My first try at Astrophotography- Eta carinae

[johnyb (John)]

Hi all, i am new to this hobby and it has opened up a whole new world, oops i mean universe. What i have learnt is that it is an expensive hobby and very technical.

This is my first try at photographing NGC 3372.

I took 20x 60s lights at 1600 ISO using my standard canon 650D camera.
with corresponding darks and some flats.

Stacked using DSS and processed in photoshop CS6.

These are low res pics though. not sure if they will come out well, stipp playing around with a file converter package for uploads.

Anyway, im loving it!

John

[Atmos (Colin)]

That's very nice John! Would never have guessed that it is your first jaunt into astrophotography.

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

Nice work John.

[johnyb (John)]

Thank you,

Well, i have spent many hours looking at youtube videos, and obtaining advice from Ristigmed (Russell), in fact it was he who got me interested in the hobby.

I have the bug now.

Cheers

[leon]

Excellent first attempt indeed, you will be a master at it in no time.

Leon

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Nice one John ! looks like the tracking was really good, much better than my first attempt

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Great stuff John. You should be suitably chuffed.

I'm also a newbie and in my few attempts to date I'm always mystified by how to present my images, colour-wise. I often go to NASA for ideas. I do know an un-modded DSLR has an IR cut filter that filters out a lot of the H-Alpha reds.

I'm also aware that PP is very subjective but I wondered how much more red I could tease out of your low res images and to that end I had a fiddle in CS6>Image>Adjustments>Selective Colour. In the RED channel I found that backing off the Cyan slider and slightly boosting the black slider there is quite a bit more red intensity available. I also had a fiddle with the neutrals sliders and the White Balance and Dehaze tools in Camera Raw.

Another useful tool I've found is Image>Adjustments>Exposure> Gamma Correction, and Mate, if I'm trying to teach you how to suck eggs, I humbly apologise.

[johnyb (John)]

Thanks Kev and others for your comments.

For a newby Kev you seem quite adept at Photoshop.

Indeed taking the picture is only part of the process.

The post processing is possibly more of a challenge. the final picture is a mix of technical knowledge of the processing app and personal taste.

However, having said that putting in more time for total exposure time will give core data for which to extract the desired final images.

Ill try playing around again with that image given the cloud cover we are having.

Cheers

[RickS (Rick)]

That's a good start, John!

[LostInSp_ce]

Impressive for a first try John. Looks great!

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Originally Posted by johnyb

Thanks Kev and others for your comments.

For a newby Kev you seem quite adept at Photoshop.

Cheers

John, I'm new to the astro stuff but have been fairly keen on photography for about eight years, mainly into the avian genre.

My PS 'adeptness' is mainly due to trying every slider till I find one that has the desired outcome, and hopefully remembering it.

Cheers

Kev

[Nebulous (Chris)]

Impressive results John.

[johnyb (John)]

Thanks guys,

Kev, i like your style. Especially "trying to remember what you did"

I would say that reprocessing any image will most certainly achieve different results.
I have seen many you tube videos on processing astro images and many just settle for levels and curves.
The others use masking techniques etc.
PS is a powerful product, almost endless in the combinations of enhancements to achieve the final pic.

I have seen many variations of the same nebulae and often wondered what colour is it really like. how does mine compare.

I guess there may not be an answer to that, and that the end result is personal taste.

Is there somewhere where we can reference nebulae to compare our renditions?

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Originally Posted by johnyb

Thank you,

Well, i have spent many hours looking at youtube videos, and obtaining advice from Ristigmed (Russell), in fact it was he who got me interested in the hobby.

I have the bug now.

Cheers

well I think the bug has probably been there for years JB - I just gave you a little nudge into the right direct

definitely way better than my first attempt - great result

[johnyb (John)]

I removed the IR cut filter and replaced with a Baader filter.

Thought i'd take another shot at Carina to see the difference.

I am still learning to post process though, but the change is remarkable.

using the same settings for subs (20x60s @1600iso) with flats and Darks

Focus could have been a little sharper though.

What do you think?

John

[johnyb (John)]

Oops, forgot to load the image. Ill do it tonight.

[johnyb (John)]

Second time lucky.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

I think it's a beautiful image. Lovely colours. Great stuff!

[johnyb (John)]

Thanks Kevin. I have checked out your Carina on Astrobin. Wow!
Amazing what a large aperture scope and more data can achieve.

For a new comer to this hobby, its is great photos from others that have inspired me to learn and strive for the same.

Cheers