IC2944- Ha/ rgb blend NOW- reprocessed

[richardo]

Hi all,
remarkably after my usual Friday debriefing (:drink:), i was surprised the high cirrus cloud wasn't too bad so picked up some rgb to combine to the Ha channel I already obtained the WE before.
Some pure Ha- RGB combines can be, well, ok. But this was a pain.
And I really wanted to keep the Ha star sizes and the, un cluttered appearance rather than ramping up to the rgb.. purely for ascetics.
A large blue star sitting out of the frame is casting some scattered reflection at the top r/H corner so this is not a gradient if you were wondering...

Did lots of halo removal... which leads me to think the Astronomiks I have are not all they are said to be with halos. Unless I have some reflections happening in the G & B channels.. a pain really!
Still some halos but I think I can live it... spent ages on processing this, but was fun trying many differing techniques..

For a look just hit the 'latest image' thumb on my front page
http://www.baytop-observatory.com/

Been nothing but rain, heat, thunder and lightening.. since(4 seasons in a day here)

Hope you've been able to get out..

All the best
Rich

[multiweb]

Like the Ha better but still pretty cool. Very nice star color though. Not much luck here either cloud-wise. Patience is the name of the game.

[richardo]

Thanks Marc, yeah I'm a bit the same as you on this one.
Full NB does this area far better.. even adage of only OIII would give more depth...

Thanks mate!
Rich

[multiweb]

That's right. Some Oiii in the green an blue channel will give you all the punch you need and separate the bright red areas from the pink stuff. You can blame big Mike with his superb saturated shots. He's corrupted our retina. The bar is set way too high now. :lol:

[TrevorW]

Sacrificed some clarity with the colour but very nice never the less

[gregbradley]

Very nice. Reds a tad salmony in colour but overall a very impressive image.

Greg.

[Octane]

Love your work, Rich.

Looks magical to me. Not pixel-peeping, just standing back and taking the whole thing in as fit on screen, it has a very... spatial look to it.

I love it.

H

[strongmanmike]

HI Richi poo

Not bad :confuse3:...but I agree with Marco, the Ha only is a real corker, as you say perhaps the addition of OIII and SII would be well worth it.

The Ha is just so damn good that it would be a shame to leave it here :shrug:

What does the straight RGB look like?

Did I mention that the Ha was pretty good...:question:

:D

Mike

[richardo]

Hi Guys, thanks for the comments and critique and I whole heartedly agree with you.
Like H, and thank you H, I did like the 'spacial' appearance of the first posted piccie....
Buuuuut, a dog with a bone and wasn't overly happy... I've used more of the RGB, reduced its stars and come up with this new version.

So consider this, a reprocess..:D

I do feel it uses better the rgb data and was looking a little mono tone in my previous version.
Ah the want for tiny stars eludes me without NB....
Must get, must have at least a OIII.. coming soon me thinks...

Cheers all
Please let me know what you think.

all the best for now:thumbsup:
Rich

[strongmanmike]

Well as I would say, nothing wrong with a repro ;) ...how ever long it takes :thumbsup:

Those Boks look like they are floating (the main one should have some shading in it though).

Excellent Rich, one of your best :cheers:

Mike

[Peter.M]

This is beautiful, I think I have found my next target!

[gregbradley]

Ah yes very nice Rich. A much bette balance of colours. Ha makes images too red very easily. Keeping a balance of colours to keep the image interesting is the key in my opinion.

Greg.

[richardo]

Hey Mike my man, thanks for saying!:cheers:
Yes nothing wrong at all with a repro... I really wanted to try something different though than the usual traditional Ha- rgb. The expanse and openness of the NB has always taken my eye, but trying to achieve this with a single NB filter and BB colour is not an easy thing at all... I spent litterally hours at the computer.. and then some:lol:
But i came back to the best, I hope of both worlds..
Cheers Migel, I'm really liking the extra data longer exposures are giving me. Plenty of head room.



Thanks very much Peter.... good luck!



Hey Greg, yeah, was just trying some different things but alas, was never really happy. Much better variation in colour tones from the rgb being more predominant..
Think I'll be putting my money on a OIII filter this week!

Thanks very much guys for the comments.
Appreciated as per usual.

Rich

[trent_julie]

Nice effort!

[RobF]

Beautiful work Rich. I love the 3D effect of the HaRGB - that's my fav.

Love the FOV. Can honestly say while having a go at this one last night selected a surprisingly similar field to target without having seen your image. Your work here is inspiring me to keep at it with some Ha from the 'burbs.

[atalas]

Wow!love It.

[multiweb]

Like the color saturation on the repro. Noice! :thumbsup:

[midnight]

Yes love the 3D aspect about it too.

So much going on there. Lovelly presentation Rich!

Darrin...

[Paul Haese]

Just caught up with this thread. I don't know what the original looked like but this looks pretty nice to me Rich. Colour, detail qnd processing is all really nice. Great field too.

BTW had Stuart Tapp at our place doing some electrical, said he knew a guy at Streaky. Figured it was you. Mentioned your last name too. Asked me if I knew you.:)

[Moon]

Excellent image Rich.

[cventer]

Very nice indeed.

I have also been attemping a repro of my last HaRGB and have had 3 attempts at it and still not happy so know how tough this is to get right. I think you nailed it.

Love to hear at a high level the steps you took to overlay Ha and get star colors without halos around rgb stars you typicaly get when blending Ha.

[Peter Ward]

You've retained all of the h-alpha information without over-cooking it.
Nicely done :thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Beautifully done Rich! Well blended together I thinks, Like Mr H says if you look at the whole complex it is one of the best chooks around, very nice 3d effect and lovely contrast
cheers

[richardo]

Thanks Trent!



Cheers for that Rob.... yes the Ha content added to rgb's can certainly bring out a lovely effect to an other wise average colour image.



Thanks Louie!



Thanks Marc!



Cheers Darren, thanks for saying so mate!

Thanks again guys for your comments!

All the best
Rich

[richardo]

Hi ya Paul, thanks for the comments mate! Took a little time to find what was working with this image.... tried lots of different stuff but went pretty much back to the basics.
Yeah, I remember Stuart.... being a 'retired hurt' ex carpenter/ builder, it's good to keep in contact with other tradies... usually through our bands drummer who's still gyprocking.. always some one tagging along on a band practice night.http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../vbiis/images/smilies/happy04.gif
Say good 'ay to him for me.
It's a small world in our hobby that's for sure!



Thanks very much James!



Hi Chris, cheers for that, can have its moments utilising the full contrast and detail of Ha data and mixing to BB rgb's.
I'll PM you and bit of a run down..



Thanks Pete.... pretty much what I needed to do with this... such nice Ha, would have been a shame to not try and preserve it with the colour.



Hey Gaz, nice to hear from you.... it is an interesting area for sure.. some lovely stuff going on and the Boks just give an unusual distraction.

Thanks all for your great comments.
Always appreciated that's for sure!

All the best for now:thumbsup:
Rich

[Ross G]

A great photo Rich.

Ross.