M31 revisit

[Rodd]

Another reprocess--what else to do?  My goal here was realism.  Notch down the saturation of the Ha regions, improve the star profiles and reduce their saturation, especially of blue,  and clean up the outer spiral arms--make them less grainy, with the appearance of more depth.   I was hampered by not having the original stacks.  I was fortunate enough to have an LRGB image straight after integration, and I extracted the red channel (and Ha) from a processed version to insert in the new one with some modifications.  Definitely not the best way to go about things--but I had little choice.  First image is new one, second image is previous. (FSQ 106 with .6x reducer, asi 1600 HaLRGB)

At normal viewing, or small, the changes look irrelevant.  the Ha is not as saturated and the dust lanes not as dark-so not as sharp looking.  But I think the changes are improvements, especially for larger viewing.  But let me know if I am deluding myself--a bad habit of mine!

New

 

Old

[Adreneline]

Very nice Rodd; I definitely prefer the new version.

It doesn't matter how often you image or see images of M31 it is always inspiring and thought provoking.

Thank you for sharing.

Adrian

[Rodd]

6 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

Very nice Rodd; I definitely prefer the new version.

It doesn't matter how often you image or see images of M31 it is always inspiring and thought provoking.

Thank you for sharing.

Adrian

Thanks Adrian.  I know what you mean.  I am in the middle of imaging another target, but have to struggle not to abandon it and change to M31 again as it is in perfect position.  That happens to me allot--like Yogi bear dropping the big fish to get 3 little ones then dropping those to get another big one.  If I had more than a few hours of clear sky a month I probably would find it easier to stay on a target until its done!

Rodd

[VNA]

Impressive--thank you for posting it.

[Rodd]

12 minutes ago, VNA said:

Impressive--thank you for posting it.

Thanks VNA.  

Rodd

[saac]

x2 for 2nd version , definitely looks more natural.  You've given me some inspiration; clear here tonight so I'm going to revisit M31.

 

Jim 

[Rodd]

1 minute ago, saac said:

x2 for 2nd version , definitely looks more natural.  You've given me some inspiration; clear here tonight so I'm going to revisit M31.

 

Jim 

Thanks Jim--don't rub it in!!!  Cloudy here--again.  The forecast all week was clear on Friday and Saturday.  Come the weekend--totally overcast.

Rodd

[Rodd]

I think I botched--but I caught it.  I just noticed the red glow around the galaxy--which is a biproduct of inserting the red channel.  In this version I removed it.  I think this is better.

 

[Laurin Dave]

Hi Rodd

Think your last one's the nicest.  How did you get rid of the red glow?  Presumably from the Ha?  

Dave

[Rodd]

4 minutes ago, Laurin Dave said:

Hi Rodd

Think your last one's the nicest.  How did you get rid of the red glow?  Presumably from the Ha?  

Dave

Thanks Dave.  I made a mask that protected the galaxy and background using the Range Selection tool with the upper limit set about .45--which leaves a hole in the middle (for the galaxy).  I inverted this revealing just the area surrounding the outer edges of the galaxy.  Then I used SCNR set to red.  

[gorann]

Yes, the last version i very good Rodd!

You know I am a star-peeper and one thing I notice is that many of the small stars are green rather than yellow (or white), at least on my screen. Those small stars had a better color in your original version. Maybe SCNR-green would fix it?

[Rodd]

4 hours ago, gorann said:

Yes, the last version i very good Rodd!

You know I am a star-peeper and one thing I notice is that many of the small stars are green rather than yellow (or white), at least on my screen. Those small stars had a better color in your original version. Maybe SCNR-green would fix it?

Wow....you need to get out more my friend!  But you are correct.  I will see what I can do about that.  Star color is one of my weak points (along with background in RGB, and shooting faint targets --even at F3)

Rodd

[Rodd]

4 hours ago, gorann said:

Yes, the last version i very good Rodd!

You know I am a star-peeper and one thing I notice is that many of the small stars are green rather than yellow (or white), at least on my screen. Those small stars had a better color in your original version. Maybe SCNR-green would fix it?

How's this Goran....I noticed a remarkable difference when I initiated the action.  Thank you!

Rodd