Hi Richard; I've no idea how much experience you have with DSS, and hope
I'm not patronising you, but the image that comes up after stacking can be
anything from almost pure white through to almost black, and this is normal,
depending upon the brightness of each single sub.
If you look down the recent threads on this page you will see one titled
HELP. In that thread I gave a workflow for DSS to Ryan who was having
similar troubles with DSS. Hopefully it will get around your problem.
cheers
raymo
Nice Cigar there Ray, some good details with dust lanes and bright core concentrations..
Interesting galaxy with the lopsided center to one side, i wonder the view from above - so many variations in Galaxy structures out there ?
Nice result
Love it Raymo!
Richard - as Raymo says, you just need to stretch the image. At present it's all down the dark end, stretching will amplify that dark stuff. You can use dss, or download fitswork. It has a bunch of simple processing stuff and there's some good YouTube's on how to use it.
You do beautiful work Raymo.
Please keep them coming.
I wonder how a full on type process go? You know thru startools or pixinsite..that sort of thing...I find a big step up so I would love to see how your images turn out...
Alex
I have packed up for good this time; my eyesight is making it very difficult,
and the long clouded out period is almost here, and my wife's health is
deteriorating, making time for imaging hard to find. I might post a few more of my early digital efforts, specifically so that newbies can see that reasonable images can be obtained with pretty basic gear and technique.
raymo
Raymo,
You have been a stalwart in this forum and your contribution has been of benefit to all of us. You have continually offered solutions to assist in our endeavors to take the perfect shot (or good enough for us backyarders) and your years of experience in astrophotography has certainly stood the test of time - always been able to manage a very decent image albeit gear that has no doubt been superpassed by modern CCD, Software and Optics.
Thanks for your input and comments,
I've enjoyed reading your remarks and the occasional dig. Always entertaining reading.
I'm only writing this in response to your claim to hang up the boots in this game through your waning sight, good luck with whatever you come across,
Power to you and your wife Raymo,
Anth
I have packed up for good this time; my eyesight is making it very difficult,
and the long clouded out period is almost here, and my wife's health is
deteriorating, making time for imaging hard to find. I might post a few more of my early digital efforts, specifically so that newbies can see that reasonable images can be obtained with pretty basic gear and technique.
raymo
Wow Raymo, I can appreciate your situation & I realize it must be a tough call. I must say you have been "the voice of reason" for me & I'm sure for many others as well, & as a cornerstone of this forum you're regular input will surely missed. I wish you & Mrs Raymo all the very best & will look forward to your future visits here as time permits .
Best,
Tony
Just goes to show, it’s not about the specs of the gear, it’s the down to the skill and technique of the hands of the photographer.
Sad to hear of your situation raymo, wish you both all the best. You’ve been an inspiration to many. Hope you keep posting on the forum even if it’s without images
. Whenever I use DSS, I just get dark images even when I stack 11 identical exposures. 
.
