M31 - First attempt

[swag72]

Hi folks - Here is my first attempt at M31 with the following subs

Lights - 25x91s, 39x44s, 28x60s and 2x120s

Darks - 4 x 91s, 28x44s and 9x60s.

I used my 5D2 and 300mm at f4.5 and 1600 ISO.

I am quite disappointed with this as I was hoping for a colourful and detailed image. Instead I have ended up with a bit of a fuzz and I can not get any colour out of it at all. Processed in CS3, curves and levels - Do I need more subs? Will that help? Also, I've not got a guided set up so about 2 mins is the most I can go.

M31 Andromeda Galaxy by swag72, on Flickr

[dc509]

to my untrained eye, it looks great!

[andrew s]

I think that's a good shot for a first go. You may wish to use PS to adjust the colour balance a bit. Andrew

[swag72]

In which way do you think the colour balance is off? I am finding that tricky to work out.

[kris h]

Thats a great image what type of scope did you use ?

[swag72]

Didn't use a scope - my 5D2 camera and a 300mm lens on my HEQ 5 mount.

[Coco]

You couldnt have picked a tougher target.. I know its 'local' and large but its a nightmare object for an imager starting out..

Your going to need some software to take care of the light polution gradients..

Here is a quick and dirty image base on a screen dump from my PC as you have a flickr image and I cant use the original jpg..

Here is you background taken from Pixinsight:

And here is you image ( left after the background was subtracted )

you can download Pixinsight trial..

[cloudbuster]

Thats a lovely first attempt at M31....far far better than mine!

[jgs001]

Sara, for only your third image, it's gotta be said you are doing a great job. As has been said M31 is a real .... to do. It might be a little short on colour but it's got some lovely details.

[pwalsh61]

I think it's a great picture! I hope to be able to produce something similar once I've got a proper mount. Not sure if there's much colour to be had without having the IR filter removed from your camera though. I'd be inclined to keep practicing with what you have, refining your technique and image processing then consider getting a modded 450D 550D or 1000D body to pick up the infra-red

[swag72]

Thanks guys - Coco, what you have done there is brilliant - How do you do that?

[dlp]

Lovely image for a 1st attempt Sara, you've clearly heeded the advice on this forum and taken a goodly number of lights. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a lot more out of it by playing with the settings in DSS, which is what I guess you used. Not a DSS user so unfortunately can't help you there. I had a play with your jpg in PixInsight, not much different to Coco's really. I'd love to have seen the image handled completely in PI!

David

[swag72]

There's more lights on the way!! Managed another 54 mins last night!!

[george7378]

That does look very nice - I'd be very proud of it. It is amazing what you can do with a DSLR and a scope.

[RADCOM]

I am a stargazing noobie but that looks very good to me. I'd be right proud If I managed to get an image like that:icon_salut:

[swag72]

I seem to be loosing my colour as when I see some M31 images they have a yellowish colour to the spiral arms. Whatever I do, I can not get much saturation to this image. Is there perhaps something I am doing wrong in DSS? Wrong setting?

[Cloudwatcher]

I seem to be loosing my colour as when I see some M31 images they have a yellowish colour to the spiral arms. Whatever I do, I can not get much saturation to this image. Is there perhaps something I am doing wrong in DSS? Wrong setting?

Can't comment on DSS but I see use CS3. If you want some colour try using the Photo Filters on separate layers and play with the opacity of each layer until you get a mix that appeals.

I took a screen save of your Fliker image made three layers and applied deep blue to one,deep yellow to another and a warm up filter to the third. Darken the background and play with the opacity levels..... the result is not brilliant but I hope gives some idea of what you should be able to achieve with very little work.

[swag72]

Thank you CW - That looks much better - I will have a play with what you suggest.

[Coco]

I think your being too hard on yourself.. this is a hard target and the data you have is very good, It wont be anything to do with DSS

On another point, you have only just in the last month started imaging, crikey! that's one hell of a first real attempt..

[swag72]

I am hard on myself Guy - I see the most beautiful images on here, and I want to be able to reproduce them. My 3 hours worth of data has stacked, but I'm still not happy with it. Grrrr!

[Martin Whitaker]

Hi Sara, well if I could produce an image half as good I would be realy pleased, it looks full of detail- smashing.

[swag72]

Thanks everyone - Having another stack and will have another go at processing soon.