M27 after Albireo

[BlueAstra]

OK, here is my M27 Dumbell after I did Albireo. 27 x 3m, 25 flats, old darks. C8 SCT + 0.63FR + LPF + OAG + 1000D. Needs more time really, and better processing! Thanks for looking!

[russ]

Very nice indeed.

[Keiran]

It still looks very impressive... that ISO did you use?

[Simon1990]

Really good shot. I have a Celestron nexstar 8gps, and you have a Celestron 8" SCT, so could I theoretically produce photos similar to this when I finally start imaging?

[BlueAstra]

Bulldog: I used ISO 800, everything else switched off.

Simon1990: Yes, the C8 I use is the same as yours, and people get images far better than mine with it! You may find very long exposures, or lots of short exposures, difficult because of the field rotation that an Alt-Az imposes. Worth trying it out first to learn the basics, and if you get interested consider a wedge for the Nexstar, or an Equatorial mount.

[Cloudwatcher]

Not much wrong with that one BA. Although on my screen the background looks greenish.......You could do what they do in the magazines and make it more contrasty by darkening the background and increase the saturation......... not everyones taste but it does show more detail.

[ollypenrice]

Lovely ethereal nebula!

I'd look at the colour balance, more blue and less green.

I'm not sure about the dark haloes round the stars though. Where do they come from? Did you sharpen the whole image? Or is it some anti-aliasing mystery? In Ps if you use the clone stamp in blend mode lighten it will usually lose those artefacts for you.

Olly

[watchmakerjohn]

nice image

[BlueAstra]

Thanks for all the replies. You've spotted my glaringly defficient processing skills! I do it on my laptop screen, which doesn't always show up all the defects. Thanks for the contrast hint CW, I'll give it a try. Your version looks much better than mine . OP, I think the colour balance issue is something to do with the LPF. I've tried CB a normal garden photo with and without the LPF but haven't been fully sucessful. Most images look to cyan with the LPF.

My workflow is to stack in DSS, CB (superimpose RGB histograms) and add Saturation (~15%) in DSS. Then to PS for Gradiant Elim, a couple of curves and levels iterations, then Neat Image to remove noise. Not sure a what point the star 'halos' appear.

[ollypenrice]

Maybe don't push the saturation before Ps. Try going into Lab colour and on channels a and b apply an increase in contrast. Start with 20 or so and then go back for more to taste. This produces less noise than saturation boosting.

Olly

[dragonmaster]

Nice image

[ks414]

Nice image, I look forward to when I have some gear to attempt images such as this.

Kev

[Cloudwatcher]

Hi BA,

Here is the screen save mentioned in my PM.

[george7378]

A lovely image of a lovely object - one I am hoping to see tonight for the first time, come clear skies. It still looks like an apple core to me

[paredondo]

Hi,

Had the chance to see it (visually) last weekend with my CPC 925 for the first time. Like others, I'm eager to start imaging too!

Regards.