M45 - first posting

[Mart]

Mark encouraged me to post this into SGL.

It's my first photo with a new camera and my first photo through my new (second hand) WO FLT110 - so I'm quite chuffed with the results.

8 exposures of 180 seconds for each LRGB filter. Calibrated and stacked in MaximDL, stretched in FITS Liberator and combined in Photoshop.

Using QSI 583wsg on WO FLT110 with TMB flattener, unguided, piggy-backing on my 10" LX200 classic.

Martin

[Mark at Beaufort]

Well done Martin and congratulations on your first post and formally welcome to SGL.

I really liked the image and I look forward to seeing more in the future.

Best wishes for 2011

Mark

[harry page]

Hi

well you should be happy with that

Perhapes a bit weak on colour , can you boost the saturation

Harry

[angusb1]

Lovely nebulosity

[Mart]

Harry,

thanks for the comment, I've pushed the saturation in this version but there doesn't seem to be much colour - it just looks like white stars with the blue nebulosity ? There are a few stars that are more clearly coloured - comparing it to Peter's M45 below, the stronger coloured stars all look to be just out of view in my photo !

It's my first time with Photoshop so no doubt there's lots in there I can use to play with the colour layers.

Martin

[Celeste]

Oooooh my fave object...and you've made it look gorgeous!

[peter shah]

thats a great result martin with some super detail.....there ae a few things that might have contributed the lack of star colour. First thing is it might help to run the set up with a UV/IRfilter (most newer filter sets already have sufficient blocking) Another is making sure you dont clip the white point when processing.....also if the luminance channel doesnt match the rgb frames the colour will wash out, it is very easy to push the L channel futher than the RGB frames. If you use a DDP process will give you nice star colour as will the Ron Wodaski standard curve method which is the method i use.

First thing is to process the image as an RGB image and see where your noise levels sit....if you take it too far and use a heavy noise reduction this can result in a blotchy effect, so try to keep the curve stretches just before the noise level. Now you have the RGB layer done you will be able to see how far you can push the Luminance without the colour washing out. Keep each procesing step adjustment smaller than you think.

hope thishelps you a little

peter

[Dave S]

Colour or not it has lovely detail in there. Subs 3mins unguided! not bad at all!.

Dave...

[ollypenrice]

My LX200 couldn't track like that guided!! Amazing.

Super result, really and truly. Here is a low noise way to boost colour. If the result is too much paste it on as a layer to the original and fade the opacity;

-Image-mode-lab colour.

-Channels-split channels.

-Just for channels a and b, Image-Adjust-Brightness and Contrast. Increase contrast by 20 to 30.

-Channels-Merge Channels.

It can be a good idea only to paste on the brighter parts of the new image so as to keep noise down.

Olly

[Beyond_Vision]

A great first light Mart, very natural looking with superb detail

Regards

Kevin

[sheri_barri]

Lovely natural image. Well done!!

[Tim]

Yup, have to agree, very nicely done

Tim

[davo]

Yep lovely

[ncjunk]

Very nice image! Great detail.

[oldfruit]

Just one word really. Wow. Fantastic image.

[firstblooduk]

Love it!

[arrturro]

Very nicely done.