My first M42 of the season...

[RichieJarvis]

Well - I am a bit later than everyone else, cos Orion has only just started to pop out from behind the trees.

Not too happy with the result so far... I am getting frustrated with seeing some absolutely georgeous images, especially for the PotW - spot on focus, beautiful images, and beautifully processed. Soooo - whats the secret? What am I missing?

Anyway - have a look at this and see what you think...

Processing wise, its the images stacked, and then DDP'd, and blended in Photoshop. To produce it, I take the Ha layer, place it at the bottom, then duplicate the Colour layer, the middle one I put as a Luminance correction layer, blur it slightly, desaturate it, and set it to blend mode multiply. The top layer is the colour layer, set to blend mode Colour (or color as the americans would have it )

That method does seem to sort out the salmon pink issue with Ha as Luminance, but I am wondering what else can be done?

Took this one last night - its only 30 minutes of imaging at the end of the session....

Stats are:

Ha as L: 5 x 300

R: 5 x 150

G: 5 x 150

B: 5 x 150

(click to enlarge)

Cheers,

Richie

[Psychobilly]

Isn't M42 a great way to finish of a session this time of year - being such a bright target you can chase it till dawn...

Well that was the plan last night but the clouds had other ideas.

Perfect FOV for M42 Richie and loads of info in there. Have you joined the russian revolution when it comes to focusing. I was stuck for a mask for the Megrez72 lastnight so knocked up a quick mask for it printed it on 240 gsm photo paper, a quick coat of matt black paint..selotaped it to the dewshield and it still did the buisness...

Billy...

[RichieJarvis]

The Russian filter masks? Not yet matey... I am trying to get the lowest possible FWHM to get into focus... I thought they were a coarse-focus tool, to be refined by FWHM?

I am hoping things will improve when I get my dew heaters as well....

I think this hobby is one of those ones with a series of plateau's tbh - I seem to keep hitting them though! Theres always one round the corner. I guess its just my outlook on life to get a bit down whenever I reach the next one... I should look on the brighter side and consider how many I've already gone through!

Cheers,

Richie

[steppenwolf]

Excellent, I certainly never tire of this object and am looking forward to an opportunity to bag it again this year!

[Psychobilly]

Hi Richie,

Just give a carboard one ago they are extremenly sensitive.

Billy...

[barkis]

Looks a pretty elegant result to me Richie. Nothing wrong with that.

Only another 9,996 to go now, I think I've seen 4 this year. :laughing2:

Ron.

[LostNSpace]

Very nice Richie......This wont be the last time we see M42 this year or this winter.......

One thing not to do is try and get frustrated by everybody elses images, some members have plenty of hours under their belts when it comes to astronomy, imaging and really getting in tune with the equipment they use when it comes to setting up, ive still such a long way to go when it comes to imaging and processing......The thing to do is keep plugging away. setup, imaging and processing your images will improve with plenty of practice, its all about having fun along the way......

Mark

[Psychobilly]

Very nice Richie......This wont be the last time we see M42 this year or this winter.......

One thing not to do is try and get frustrated by everybody elses images, some members have plenty of hours under their belts when it comes to astronomy, imaging and really getting in tune with the equipment they use when it comes to setting up, ive still such a long way to go when it comes to imaging and processing......The thing to do is keep plugging away. setup, imaging and processing your images will improve with plenty of practice, its all about having fun along the way......

Mark

Hi Mark,

You are absolutely spot on with those remarks... and unlike other forums you get genuinely useful comments on this one....well apart from the ones I make from time to time...

The most important thing is your last few words....

"its all about having fun along the way......"

I couldn't agree more...

Billy...

[LostNSpace]

I do speak some sense occasionally Billy :laughing2: