Thor's Helmet in HOO

[HeavyT]

...

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

There are issues with this image that many would complain vigorously about: black rings round the stars presumably from sharpening, very gritty detail, wildly overly smoothed background, all serious departures from polite diplomatic protocol, and perhaps not true to what is up there,

BUT

(1) you've captured an incredible amount with very simple gear,
(2) your particular processing has caused Thor to float majestically in the foreground against a bokeh background, which from a purely narrative point of view does work,
(3) you've captured details that others, processing more traditionally, have only caught with seriously big kit.

[HeavyT]

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

The silence on here had felt deafening in comparison to the response on Astrobin, Facebook and Instagram. I am new to this, so all the constructive feedback helps.

As soon as I posted the crunched down JPEG on here I saw the issues and, had I not been rushing to get my child to school, I'd have removed it. I then forgot to.

I'm not sure I saw any rulebook when I started astrophotography 9 months ago however if this image is that offensive I'll happily take it down.

Clear skies all.

Originally Posted by Placidus

There are issues with this image that many would complain vigorously about: black rings round the stars presumably from sharpening, very gritty detail, wildly overly smoothed background, all serious departures from polite diplomatic protocol, and perhaps not true to what is up there,

BUT

(1) you've captured an incredible amount with very simple gear,
(2) your particular processing has caused Thor to float majestically in the foreground against a bokeh background, which from a purely narrative point of view does work,
(3) you've captured details that others, processing more traditionally, have only caught with seriously big kit.

[raymo]

Don't feel ignored Heavy T, you never know what response you are going to
get to any particular image. This is of course the main photographic section of the forum, perhaps you would have been better off posting in the beginners'
section. Some experienced imagers will critique your images there, and you can see what other newbies are producing.
Great job, keep it up.
raymo

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

I apologize unreservedly for being confusing. What I was trying to say was that despite the unconventional processing, there were three things about the image that were very fine. My last three points were meant to be high praise.

I would, however, suggest reprocessing with less sharpening of the foreground/highlights and less smoothing of the background.

M

[multiweb (Marc)]

Love the colors and it looks like good data. Starfield is good all over the field and details are there. Needs a reprocess from the ground up. Looking forward to the repro.