As I am pretty sure that I am the culprit to which you are referring, potentially instigated by my recent wide field test image, I can appreciate where you're coming from
I tend to write what I am thinking which at times if I don't stop to think turns into a bit of a ramble (see some of my posts in the classifieds (LX200)
). I possibly come across as being more negative towards my images than I actually feel. Having only been in the imaging game for less than a year now, I know I still have a LOT to learn, mostly when it comes to image processing.
Take my newer current setup, every photo I have taken so far has suffered from tilt. After replacing one of the connections (between camera and CFW) I have now come to realise that I had both a combination of flexure and tilt. Now, down to just tilt and I think I may have figured out where that is coming from…. Compression ring on the focuser, cannot be sure until the rain goes away!
I mention this because it is an issue that I am currently on my way to combating. It causes less than perfect stars which in any particular image doesn’t bother me too much but I want it gone long term. As I mentioned before, I know I am still a novice when it comes to the processing side of things, stars are my weakness! Ultimately, I like criticism because it is the best way to learn on doing a better job in both future image and reprocesses of that one.
Take my recent Prawn (working on my millionth rendition now I recon!), Mike mentioned that the colour could do with some tweaking to get a nicer representation of all three colours (I do agree that it was a bit too green) and that it had been a bit over sharpened; the very last thing I did was a slight UnSharp Mask to take away the softness from noise reduction, I was in two minds to begin with as to whether it was a good idea. Had a number of mentions about the stars needing some more work (my current main processing struggle) but being a good image over all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiraz
you have a point, but when we spend 10+ hours looking at an image, trying to do the best possible processing job, we are all too well aware that we have made tradeoffs to get to the end product. I think that it is reasonable to point out known limitations in an image - it helps others to understand why an image looks like it does and may inform their future efforts in imaging and processing.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
Artistic critique is common on this site. Its mostly very helpful. Sometimes unpalatable, but this site is very polite. I have met many of the people who post here and they are very fine people. I often find people point out things I have overlooked. Sometimes its merely a difference of artistic opinion other times its an objective thing that others will agree on and you can see yourself once pointed out to you. I find sometimes my images evolve as a result of posting here from this process. At the end they are often better for it. It would be great to post an image in a near perfect state that cannot be improved on but that's rarely the case.
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I do agree with you Todd (?) in that I am actually ecstatic in what I am able to get with my quite humble setup, scrutinising my own images and asking for feedback is just a way of improving them further. For instance, my entire rig is worth less than Greg’s Proline (I want one but alas buying a house is higher on my priority list right now) and because of this I know he has spent a proportionally larger amount of time getting his gear to the high standard that he wants. Following the thought lines of Ray and Greg, the more time, effort and money that has been put into the imaging rig the more that someone wants/expects to get out of it. Then there is all the time that goes into processing afterwards, we all want to get the best that we can from an image and the only way to improve it is to find its faults.