Hi people,
Well I know poor old M42 gets a flogging by everyone and there dog but with only just over a hour of dark skies before moon rise its makes a easy target to quickly setup on (and you have to redo it with a new setup!)
So here`s my final M42 - running man image with around a hours total exposure with the new 8" scope and Canon 20D.
Image is 12 x 4 min, 10 x 1 min, 8 x 25 sec, 8 x 10 sec with darkframes, flatfield frames taken.
M42 might be bright but you have to admit the dynamic range is a bit tricky even for the more advanced Imager to get right.
Here is my latest attempt and I promise no more M42`s from me (well to next year anyway...
Image reduced to around 40% for posting.
Comments and Critics all welcome!
cheers
Last edited by Garyh; 17-01-2009 at 08:57 PM.
Reason: Rotate image, thanks Marcus!
Very Nice Gary. Loads of detail in all that nebulosity. Nice colour and focus. You have pulled a lot of detail without creating a lot of noise along the way.
Well done.
Just looking at my monitor (laptop not too accurate) the dust lanes appear a little pink ,i have seen others with a more brown appearance, the detail is smooth so perhaps you could run a high pass filter over a duplicate blend it selectively in, and just give a teeny bit more definition to some areas. i know some would argue that fog has no definite edges, but given the detail that the hubble has pulled from M42 i think you can push the boundaries a bit and it is still believable.
Good one, Gary. They just keep getting better and better. The image is smooth and photo-real. Star diffraction spikes and the wisps in the clouds around M43 are nice and sharp. The big "cave" is well lit, and the core matches the rest. Very nice.
Gary, that is a superb image, in fact one of the best DSLR images I have seen of M42 and with such short exposure time you have done an truly excellent job.
The only thing that bugs me a bit is the framing, I know you were trying to fit everything in but as a result the composition isn't ideal and is a bit ditracting, however, it is still a beautiful image!!!
Thanks Chris, Renormalised, Doug, Clive, Bill, Rich, Daniel, Rob, Mike Jase, Trevor and Marcus!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alchemy
good to see the new scope pulling a few photons.
its nicely blended ,
Just looking at my monitor (laptop not too accurate) the dust lanes appear a little pink ,i have seen others with a more brown appearance, the detail is smooth so perhaps you could run a high pass filter over a duplicate blend it selectively in, and just give a teeny bit more definition to some areas. i know some would argue that fog has no definite edges, but given the detail that the hubble has pulled from M42 i think you can push the boundaries a bit and it is still believable.
its still a nice image as it is though.
cheers clive
Your`e right with the dark shadow color balance being a bit on the red side Clive which is making the dusty bits a bit pinkish..I shall work on that a little more..I did selectively enhanced the nebulosity but not very strongly. Might give it a go and push it some more..Thanks for that!
Gary
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Gary, that is a superb image, in fact one of the best DSLR images I have seen of M42 and with such short exposure time you have done an truly excellent job.
The only thing that bugs me a bit is the framing, I know you were trying to fit everything in but as a result the composition isn't ideal and is a bit ditracting, however, it is still a beautiful image!!!
Mike
cheers Mike, Yeah I know my composition sucks a bit, should not have rushed the framing so much but was eager to squeeze every bit of darknesss I could before moon rise. should have spent another few minutes getting it better..
cheers Gary
Quote:
Originally Posted by marc4darkskies
Very nicely done Gary! Colours & detail great! Well done!
This may sound silly, but if you rotate it 180 deg, the composition will be more pleasing.
Cheers, Marcus
Thanks Marcus! I shall do that right now! and repost! didn`t think of that!
Gary
