my best attempt at m51 so far...

[assouptro]

Hi fellow stargazers!

So, I have loved and at times despaired the challenges of this hobby for many years.

I have also equally loved m51, it's a beautiful fascinating deep sky object but I have never been satisfied with my attempts to capture it.

I invested in a Meade 12"LX200Gps initially for visual use but was soon bitten by the AP bug, I have persevered with my equipment adding a wedge and building a pier along with guide scope etc trying to justify my purchase although aware I don't have the ideal imaging rig

Anyway..... this is my best attempt so far at what has been my deepsky nemesis

3hrs40min 12" lx200gps 6.3fr with a self baader modded canon 6d iso1600 phd guided

Thanks for looking and I welcome any comments

clear skies (whatever they are!)

Bryan

 

[Tozza Hen]

Great picture bud, it gives me focal length envy ?

[assouptro]

9 minutes ago, Tozza Hen said:

Great picture bud, it gives me focal length envy ?

My focal length combined with your accurate tracking would be interesting! 

[MarsG76]

Very nice.. love the detail.... the detail you have captured is crisp.

 

[Sunshine]

I love it, very nice detail!

[jeffmar]

Great work! I think you can be proud of that photo!

[MikeODay]

Very nice capture with great detail in the arms. 

The colour balance is a little unusual - how did you go about processing the image?

[TonyGut]

inspirational..!! 

[assouptro]

6 hours ago, MikeODay said:

Very nice capture with great detail in the arms. 

The colour balance is a little unusual - how did you go about processing the image?

Thanks for the comment

the camera is a full frame canon 6d which I modded with a Baader filter And has an Idas d1 lp clip in filter 

I had a real challenge on my hands processing this image due to the vignette effect of the focal reducer on my full frame dslr and a neighbours light that caused a harsh gradient 

it is stacked in dss then processed in photoshop ps6, mainly to try and remove the gradient and enhance the galaxy (s)

I’m aware the colours are a bit off but it’s the best I could do with the raw data and my limited knowledge. 

I will add the dss image I start with 

 

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Hi,

I can see what you mean--flats couldn't remove that vignette. Would you be able to upload the TIF file from DSS, or is it too large? I'd love to have a go at doing a process, if that's ok?  

EDIT: When the image comes out of DSS, and you save it as 16bit TIFF, its best to select "imbed changes in the final image but do not apply them" in the file explorer pop-up window, that way the colour imbalance is easier to deal with, if you are using PS or GIMP for processing later on.

John

[iansmith]

Good image. Perhaps a light touch of noise reduction to smooth over the haze around the companion and the light between the spiral arms, but not too much. You don't want to loose all the lovely detail in the spiral arms.

Cheers, Ian

[assouptro]

29 minutes ago, JohnSadlerAstro said:

Hi,

I can see what you mean--flats couldn't remove that vignette. Would you be able to upload the TIF file from DSS, or is it too large? I'd love to have a go at doing a process, if that's ok?  

EDIT: When the image comes out of DSS, and you save it as 16bit TIFF, its best to select "imbed changes in the final image but do not apply them" in the file explorer pop-up window, that way the colour imbalance is easier to deal with, if you are using PS or GIMP for processing later on.

John

Hi John

I have struggled with flats since I started using the 6d, I haven’t got round to building a “flats box” as it will be quite a large structure for my 12” and I am just about getting away with the amount of time and space (no pun intended) that my hobby requires 

So I generally try to take Tshirt sky flats in the morning light but when I added them to the mix they made it worse hence no flats.

I’m at work now but I will try to upload the tiff file later when I get home 

thanks for the advice and I’d love to see what you could achieve! 

Thanks 

Bryan 

[assouptro]

7 minutes ago, iansmith said:

Good image. Perhaps a light touch of noise reduction to smooth over the haze around the companion and the light between the spiral arms, but not too much. You don't want to loose all the lovely detail in the spiral arms.

Cheers, Ian

Thanks Ian 

I agree it is a tad noisy but I had been tweaking the image on and off for days and had to stop at some point?

[MikeODay]

 

2 hours ago, assouptro said:

Thanks for the comment

the camera is a full frame canon 6d which I modded with a Baader filter And has an Idas d1 lp clip in filter 

I had a real challenge on my hands processing this image due to the vignette effect of the focal reducer on my full frame dslr and a neighbours light that caused a harsh gradient 

it is stacked in dss then processed in photoshop ps6, mainly to try and remove the gradient and enhance the galaxy (s)

I’m aware the colours are a bit off but it’s the best I could do with the raw data and my limited knowledge. 

I will add the dss image I start with 

 

 

Now that is a serious vignette you have there !  A tight crop might help you tame it.  As for the colour, well that is really a matter of taste.  If you want to experiment further you could play with the colour balance tool in PS ( particularly the magenta/green and blue/yellow sliders - less green and yellow ).  Below is a quick and dirty adjustment on my IPAD using tint and warmth sliders.  Quite a poor job on my part but just to show you what I was thinking ...

Anyway, it is a great image with heaps of detail and as I said, colour is really a matter of personal preference.

[assouptro]

On ‎17‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 10:18, JohnSadlerAstro said:

Hi,

I can see what you mean--flats couldn't remove that vignette. Would you be able to upload the TIF file from DSS, or is it too large? I'd love to have a go at doing a process, if that's ok?  

EDIT: When the image comes out of DSS, and you save it as 16bit TIFF, its best to select "imbed changes in the final image but do not apply them" in the file explorer pop-up window, that way the colour imbalance is easier to deal with, if you are using PS or GIMP for processing later on.

John

Hi John

sorry it took me so long but I've had a busy weekend.

I will upload the raw dss file straight from stacking and the dss file after I had made alterations to the levels luminance and saturation

Feel free to have a play!

cheers

Bryan

m51 raw.TIF

6d 12inch 6.3ff 3hr40min24s 45x5min iso1600-no flats.TIF