M42- Another one??

[Bart]

I have debated whether to post this or not, so here it is, warts and all.

This is the first image from my shifted and rebuilt obs. It has been nearly four years since I collected any data and processed an image so it is not the best and I am surprised at how much I have forgotten.

I have identified a dark bloom issue with the camera and a blue halo effect on bright stars that may be filter related and possibly some poor registration due to dodgy capture techniques and not being aggressive enough culling my subs before calibration and stacking. Also some poor sharpening as the image was a bit soft due to guiding errors/poor polar alignment.

I'm also not keen on PI's handling of the core which I did experiment with, the layering technique in PS seems to do it better.

Anyway, here is my pig with lipstick! :lol:

http://www.pbase.com/grahammeyer/image/166759195/original

Thanks for looking, constructive feedback most welcome. :D

[samilag]

Congratulation Bart...spectacular M42 colors and details.
I saw also brighter stars perfect.

With my ASI1600 + Baader UHC-S filter, I get halos for brighter stars.:(

Giuseppe

[RickS]

That's quite nice. I agree that the core could look better. How did you do it in PI?

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike]

Nice colours and love those filamentary details in the outer loop there Bart :thumbsup:

Like the look of your new observatory too.

Mike

[Bart]

Thanks Samilag, sorry to hear about your star halos, too. :question:

Hi Rick, I tried both HDR Comp and Gradient HDR Comp with HDR Multiscale Trans with little success. Even used a mask with HDR Multiscale to protect the stars etc. :shrug:

Thanks Mike. I extended the obs to incorporate my brother's gear as it is now at his place, a small price to pay for a much better, darker site.
The filamentary details is indeed awesome, and is there in the individual subs, so I did not have to dig for it. :)

[RickS]

I suspect you'd need some very short subs to get HDR working well on the core.

HDRMT is often a bit strong and needs some of the original data blended back with PixelMath.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Bart]

Thanks Rick, I had issues with my short subs and some unusual reactions to them in PI which is why I could not use them (and in CCD Stack).

I'll try a different calibration process and see if I can get them to be usable.

[Ross G]

A very nice looking M42 photo.

I really like the colours and detail.

Ross.

[Bart]

Thanks, Ross. Glad you like it. I'm working on a repro!

[rustigsmed]

Nice work Bart, good framing i really like the smokey parts top right.

cheers

[Bart]

Thanks Russell, it's such a great object! :)

[Bart]

I have done an extensive repro to try to present the core better. When uploading I replaced the original image.

This one looks a lot better around the core and is a bit softer, giving a less over sharpened look.

Use the original link or this one.

http://www.pbase.com/grahammeyer/image/166759195

Thanks for looking! Enjoy. :)