Elephant's Trunk Nebula bicolour two ways

[MartinB]

I started this in Nov 2015 shortly after getting my Mesu mount.  Weather and other priorities  stopped play for several months and the project lay on my hard drive gathering dust.  I only returned to it this month and have now gathered just about enough data.

Scope: Tak FSQ 106 ED

Camera: QSI 532 wsg

Filters: Baader 7nm Ha and OIII.  11 x 1800 secs with each

Captured, calibrated and combined in Maxim.  Processed in PS (which seems very uncool these days but God bless it!)

Was wondering whether I should also gather some SII but unconvinced I thought I would try a Hubble bicolour.  So...I've done a mapping of Ha to red and OIII to blue and green for a naturalistic look and another version with Ha mapped to green and OIII to blue and red and done a Hubble process.  Now I'm thinking whether, for many targets (not all), I am better off spending time gathering real signal rather than pratting around with SII given that I don't live in New Mexico!

 

[Patbloke]

Both of those would be on my wall somewhere if I had produced them! wonderful! 

[DaveS]

I think I prefere the second version, but that's just me.

I too have pretty much given up on [SII], concentrating more on [NII].

[Uranium235]

Its been a while since I saw an image from you mate, but its well worth the wait

I'd never thought of mapping OIII to red and blue, must try it myself!

[mikey2000]

That is positively hubble-esque.  I prefer the colouring in the second version as I prefer warmer colours.

 

Definitely a wall-hanger!

[Allinthehead]

Very nice. Second for me too.

[MikeODay]

Both are great.  If I had to choose, I prefer the first one for its "natural"  looking colours - but then I shoot in colour and spend an inordinate amount of time trying to remove the yellow/green cast from my images

 

[MartinB]

Thank you everyone!

11 hours ago, Uranium235 said:

Its been a while since I saw an image from you mate, but its well worth the wait

I'd never thought of mapping OIII to red and blue, must try it myself!

I posted an image of the Wizard recently and am now back in full swing Rob!

I like the more natural colours of the first image but Hubble colours do show dust nicely.  I love the "waterfall" of dust to the right of the trunk.  Sadly, the nice double star at the top of the trunk was lost due to blooming.

[MartinB]

Here is a high saturation version

 

[Uranium235]

6 hours ago, MartinB said:

Thank you everyone!

I posted an image of the Wizard recently and am now back in full swing Rob!

I like the more natural colours of the first image but Hubble colours do show dust nicely.  I love the "waterfall" of dust to the right of the trunk.  Sadly, the nice double star at the top of the trunk was lost due to blooming.

Sorry mate, must have missed your previous image... doh! 

It's probably possible to keep the double by removing the stars from the colour layer, then progressively blending in  a Ha lum layer with nice tight stars. But it may take a while since you may need to go over the stars removed version with a heal/clone brush to remove any star remnants and then applying dust & scratches before applying the lum.

[gnomus]

Great image Martin.  I like them both, but if forced to choose would go for the black-on-gold version.

As to version two - I love it ..... but ... wait one minute .....  weren't you the chap chastising me the other day for heavy handed use of saturation on my M42?   

[swag72]

These are super !! I'm not convinced about SII myself, it's probably my least used filter. I do wonder if a few red subs would suffice for some SII..... I may try that some time.

It's great to see you back in the saddle.... I do enjoy your images very much  

[toxic]

very nice indeed Martin and a nice change with the colors

[ollypenrice]

An old friend rendered with both confident use of colour and considerable finesse in the details. I don't have to choose so I haven't!

Olly

[MartinB]

6 hours ago, gnomus said:

Great image Martin.  I like them both, but if forced to choose would go for the black-on-gold version.

As to version two - I love it ..... but ... wait one minute .....  weren't you the chap chastising me the other day for heavy handed use of saturation on my M42?   

Haha!!! You have me   Sometimes it's good to try turning the volume up loud

Thank you very much Sara, Chris and Olly, much appreciated and very encouraging

[StargeezerTim]

Well I havn't a clue about the technical aspects, seeing as I just use dslr's, but they are beautiful images. I particularly like the red/blue version...

[MartinB]

Thanks Tim

[steppenwolf]

I prefer the gold version but this simply confirms for me that in the UK, bi-colour narrowband imaging is more than just an alternative for Hubble palette - capturing SII has always been a nightmare/disappointment for me and bi-colour obviates the grief.

Lovely images, Martin.

[MartinB]

Thanks Steve, I think I am going to get an extra dollop of Ha and OIII from now on