Veil from kelling

[Dave Smith]

I've managed to catch part of the veil nebula using a 200mm f2.8 lens on a 40D.

31 x 60s stacked in DSS and processed in CS2. This is a crop from the main image but I missed the rest of the veil.

[Tim]

Hey! Really like the way the blue stands out, the modded cameras tend to make that a bit red. I'd perhaps be tempted to lessen the effect of the starfield a little to increase the impact of the nebula.

Lovely shot though, great colour.

TJ

[Tim]

Hope you dont mind, I couldn't resist a little play with one of my favourite parts of the sky

Just lessened the impact of the stars a bit, maybe too much, but it highlights what can be done.

Have to say, this is excellent from a camera and lens, what lens type/make is it out of interest?

(click to enlarge)

[Dave Smith]

I don't mind in the least TJ. How did you do that? i.e. reduce the the stars without affecting the nebula.

The lens is a Canon 200mm f2.8 lens - a relatively cheap lens in their range.

Dave

[Tim]

There is a primer telling how to do the star trick in the advice section somewhere. Basically you need to get them into a sperate layer.

A little extra trick I use in PS, as sometimes the "minimum" filter is a little too aggressive even when the setting is '1', under the Edit tab, use the 'Fade Minimum' option. With this you can further reduce the effect of the filter and create a more natural look. You also have the option there to use various blend modes. Sometimes, using "hard light" will help to produce sharper rounder stars when combined with the right level.

You will need to play around with the numbers for increasing the selection size, and for feathering it. They could well be different on each image, and the effects will vary.

Once I have a star layer and background image that I am happy with, at least temporarily, I merge them, then seperate the stars again, which helps to prevent artifacts appearing from repeated alterations, and keeps the stars more in keeping with the rest of the alterations.

Of course, everybody has their own way, that's what makes this such a varied and facinating hobby, but MartinB's primer is a great place to start.

Did you have problems with dew on the lens? How do you get around that? I have some nice images on my 400D from kelling taking with the 18-55mm they supply, but between each shot I had to blast it with the hair dryer. That went down a treat at 3am

TJ

[Dave Smith]

There is a primer telling how to do the star trick in the advice section somewhere. Basically you need to get them into a sperate layer.

A little extra trick I use in PS, as sometimes the "minimum" filter is a little too aggressive even when the setting is '1', under the Edit tab, use the 'Fade Minimum' option. With this you can further reduce the effect of the filter and create a more natural look. You also have the option there to use various blend modes. Sometimes, using "hard light" will help to produce sharper rounder stars when combined with the right level.

You will need to play around with the numbers for increasing the selection size, and for feathering it. They could well be different on each image, and the effects will vary.

Once I have a star layer and background image that I am happy with, at least temporarily, I merge them, then seperate the stars again, which helps to prevent artifacts appearing from repeated alterations, and keeps the stars more in keeping with the rest of the alterations.

Of course, everybody has their own way, that's what makes this such a varied and facinating hobby, but MartinB's primer is a great place to start.

Did you have problems with dew on the lens? How do you get around that? I have some nice images on my 400D from kelling taking with the 18-55mm they supply, but between each shot I had to blast it with the hair dryer. That went down a treat at 3am

TJ

Thank you for all of that. I will clearly have to do some reading and playing around in photoshop.

Not long before Kelling I decided to get some dew heaters from FLO and so had no problems with that. The only side effect of the dew was that my power station (7Ah) went flat. I have since purchased a larger one (17Ah) so I can use one for dew prevention and the other to drive the scope.

Dave

[Tim]

I will clearly have to do some reading and playing around in photoshop.

Yup, there is no substitute i'm afraid. And every image, although the technique is similar, will produce a slightly different challenge.

TJ