NGC 3372 Carina: First Light ASI2600MC + L-Extreme

[AdamJL]

Hi all

Technically 2nd light. 1st light all of my shots were out of focus
This is my first ever attempt at using a cooled astro camera. Also my 3rd image in total (big noob, haha)

Camera:ASI2600MC
Scope: SkyWatcher EvoStar 80ED
Filters: L-Extreme
Mount:EQ6-R Pro
Guiding camera: ASI290MM
Guiding scope: SkyWatcher EvoGuide 50ED
Subs: 39 x 240
Total Integration: 2hrs 36mins
Lights: 41 (scrapped 2)
Darks: 40
Flats: 40
Dark Flats: 40
Bortle Class: 5
Moon: 85%
Software: NINA, PHD2, Stellarium, PoleMaster, StarTools 1.7, Photoshop CC

2 images presented, one in traditional duo-band colours, another with a quick attempt at something different in PS

thank you for looking. Comments and criticism welcome.

edit: not sure why they're not showing up as thumbnails??
edit again: just replaced the links with an upload instead.

[PKay (Peter)]

Pretty good I reckon Adam.

Most interesting, and focus rules...

Not had much to do with Startools, but it just seems to get better every day.

For a 3rd image, really well done indeed

[Karlz (Karl)]

Looks great Adam, I like the colours of your first image. Did you compose in star tools to get the colours that way? I'm trying to figure out how to do it through compose. The brain just won't compute

[multiweb (Marc)]

Beautiful shots.
Did you do a HaOiii bicolor blend in PS? Looks good too.

[AdamJL]

Originally Posted by PKay

Pretty good I reckon Adam.

Most interesting, and focus rules...

Not had much to do with Startools, but it just seems to get better every day.

For a 3rd image, really well done indeed

thanks very much, Peter!

Originally Posted by Karlz

Looks great Adam, I like the colours of your first image. Did you compose in star tools to get the colours that way? I'm trying to figure out how to do it through compose. The brain just won't compute

Thanks Karl. I also like the first one, even though I tend to prefer the more traditional colour sets. Wonder why that is!
No, I didn't use Compose. Ivo (the dev) told me that was one way, but I just did it in Photoshop... The second image was done through StarTools, using the Legacy colour preset (I'm new to this, so use defaults a lot) then I took it in to PS to do some light enhancement and then a colour change.
More detail in the below comment to Marc

Originally Posted by multiweb

Beautiful shots.
Did you do a HaOiii bicolor blend in PS? Looks good too.

Thank you, Marc!
No I didn't.. honestly, I feel like I'm cheating here, but all I did was did a colour balance slider change

I went from the first image below to the second image... that's all!

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by AdamJL

I went from the first image below to the second image... that's all!

You probably can isolate the Oiii in the blue channel the Ha in the red and do a Ha Ha/Oiii Oiii (RGB) bicolor. I suspect it would look much the same though.

[AdamJL]

Originally Posted by multiweb

You probably can isolate the Oiii in the blue channel the Ha in the red and do a Ha Ha/Oiii Oiii (RGB) bicolor. I suspect it would look much the same though.

No joke, that sounds like rocket science to me
Will look into though, thanks for the suggestion

[Startrek (Martin)]

Adam,
That’s a tremendous image for your first with this unbelievable camera and unbelievable filter
Love the colours
Well done !!
PS As I’m a Startools fanatic , could you let in on how you separated your Ha and OIII so well
I assume you used Compose straight off , then ......
I’ve followed Ivo’s advice and have never really separated the colours as well as yours
Cheers
Martin

[AdamJL]

Originally Posted by Startrek

Adam,
That’s a tremendous image for your first with this unbelievable camera and unbelievable filter
Love the colours
Well done !!
PS As I’m a Startools fanatic , could you let in on how you separated your Ha and OIII so well
I assume you used Compose straight off , then ......
I’ve followed Ivo’s advice and have never really separated the colours as well as yours
Cheers
Martin

Hi Martin. Thanks for the kind words.
Indeed, it's an amazing camera. Coming from a stock DSLR, this has been eye opening!! In fact, check out below two images taken with this camera and my old 5D IV. Night and day difference.

To answer your question, I actually just processed it normally.
- open linear unstretched
- autodev
- crop
- wipe
- autodev
- decon
- sharp
- colour and chose "Legacy". You can also choose "Bi-Color" and it'll be similar.
Then apply the signal tracking. That gave me the red/blue picture.

I took that into Photoshop, made some simple curves adjustments, then did a really quick colour balance (screenshots posted above) which gave me the more Hubble-looking image.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Adam
Thanks
Since version 1.5 about 2 years ago I’ve always selected the centre tab ( Linear from OSC / DSLR not stretched or white balanced) whereby your processing in synthetic luminance or mono until you hit the colour module , never the left tab Linear. When I first started using Startools in 2017 there was no centre tab just Linear tab left and Non linear right ( version 1.4 )
Also I don’t follow what you mean by “ apply signal tracking”
to get the red blue picture ?
Finally do you use Deep Sky Stacker for stacking your frames ?
Thanks
Martin

[AdamJL]

Sorry Martin, I probably typed that all out too fast without thinking

This is my flow
- stack everything in DSS. Mostly just use defaults.
- save file as FIT on my desktop
- open that in StarTools 1.7, and from there:

1. Open dataset and choose Linear, from OSC/DSLR with Bayer matrix and not white balanced
2. Autodev > no changes > Keep
3. Crop any stacking artefacts
4. Wipe > no changes > keep
5. AutoDev again, choosing Redo global stretch > Keep
6. Decon > Auto-generate mask > Primary Radius change to around 2.4 > All > Keep
7. Sharp > Next > Auto-generate mask > Keep
8. Color > Fill Mask, choose Legacy preset. Change a little bit here and there. This is the step that gave me the dual-colour palette (red/blue)
9. Track/NR (this is what applies the signal tracking noise reduction) and do the default.
10. Save file, and then maybe have a play in Photoshop for the last bits and bobs.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by AdamJL

Sorry Martin, I probably typed that all out too fast without thinking

This is my flow
- stack everything in DSS. Mostly just use defaults.
- save file as FIT on my desktop
- open that in StarTools 1.7, and from there:

1. Open dataset and choose Linear, from OSC/DSLR with Bayer matrix and not white balanced
2. Autodev > no changes > Keep
3. Crop any stacking artefacts
4. Wipe > no changes > keep
5. AutoDev again, choosing Redo global stretch > Keep
6. Decon > Auto-generate mask > Primary Radius change to around 2.4 > All > Keep
7. Sharp > Next > Auto-generate mask > Keep
8. Color > Fill Mask, choose Legacy preset. Change a little bit here and there. This is the step that gave me the dual-colour palette (red/blue)
9. Track/NR (this is what applies the signal tracking noise reduction) and do the default.
10. Save file, and then maybe have a play in Photoshop for the last bits and bobs.

Adam,
Thanks for sharing
My workflow has been similar for a long time but I also use Contrast and HDR as well ( I just called signal tracking , final noise reduction from the 3 earlier versions )
Attached is one of my workflows from a few weeks ago )
Thanks again
Martin

[AdamJL]

Good read, thanks for sharing, Martin

[assbutt94]

Great images Adam. Im a fan of ha/oiii bicolour which would give a similar result to your red/blue image, although both are very interesting.

Switching between the two is cool too as different areas are accentuated differently, well done

[Robert_T]

lovely Carina Adam. I am partial to the ochre blue version of the bicolour. Nice work

[AtlasPSD]

These came out stunning! Both versions are really something, like Robert my personal preference has to be the ochre blue

[AdamJL]

Originally Posted by assbutt94

Great images Adam. Im a fan of ha/oiii bicolour which would give a similar result to your red/blue image, although both are very interesting.

Switching between the two is cool too as different areas are accentuated differently, well done

Originally Posted by Robert_T

lovely Carina Adam. I am partial to the ochre blue version of the bicolour. Nice work

Originally Posted by AtlasPSD

These came out stunning! Both versions are really something, like Robert my personal preference has to be the ochre blue

Thanks very much for your comments, everyone. Still lots to work on, but really pleased with how this is going.

[RyanJones]

I’ve been meaning to comment on this one for a while Adam so sorry for my tardiness. The yellow and blue rendition is so vibrant. A stark contrast to the stuff I’ve been putting out recently. A very nice image. Well done !

Cheers

Ryan

[AdamJL]

ah that's very kind of you to comment anyway, Ryan. Thanks for taking the time and for your nice comment.

[Nikolas (Nik)]

I'm in the minority here but I prefer the traditional colour rendition, it's a great image regardless of which colour palette used however.