M42 Courtesy of Sky at Night

[mike.brightmore]

Never could get the hang of all the processing required for DSLR images. Just read a really helpful article in S @ N mag (Dec. 2008) called 'Imaging with a DSLR' by Pete Lawrence. It goes through and explains everything step by step and, though a bit laborious, it is easy to follow. The GIMP software is included in the cover disk. Anyway despite high cloud and only having a fork alt-az mount (60 second+ subs didn't work out) I gave it a run and was really pleased with the result. Hats off to S @ N.

[brendant]

That's a really nice result Mike, some fine detail and colour in the Nebula.

Brendan

[jgs001]

Nice one Mike.

[George]

Great image Mike

[Sam]

Well done Mike! looks great.

[Beyond_Vision]

A very nice start, lets hope you have caught the bug too. Here's to many more

Regards

Kevin

[ChrisEdu]

I read that article and thought I might give it a try. Well done.

[RobH]

Nice image Mike, good colour.

This is a great result and you must be very chuffed

As Kevin says' the bug has probably bitten now...no return!

Have you got into flat frames yet?

There's a little vignetting that would be easily sorted by flat frame calibration.

Cheers

Rob

[barkis]

I have not read Pete. Lawrence's article as yet, but I will, it will be informative that's for sure.

If it has helped you get this fine picture of M42 Mike, then that's great. It will do the same for many others hopefully. You are probably hooked now, as the other guys have said, but the challenges need to be overcome, and when they are, well, you see the results on SGL, posted by guys who started out just like you mate, so just Imagine the great future you could have.

Good Luck.

Ron.

[Psychobilly]

Hi Mike,

Nice application of the info in Pete L's tutorial

As ROb has said proper flats are the best way to tackling the vignetting as they will also help with dust bunnies etc but you could also dowload PixinsightLE which will allow you to use DBE to largely remove the vignetting...

Billy...

Mike - I just tackled the Gradient using Gradienexterminator - an add on for the photoshop family of products just to give you some idea what can be achieved using a "software" fix for vignetting...

(click to enlarge)

[mike.brightmore]

Many thanks guys. Just got the UK Astro account back. You are right this AP should carry a Government Health warning - dangerously addictive. My Christmas list to Santa has just got a whole lot longer. Billy - do you touch up the Hubble pictures as sideline??? A big improvement. Where can I get the Gradienexterminator software add on? Will it work with Photoshop Elements? I know that some imagers put diffraction spikes on stars - can that be done with image processing software? Will also have a look at PixinsightLE.

I took four flats and processed them as per article, but they did have a brighter central circle and darker surround. The article didn't say what exposure time should be used for them or whether the ISO setting was relevant. I secured a white cloth over the corrector plate and aimed it at an evenly cloudy sky, but come to think of it it was a bit dull. Is there a better way of taking them?

Mike

[Psychobilly]

GradietXTreminator form here

http://www.rc-astro.com/resources/GradientXTerminator/index.php

Not sure if it works with elements though..

Another vital set of Toels is Noeal Carbonis astro Actions... Diffraction spikes , noise removal... all sorts of useful stuff...theres an elements specific set for that available here

http://actions.home.att.net/Astronomy_Tools_For_Elements.html

Billy...

[jgs001]

Mike, according to the help for DSS, set the camera to Av mode, and let the camera determine the shutter speed for the flats. I think you need to keep everything else the same as for your image frames.