My first ever astrophotography image re-processed comparison

[smr]

Hi,

I've recently learned some new processing skills and have applied them to the very first astrophotography image I took, in February this year. Do you think I've made a good improvement on it? 

Canon 80D - ISO 1600, 26x60 second light subs, no bias, darks or flats. 
Star Adventurer Mount

 

Original

New

[wimvb]

Yes. Smaller stars and no clipping of the background. But the original shows that you can push the nebula and colour a fair bit more. What software do you use?

[smr]

2 minutes ago, wimvb said:

Yes. Smaller stars and no clipping of the background. But the original shows that you can push the nebula and colour a fair bit more. What software do you use?

Photoshop mostly and a small amount of tweaking in Lightroom. To me it looks like there's more detail in the second nebula though? 

[wimvb]

6 minutes ago, smr said:

Photoshop mostly and a small amount of tweaking in Lightroom. To me it looks like there's more detail in the second nebula though? 

There definitely is. I like the bolder colours of the nebula in the original, but the processing is definitely better in the new version. ?

[bobro]

Empty.

[smr]

1 hour ago, wimvb said:

There definitely is. I like the bolder colours of the nebula in the original, but the processing is definitely better in the new version. ?

Thanks. 

[smr]

19 minutes ago, bobro said:

Empty.

?

[bobro]

1 hour ago, smr said:

?

Sorry - I wrote a comparison of the 2 images and posted it - then realised I had the image creation order reversed! Duh!! The second image already has an improvement in nebulosity.

[Horwig]

Nice one, version 2 is very much an improvement. I've been played with it in PS, increasing the saturation and using curves to push it a bit more, there's still a lot more in there.

 

Huw

[smr]

3 hours ago, Horwig said:

Nice one, version 2 is very much an improvement. I've been played with it in PS, increasing the saturation and using curves to push it a bit more, there's still a lot more in there.

 

Huw

Great! Wouldn't mind seeing what you have been able to process,

[smr]

16 hours ago, bobro said:

Sorry - I wrote a comparison of the 2 images and posted it - then realised I had the image creation order reversed! Duh!! The second image already has an improvement in nebulosity.

Ah ok, thanks. Yes I think I could improve the colours a bit actually - probably went a bit too conservatively with the saturation etc.... although I can't seem to extract any more detail.

[Horwig]

14 minutes ago, smr said:

Great! Wouldn't mind seeing what you have been able to process,

Hope you don't my my playing, and to be honest I've taken this too far, but this is what's lurking in the data, working from a jpeg doesn't show it well, but there's real data in the dust and gas surrounding the central nebula.

 

[Shibby]

A good improvement and good practise for your next image! Although there might be a hint of extra nebulosity hiding in the background, I think one can push an image too far, to its detriment.

[smr]

On 06/09/2018 at 16:14, Horwig said:

Hope you don't my my playing, and to be honest I've taken this too far, but this is what's lurking in the data, working from a jpeg doesn't show it well, but there's real data in the dust and gas surrounding the central nebula.

Hi that's great, no I don't mind at all. I was trying to upload the stacked image but I think it was too big a file size.

You've definitely captured more nebulosity. Here's probably my final edit - although I must have a dozen files with final edit in the name now ! Maybe some prefer the less HDR look of my original version 2 of this image, and not the saturated colours - but I thought I'd have a go with a bit more saturation and hopefully I've managed to resolve some more nebulosity too.