartinFransson]

Hi there!

I´ve had a break from astrophotography. I lost all lust for it during last winter after my father suddenly passed away. Really getting the lust for AP back now and while waiting for the dark nights to return I reprocessed my M42. This is one of the photos I will use for an upcoming exhibition I´m participating in.

I really think this was in improvement compared to my latest version. Tighter, less fuzzy stars, better colours.

28*120 + 39*180 + 27*300 seconds of RGB
23*600 + 1*900 seconds of HA (12 nm filter)
5*10 + 12*6 seconds for the brightest area

All in all 9+ hours of exposure. This is a tricky part of the sky since it never rises above 26 degrees above the horizon and I have some houses and minor LP in that direction.

I processed the HA separately and blended it in at 10% opacity with the red channel and as a luminosity layer at 15% opacity. Pixinsight and Photoshop used. At first I wanted to push it further but I decided to keep it just a little bit more subtle.

Canon EOS 1100D (modded)
Canon EF 300/4L lens
HEQ5 Pro Synscan
Orion MMAG
 

[alan4908]

Very good. I do like the way you have processed this and colour contrast of the reds/blues against the browns.

Alan

[MartinFransson]

Thanks Alan! I brought out the browns a lot more here compared to my previous version.

[The Admiral]

M42 is nicely shown in context in its surrounding dust. I like it.

Ian

[johnfosteruk]

A fine image. Love all the lovely dust.

[MartinFransson]

On 2017-07-08 at 21:50, The Admiral said:

M42 is nicely shown in context in its surrounding dust. I like it.

Ian

Thank you Ian, I appreciate that!

On 2017-07-08 at 23:21, johnfosteruk said:

A fine image. Love all the lovely dust.

Thank you, so do I

[ollypenrice]

Good dust makes a good M42!

Sorry about your bereavement. These things do get us from behind in ways we may not have anticipated.

Olly

[toxic]

very nice image and really nice re-process 

[PatrickGilliland]

Super image Martin well done