M42 with better blending

[Nikolas (Nik)]

As I get the hang of deep space pics I'm also getting the hang of blending separate exposures in photoshop after the images have been stacked.
Critiques comments etc.
2 versions one more contrasty one more subtle

[billdan (Bill)]

I like the 2nd one better, because Running Man has more nebulosity around it..

Cheers
Bill

[gb44 (Glenn)]

Great work, nice framing and I like the color.
Prefer the more contrasty version apart from the stars looking elongated (drift error) and the halos.
Maybe star size reduction early in the processing would help?
Is that a high pass filter applied in PS?
With the ZWo camera?

Cheers
Glenn

[Nikolas (Nik)]

yep high pass filter and it was with the 183mc
The star elongation is because I belnded 2 different photos and didn't nail the stacking /aligning/blending spot on in photoshop

I have added another version hopefully nicer than those 2

[raymo]

Nice job, but where is all the blue? the running man's blue is anaemic, and
the blue in the main nebula is just about entirely absent.
raymo