M45

[Jannis]

About 7 years since my last attempt at this target with the telescope, so just had to give it another go here the other day. The moon was at around 55%, so probably not ideal, but not enough clear nights to be picky on it i guess.

28x 300s exposures at ISO800 with the Canon 550D and explorer 200.

[Sunshine]

I just love this image of M45, usually i am on the fence about diffraction spikes but, they seem to make this image. Beautiful contrast and, noise seems to be very well controlled, a wonderful image.

Those spikes give it a mystical look which is very pretty.

Edited November 22, 2020 by Sunshine

[Phillyo]

Lovely M45. I love seeing the whispy details around the bright stars. Just my personal opinion but I feel you've taken the background a little too dark. If you use photoshop to edit the image then aim to get your background somewhere around 30/30/30 ish. Space isn't black

Phil

[Jannis]

Thank you for the feedback. :) 

I agree it's a bit too dark background, i'll try to aim for ~30 next time. :) 

[kirkster501]

Very nice.  You've over clipped the background though, I imagine to try and get rid of the gradients the moon caused.....  Same as in UK, just recently we only seem to get clear nights when The Moon is beating down!

[MartinB]

Lovely work Jannis.  As Kirkster says, the background is unaturally black.  I think it would look better still if you left some background brightness