Rosette Nebula - Thoughts Please

[richyrich_one]

Hi

Rosette Nebula

Modified 600D

130P-DS

12x300 lights, library superbias, 30 flats, no darks

I am reasonably happy with it for only an hour of data. I was expecting more dark sky around the nebula though.

I would appreciate your thoughts please.

Many thanks

[alan potts]

 am no expert as I am only just starting but I know a decent photo when I see one. I don't get them on my gear but I rather like the spikes. Only a personal taste thing but I feel some people go too red on this target, for me it doesn't need to go further but as I said only my taste as I see thousands of normal shots that would be so much better with a more natural look. Personally I think it is very nice and would be very happy had I had done it.

[Filroden]

15 minutes ago, richyrich_one said:

I was expecting more dark sky around the nebula though.

It’s a lovely image that can only improve with more subs. The stars have a beautiful colour to them.

There is little ‘dark’ sky in this area. If you search for wider field images you’ll see there is nebulosity almost everywhere, just some is brighter than others. So don’t be tempted to increase the black point

[richyrich_one]

5 minutes ago, alan potts said:

 am no expert as I am only just starting but I know a decent photo when I see one. I don't get them on my gear but I rather like the spikes. Only a personal taste thing but I feel some people go too red on this target, for me it doesn't need to go further but as I said only my taste as I see thousands of normal shots that would be so much better with a more natural look. Personally I think it is very nice and would be very happy had I had done it.

Thanks Alan.

I guess it's trying to get a fair representation of the target. A nice picture is nice but I also am no expert and I like to know if it looks the way it does because I've done something wrong in processing(most likely) or I've captured something no-one else has done before(highly unlikely)

[richyrich_one]

7 minutes ago, Filroden said:

It’s a lovely image that can only improve with more subs. The stars have a beautiful colour to them.

There is little ‘dark’ sky in this area. If you search for wider field images you’ll see there is nebulosity almost everywhere, just some is brighter than others. So don’t be tempted to increase the black point

Thanks Ken.

Definitely more data needed.

I always do a search for similar images and I come away even less informed. It seems very subjective. Everyone seems to have their own take on it.

Artistic licence?

[steppenwolf]

Is this more what you were hoping to achieve?

 

[richyrich_one]

1 minute ago, steppenwolf said:

Is this more what you were hoping to achieve?

 

Certainly more what I was expecting...what did you do?

 

[richyrich_one]

Or more likely..what didn't I do?

[Kaliska]

Very impressive indeed!

[Adam J]

Am very impressed with the star color you have achieved here what ISO did you run? Normally with my camera that uses the same sensor I dont get anything like that level of star color at my normal ISO800. Looks like you had some kind of gradient in that last image. I would guess he did DBE on the image. The moon is up. 

[steppenwolf]

43 minutes ago, richyrich_one said:

Certainly more what I was expecting...what did you do?

 

41 minutes ago, richyrich_one said:

Or more likely..what didn't I do?

You've done fine! In fact for such little integration time you've done more than fine!! I use PhotoShop  and a new (and excellent!) plug-in by Noel Carboni called AstroFlat. The exact process was:-

1. Duplicate your image to create a new layer

2. Apply the Filter Plug-in Astroflat

3. Fine tune the adjustments

Gotta love PhotoShop and its plug-in support!

[richyrich_one]

6 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Am very impressed with the star color you have achieved here what ISO did you run? Normally with my camera that uses the same sensor I dont get anything like that level of star color at my normal ISO800. Looks like you had some kind of gradient in that last image. I would guess he did DBE on the image. 

Thanks Adam.

I always use ISO 800. I always use DBE also. Must the the skill of the user!

Star colour is using an inverted standard lightness mask and MultiscaleLinearTransform on the chrominance layer.

All in PI.

[richyrich_one]

2 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

 

You've done fine! I fact for such little integration time you've done more than fine!! I use PhotoShop  and a new (and excellent!) plug-in by Noel Carboni called AstroFlat. The exact process was:-

1. Duplicate your image to create a new layer

2. Apply the Filter Plug-in Astroflat

3. Fine tune the adjustments

Gotta love PhotoShop and its plug-in support!

Thanks Steve, that's got me thinking...Perhaps my flats were wrong...

[steppenwolf]

You can also do this using PI and Photoshop together:

1. Within PI, apply DBE to the image as it stands and save as a TIF

2. Open the TIF in PS

3. Duplicate the image to create a new layer

4. Adjust Curves to darken background and brighten foreground

5. Adjust Hue/Saturation to get general red colours to match original image

6. Merge the new layer and its adjustment layers together

7. Copy the original image and place it on top as the top layer

8. Produce a layer mask that surrounds the foreground image with a 100 pixel feather

9. Invert the mask so that the original foreground image shows through on the modified background

Et voila!

[richyrich_one]

LOL

You make it sound so easy!

I will give this a go, thank you.

[alan potts]

15 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

You can also do this using PI and Photoshop together:

1. Within PI, apply DBE to the image as it stands and save as a TIF

2. Open the TIF in PS

3. Duplicate the image to create a new layer

4. Adjust Curves to darken background and brighten foreground

5. Adjust Hue/Saturation to get general red colours to match original image

6. Merge the new layer and its adjustment layers together

7. Copy the original image and place it on top as the top layer

8. Produce a layer mask that surrounds the foreground image with a 100 pixel feather

9. Invert the mask so that the original foreground image shows through on the modified background

Et voila!

Steve you lost me at 1. It is a nice image thought your is superb but then you do know a thing or two about dark art.

[RayD]

18 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

You can also do this using PI and Photoshop together:

1. Within PI, apply DBE to the image as it stands and save as a TIF

2. Open the TIF in PS

3. Duplicate the image to create a new layer

4. Adjust Curves to darken background and brighten foreground

5. Adjust Hue/Saturation to get general red colours to match original image

6. Merge the new layer and its adjustment layers together

7. Copy the original image and place it on top as the top layer

8. Produce a layer mask that surrounds the foreground image with a 100 pixel feather

9. Invert the mask so that the original foreground image shows through on the modified background

Et voila!

Simples 

[steppenwolf]

19 minutes ago, RayD said:

Simples 

Someone really ought to write a book about this sort of stuff ......

[richyrich_one]

1 minute ago, steppenwolf said:

Someone really ought to write a book about this sort of stuff ......

LOL

[richyrich_one]

1 hour ago, Adam J said:

The moon is up. 

Not when I took this, hence so little data. I'll try and get DBE to remove it, whatever it is.

[RayD]

17 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

Someone really ought to write a book about this sort of stuff ......

I'd order a copy.......Oh I have 

[ollypenrice]

Steve has done a great job. Modded cameras often have a strong red bias which needs adjusting out in processing. DBE is great for this.

If you are unsure about what is signal and what is bias you could check out some Ha renditions on the net. These will clearly distiguish real signal (though the images will prpbably be monochrome.)

The image is very good indeed!

Olly

[richyrich_one]

1 minute ago, ollypenrice said:

Steve has done a great job. Modded cameras often have a strong red bias which needs adjusting out in processing. DBE is great for this.

If you are unsure about what is signal and what is bias you could check out some Ha renditions on the net. Thesewill clearly distiguish real signal.

The image is very good indeed!

Olly

Good tip, thanks Olly.

Not had such a problem with it before this image though. DBE is struggling, or at least I'm struggling with DBE.

[Uranium235]

1 hour ago, steppenwolf said:

 

You've done fine! In fact for such little integration time you've done more than fine!! I use PhotoShop  and a new (and excellent!) plug-in by Noel Carboni called AstroFlat. The exact process was:-

1. Duplicate your image to create a new layer

2. Apply the Filter Plug-in Astroflat

3. Fine tune the adjustments

Gotta love PhotoShop and its plug-in support!

Very interesting Steve! I'll take a closer look at that later on.

[ollypenrice]

5 minutes ago, richyrich_one said:

Good tip, thanks Olly.

Not had such a problem with it before this image though. DBE is struggling, or at least I'm struggling with DBE.

The trick with DBE is not to be too set on placing lots of markers. In this image you'd be doing well to get more than four in place, I'd say, but four will do fine. I often use only four or five, but very carefully placed and weighted. Another key 'check' on DBE is to look at the gradient model before accepting the modification to the image. The gradient model should, when stretched (Ctrl A) show no sign whatever of any structure resembling the target. It's the gradient you're after, not the object.

Olly