Second attempt with M42

[Tadakun]

Again just using a Canon 30D and a 70-200mm IS L lense. This Time however I was finally able to get ahold of (read as "spent money") on Nebulosity and was able to image stack. 41 light images w/ 30 dark frames. This was meant more as a test run of the program cause I had no prior knowledge of what stacking was.

anyways here was my first attempt with just a single capture processed in CS3 in an attempt to get something.

and here is the stacked image.

And I'm sure the color is off and the focus was a tad shy. It was a quick photo shoot just to capture the thing, and it was shot through the upstairs window. I didn't feel like going out into the 5 degree weather and I was getting set for bed. Anyways any advice is surely welcome!

I went back an adjusted colors around...who knows maybe I made it worse!

[Shibby]

Hi Tadakun,

I see you're already on the slippery slope, buying more equipment and software You've definitely captured more stars this time, and there is more nebulosity showing. How long are the subs and are you tracking?

The image looks a little clipped at the black end (you might have dragged the levels up too much from the left hand edge.) Try playing with the curves and be careful with the levels to try and extract some more of the fainter stars.

[RobH]

Hi Tadakun.

It looks like you've got a good capture there, but you've lost a lot of hard won data in the processing by bringing the blackk point up much too high in levels.

Don't set the background to completely black, and early on in the processing, make sure that you are very careful to leave yourself room to manoever, as once data has been clipped, it's gone for good.

Check out the 'primers and tutorials' section of my website (in my sig), I've done a big section on how to use levels and curves in photoshop.

Cheers

Rob.

[Tadakun]

Hi Tadakun.

It looks like you've got a good capture there, but you've lost a lot of hard won data in the processing by bringing the blackk point up much too high in levels.

Don't set the background to completely black, and early on in the processing, make sure that you are very careful to leave yourself room to manoever, as once data has been clipped, it's gone for good.

Check out the 'primers and tutorials' section of my website (in my sig), I've done a big section on how to use levels and curves in photoshop.

Cheers

Rob.

much thanks, In Nebulosity I did attempt to stretch the histogram, but I didn't bring the black slider over the peak of the histogram. I'll go back and see what I did there. Course it could be something to do with how Macs translate images and PCs. . I'll give it another shot.

[Tadakun]

Hi Tadakun,

I see you're already on the slippery slope, buying more equipment and software You've definitely captured more stars this time, and there is more nebulosity showing. How long are the subs and are you tracking?

The image looks a little clipped at the black end (you might have dragged the levels up too much from the left hand edge.) Try playing with the curves and be careful with the levels to try and extract some more of the fainter stars.

the subs were shot at 2" @ f4. This was only shot on a standard DSLR 30D unmodded and Canon telephoto lens. No Tracking done because of equipment limitations (money too, got a 3month old daughter and wife at home:D)

I dragged black up a little bit only because I had a lot of background noise. The background was read before and I nudged up black until the sky got rid of the red.

[Shibby]

You can nudge the channels individually (RGB). Once they are aligned, you should be able to bring out more detail with curves. Don't go anywhere near the peak of the histogram! There's a lot of data hiding to left hand side of it.

[Tadakun]

You can nudge the channels individually (RGB). Once they are aligned, you should be able to bring out more detail with curves. Don't go anywhere near the peak of the histogram! There's a lot of data hiding to left hand side of it.

gotcha I'll give it another shot!

[Dara]

Did you have the IS on or off when taking the images?

I was trying the same thing last night with an older, non-IS version of the same lens, set at f/2.8 and two seconds per shot. Remote release, mirror lock up and two second timer was the way I tried to prevent shake.

Result : everything was blurry as I hadn't focussed correctly in the first place! I'm calling it a practice run for now and next time I'll get it right. Honest...

[Tadakun]

Did you have the IS on or off when taking the images?

I was trying the same thing last night with an older, non-IS version of the same lens, set at f/2.8 and two seconds per shot. Remote release, mirror lock up and two second timer was the way I tried to prevent shake.

Result : everything was blurry as I hadn't focussed correctly in the first place! I'm calling it a practice run for now and next time I'll get it right. Honest...

no you have to turn IS off during long exposures or the vibrations will cause a mess.