Its a start...Prawn Nebula

[xelasnave]

I have been otherwise occupied since I captured data for the Prawn Nebula and as you all know I had little idea what to do with my data anyways.

I am trying to use Photo Shop and I suppose that is because that is what I used years ago and at this point I really don't like Star Tools or Pixinsite ...so it is what it is..its like I could drive my little car faster than a v8 simply because I have more control..

I know the colour is crook but at least I am getting some control on the colours and the layer process. This is good as I could get without losing detail...but its just the start.


One thing I have learnt is to be real careful in recording your capture details.

I have a batch which I did not name and cant remember if they were red or or what... so a tip there.. in an rush to get stuff its those little things that come back to bite you.

The mount tracked well but there were a few trailed ones but put them all in DSS and told it to select the best 70% ...any crook stars are more a result of trying to move the layers around with just the mouse so a drawing pad thing is on the list to correct that part of things.

Thanks to all the members for all the help that has got me this far.

I will do better to show you all that your advice and help has been greatly appreciated.

I am struck by the detail over the dslr approach.

The HA although not much of it was mind blowing.

Alex

[xelasnave]

Here is the HA stack only about 15 minutes would have been stacked.
alex

[Gavin1234]

Looks good Alex. I’ve had the same issue with unidentified subs. If you’re using sequence generator you can set it up to use the details in the file name. That’s what I’m doing now.

[xelasnave]

I am using shapcap and it has similar so I have it this way..Prawn2mlum240g which is Object, exposure filter and gain..its great when I do it:)
And thanks for your kind encouragement.
Alex

[xelasnave]

Looking at my image I cant believe how red it now appears...
Alex

[mynameiscd]

Hi Alex,
Getting good data with heaps of clarity.
I see what you mean by detail compared to DSLR.
The processing is a different story though. I dont have a mono but ive been playing around with itelescope and getting really good b&w images but putting them together and getting the right colour balance is pretty hard.
How to and where to slip the Ha data without blowing out the red channel had been stumping me until i saw this video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ePip4rdsI

It showed me what im doing wrong in DSS and photoshop.
It doesn't tell you how to put Ha data in but its a pretty good workflow from deep sky stacker to photoshop.
I pasted the Ha mono into the red channel in the rgb luminance and it seemed to work.
After listening David Rankin and sometimes he spends up to 4 hours getting colour balance right im starting to get it.
Might stick to DSLR for a while.
Keep up the good images
Cheers
Andy

[xelasnave]

thanks Andy.
I have happily spent a great deal of today playing with this image mainly to get a fwwl for photoshop and what it can do or rather what I can do.
I will take a look at the video but I think I may have seen it...but if I have I don't seem to have learnt much.
I am posting another version to see if it goes redder ..as I said I cantg believe the first one looked ok and yet now it is so red..similar happened with a Lagoon a while back and I am wondering why this is maybe there is an explanation … this one looked rather mild now so it will be interesting to look at it tomorrow and see if I see it differently.
I will now go look at the vids either for a first or second time.
alex

[xelasnave]

Yes great video I was half way thru it.

Irrespective of the problems with my images I am so happy to be able to produce something.

Prior to buying the ZWO I moved the mount manually and pretty well confined to 30 second captures and now I have it all more or less working (thanks to polemaster and not taking ages to align) and I am getting photo shop worked out.
And the positive has been over the last year my interest has driven me to do things that I did not think I could now do.

Building the cube for me was a monumental task and I have changed from a dont read the directions person to enjoyinng the research.

There are many things still to do, like install the focuser and get plate solving working and get around the colour blindness which I will do...I have a plan.

As I have observed there must be something going on when one day or time I dont notice the intense red but other times when it just look hidious...that in itself is promising and my daughters advice to do a process and leave it and come back to it was better advice than I first took it to be.

Heading back from Brisbane now having enjoyed perhaps the best weekend ever.

Hopefully when back the fires have settled and the smoke has cleared and I get to do some narrow band under the Moon.

One thing that I am very happy about is getting HA with only 2 minute exposures and that the mount handles that even if it stops guiding.
Alex