Orion Wide...ish

[Penfold]

Well half of it.

This was my first attempt with the HEQ and a sigma 150mm macro lens, It's taken me a while to process it due to the orange in the image (I'm not sure if the colours look right). Is this due to light pollution (from my back garden from East to South East you get a nice orange glow), or should it actually be there.

If so what's the filter recommendation for a non modded dslr?

By comparison this was my first ever shot after watching star gazing live!

[dlp]

That's nice Mark - I'd have been well pleased with that for a 2nd attempt. You didn't say how many subs and whether you used darks/bias or not. Also how did you process? That orange glow top right certainly looks like light pollution, but is quite concentrated so I wonder if some light was spilling on to the end of your lens? (I use cardboard 'flags' on poles to try and avoid that).

If you're using a Canon, Astronomiks do a 'CLS' clip light pollution filter that fits in the camera lens mouth - then you'll have to process out the blue that this introduces.

Love to see your original stacked tif if you can post it.

David

[jgs001]

Mark, excellent result, good work. A dramatic difference between the two... What SLR are you using ?

The colours look about right to me for an unmodded SLR. As has been said, the CLS is good for LP... the other thing that will help, make a dew shield for the lens, or use a lens hood, it also helps reduce the effect of external light sources.

[msinclairinork]

Hi Mark,

Great captuere! Very impressive, esspecialy for your second go!

I hope you don't mind I had a little play with this to see if I could do anything about your st/light problem.

I havn't got it perfect but I think it's a bit better?

It was all done through PS with some of 'Noles actions' applied.

Let me know what you think

Keep up the good work!

Michael

[brantuk]

A v.nice shot Mark and a great re-work from Michael. You may only have half of it but it's by far the most intersting half lol. I can just see a horse and a running man in the one that's been played with. Never fails to amaze me what can be done

[Penfold]

That's nice Mark - I'd have been well pleased with that for a 2nd attempt. You didn't say how many subs and whether you used darks/bias or not. Also how did you process? That orange glow top right certainly looks like light pollution, but is quite concentrated so I wonder if some light was spilling on to the end of your lens? (I use cardboard 'flags' on poles to try and avoid that).

If you're using a Canon, Astronomiks do a 'CLS' clip light pollution filter that fits in the camera lens mouth - then you'll have to process out the blue that this introduces.

Love to see your original stacked tif if you can post it.

David

Mark, excellent result, good work. A dramatic difference between the two... What SLR are you using ?

The colours look about right to me for an unmodded SLR. As has been said, the CLS is good for LP... the other thing that will help, make a dew shield for the lens, or use a lens hood, it also helps reduce the effect of external light sources.

I think it was 15 subs taken with a canon 5D MkII no darks or anything else.... I was just testing out the mount tbh and was quiet surprised with what it could do.

I did use a lens hood, but I'm wondering if light got in through the view finder as it's not a very good fit.

I'll sort out the stacked image... I'm going to try it out in DSS and see how that fairs.

That filter's a bit pricey.. I'll try covering up the view finder first and see out that helps as well as the cardboard tip... Cheers Both.

Hi Mark,

Great captuere! Very impressive, esspecialy for your second go!

I hope you don't mind I had a little play with this to see if I could do anything about your st/light problem.

I havn't got it perfect but I think it's a bit better?

It was all done through PS with some of 'Noles actions' applied.

Let me know what you think

Keep up the good work!

Michael

Bl**dy brilliant

I've not heard of 'Noles actions' before.. Would it be this. Astronomy Tools Action Set by ProDigital Software as that's a tiny bit cheaper than PI.

A v.nice shot Mark and a great re-work from Michael. You may only have half of it but it's by far the most intersting half lol. I can just see a horse and a running man in the one that's been played with. Never fails to amaze me what can be done

Too right especially by those who no what they're doing.

Thanks all.

[jgs001]

Clip filters, won't, as far as I know work with full frame cameras... The mirror box is too large.

[ollypenrice]

Noels Actions are very good indeed but cannot be compared with PI, which works on your linear image from the ground up. If gradients are your problem PI is the number one tool. Another Ps plug in is Gradient Xterminator.

In essence what Michael has done is clip the black point so, yes, very many artefacts have gone but so has some data. In working with PI on images from your site you might be able to get closer to the best of both worlds. The compromise is the key.

There is an awful lot in your image but some of it you don't want! It is a brilliant second attempt. Sorry I can't help at all on LP filters.

Olly

[msinclairinork]

Yes thats the one. And yea it is alot cheaper. but I will say alot can be done with just processing it your self. I must admit I spent a good 30mins playing with your pic, then again I am still very new to this myself. But Noels actions do come in handy for certain things, but you also need to learn how to use them a bit too, but that all comes with practice. Hence I was practicing with yours!

EDIT: I would take Olly's advice, from what I have heard PI is the Biz! Also he certainly knowes his stuff!

Keep up the good work you are off to a flying start!

Michael

[dlp]

I've found that since moving my workflow to PI, Noel's actions (or Astronomy Tools as it's now known) is almost completely redundant.

David

[Penfold]

Cheers all for your advice.. I do have a 7D so that might be worth using in the future.

At the moment I'd think it would be better to spend my money on a guide camera and get my imaging sorted, and so spending £20 now is probably a better bet... And then move on to something like PI at a later date?