Rough M42 with processing issues...

[RikM]

I managed to stave off frostbite and have a very quick stab at M42 last night. Only managed 7x 30sec at ISO1600 before the mount batteries packed up so I know not to expect anything special. I stacked in 9x darks but no flats.

My dilemma is how far to push the black point? I like the darker background, but I'm loosing nebulosity, leave it greyer and it just looks weak. Also how can boost the colour without it looking all flairy and horrible?

I fully understand that I need many more and longer subs plus a load of flats but I rushed and am stuck with this for while.

Thanks for any advice,

Rik

[RikM]

I had a go again because I read in another thread about saving DSS output images with the adjustments embedded but not applied and this made a huge difference to how much detail I could pull out.

Much happier with this version.

Rik

[johnh]

Thats coming along nicely but you need to deal with the gradient with good flats and always keep the background light like on the left side of your final image to show the faintest nebulosity. More subs will smooth the background further.

John.