M51 at last

[Rodd]

I have processed this data over 100 times. Satisfaction has eluded me like a greased watermelon in a pool. I have come close a couple of times.  But close is almost worse than bad, because if it’s close, the natural tendency is to identify the reason it is almost there and not all the way there.  That leads to terrible scrutiny and the inevitably disheartening attempt at determining it is actually hanging on the wall.  Well, this one is really close.  It’s kind of like moving halfway to the wall each step. No matter how long you travel you will never reach the wall.  Am I close enough to touch it?  If so, perhaps I can finally rest

TOA 130 and ASI 1600: about 24 hours HaLRGB

 

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Rodd

[Sunshine]

Wow! it is beautiful! if you're not happy with this then it is unfortunate because what is there to improve? I'd say you have it plucked, seasoned, and cooked to perfection.

I just made myself hungry.

Edited October 2, 2022 by Sunshine

[dave34]

Outstanding, very well done indeed.

 

[The Admiral]

I'd be well pleased with that! Go on, hang it on the wall 😀.

Ian

[AMcD]

Great image.  I am intrigued as to where the phrase “greased watermelon in a pool” comes from 😂

[wimvb]

Excellent image, Rodd. You're definitely "there".

1 hour ago, AMcD said:

Great image.  I am intrigued as to where the phrase “greased watermelon in a pool” comes from 😂

Me too.

[gorann]

Yes, I would also be very happy with that image Rodd! Lovely color and detail, and a well-controlled star field.

[simmo39]

V nice!

[Rodd]

7 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Wow! it is beautiful! if you're not happy with this then it is unfortunate because what is there to improve? I'd say you have it plucked, seasoned, and cooked to perfection.

I just made myself hungry.

Me too!  Time for breakfast!

[Rodd]

7 hours ago, dave34 said:

Outstanding, very well done indeed.

 

Thanks Dave

[Rodd]

6 hours ago, The Admiral said:

I'd be well pleased with that! Go on, hang it on the wall 😀.

Ian

Ahh....and enter the dark and fetid world of "printing?"  I have banged my head on that intractable wall a couple of times.  I might try again--but only after I get a higher megapixel camera (2600).  A 6200 would be ideal--50-60 megapixels, but that is not in the cards.

[Rodd]

4 hours ago, AMcD said:

Great image.  I am intrigued as to where the phrase “greased watermelon in a pool” comes from 

 

2 hours ago, wimvb said:

Me too.

I looked it up and found that it was made famous by "Its Always Sunny in Philidelphia", which seems strange to me, as that only dates to about 2012.  I remember the phrase from long before that, but do not know where I first encountered it.  It is actually a recognized game called watermelon polo.  Think water polo but substitute a greased watermelon for the ball.   I think the origin of the phrase predates the "water polo" element and lies far back in the elder days when villagers would entertain themselves, and others, at the festivals with rounds of catching greased pigs. 

[Rodd]

1 hour ago, gorann said:

Yes, I would also be very happy with that image Rodd! Lovely color and detail, and a well-controlled star field.

Thanks Goran.  

[Dan_Paris]

Very clean and detailed, congrats Rodd for this beautiful picture

[The Admiral]

1 hour ago, Rodd said:

Ahh....and enter the dark and fetid world of "printing?"

Well that is what I thought you had planned 😉. Well, I wouldn't suggest that you embark on new sphere of activity just to print this up, better to get a commercial printer to do it for you. But I have happily produced prints getting on for A3 in size, from <16Mp, 4/3rd format files, so long as you haven't seriously cropped the image. Even then, it could be upscaled.

Ian

[Rodd]

3 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

Well that is what I thought you had planned 😉. Well, I wouldn't suggest that you embark on new sphere of activity just to print this up, better to get a commercial printer to do it for you. But I have happily produced prints getting on for A3 in size, from <16Mp, 4/3rd format files, so long as you haven't seriously cropped the image. Even then, it could be upscaled.

Ian

I had a bad experience with commercial printing...mostly because I was stupid.  I sent in like 100 images (I was making a coffee table book of my images) to be printed at different sizes and did not have the patience to send one, see how it came out, make alterations, then get the final print.  That has to be done my mail, because I do not trust my screens (hence the "not having patience").  As it happened, I clicked their equivalent to color correct, or some such setting, and the backgrounds came out overly green and not very dark (I thought they had experience with astrophotography but they really didn't).  Also--the choice of paper really impacted the image.  It so happens I hate metal paper prints, but I love printing on metal.  Who would have thought? Anyway--The pandemic hit and they decided instead of making the corrections to over 100 images that I painstakingly listed for them, they decided to refund my money and I was left with a pile of sub-par prints (mostly the background had issues--and the metal paper prints).  They are ok in a dim room--but under appropriate lighting, they show their weakness.  So, it s a deep rabbit hole for me, not helped by my perfectionist tendencies.  

[ONIKKINEN]

Superb detail!

[The Admiral]

10 minutes ago, Rodd said:

So, it s a deep rabbit hole for me, not helped by my perfectionist tendencies. 

I can understand your disappointment. In my experience, even with printing your own, you need to spend a fair bit of time tweaking a particular print, running off test prints. I guess then you are not paying for someone else's time to get it right. I should think that the commercial printers make certain assumptions about black/white ratios etc of conventional prints which do not apply to astro prints. It is better to have your screen calibrated, though.

Ian

Edited October 2, 2022 by The Admiral

[Rodd]

3 hours ago, simmo39 said:

V nice!

Thanks Simmo!

[Rodd]

39 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Superb detail!

Thank You!

[Rodd]

35 minutes ago, The Admiral said:

It is better to have your screen calibrated, though.

Yes--I really need to do this (another rabbit hole!)