M 82 reprocessed due to bad weather

[GordonH]

Hi all

Sometimes bad weather can be a blessing in disguise as it allows a bit of catch up time in the processing department. I posted this image here and then tweaked it a bit but following some suggestions from Neil Fleming from http://www.flemingastrophotography.com I had a complete reprocess at it using colour combining in Photoshop CS2 (which I have never tried before), rather than combining as a straight forward LRGB image which I did previously using Maxim DL he suggested blending 66-100% Ha with the Red channel and 15-20% Ha with the Blue channel and then processing the resulting channels along with the Green channel as a normal RGB image. I chose 100% Ha with the Red channel and 20% Ha with the Blue channel using lighten as the blending mode for the Red channel and normal as the blending mode for the Blue channel. I am much happier with the end result as the red jets associated with this subject are more evident. Just as a reminder of the details

20x5 minutes for Ha

20x2 minutes each for RGB

All unguided with the Takahashi BRC-250 on a Paramount ME with Starlight Xpress H9 and Astronomik filters

Simple auto dark subtraction inMaxim DL, no flats or bias frames used. The original image, tweaked image and this reprocessed image can be seen together for comparison on my website Imaging The Heavens - Home Page

Thanks for looking yet again

Best wishes

Gordon

[Mike Hodgson]

I think that's great. You must be well chuffed.

Mike

[MidnightSun]

Looks like time well spent on a rainy day...........

[trudie]

Beauiful image, well worth putting up with lousy weather.

Trudie

[Imahumanbeing]

Brilliant Gordon, excellent detail.

[MartinB]

Excellent Gordon. The starburst Ha is incredibly faint. Nice idea mixing some Ha in with the blue channel. I notice that's similar to how Noel Carboni colours the Ha in his actions

[Beyond_Vision]

Thats definately brought out the tendrils really well excellent reprocess Gordon.

Regards

Kevin