Help with DSS colours on my first M51

[paul101]

hi

ive just taken my first proper deep sky pic, M51.

i used dss to process my 16 mins of exposures( just light and dark frames) i know this is quite a small amount but it was my first go.

i am quite happy with the results but when dss had stacked the photos there was no colour in the final image. is this normal as when i viewed my individual frames they showed the spirals clearly in blue.

i have brought out some colours while editing in paint.net but it was a pain.

i only took lights and dark frames, would taking flats and bias shots make any difference to colour. Should i invest in PS elements? would this make the job easier and produce better results?

i have put my final Jpeg on this thread for you to have a look at. please remember this is my first galaxy pic.

ps, does anyone know what the halo effect is around the centre of the frame?

Thanks paul

[Jannis]

First of all, yes, PS would absolutely be Much better then paint for processing the image after stacking in DSS.

But when it comes to colour in DSS, after stacking the frames, set saturation to +15-20 to get the colours back after aligning the GRB channels. Otherwise they'll be more or less just grey.

Other then that, that looks like a great resulr frmo only 16 min of exposure! you're on the rigth track for sure!

Channels don't look like they're aligned properly after stacking in DSS though, have a look at those before saving the file for futher processing. it will make it easier later.

[paul101]

Thanks Jannis for that tip.

I tried again and got a much better result so thanks again. was alot quicker this time too

here is the image.

It is 32x 30sec at iso 1600 with 15x30sec darks, no flats or bias.

next time i hope to get alot more lights and maybe longer ones!