Lagoon and Trifid Widefield with EasyHDR

[avandonk]

Here is an image of the Lagoon and Trifid Nebula and surrounds processed with EasyHDR.
Large Image 2.1MB
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~trlee8/lagtrifhdr6.jpg

Details.
Canon 5DH, Canon 300mm F2.8L at f/2.8, Hutech LPR filter. ICNR ON.
This image is the result of using EasyHDR on four sets of exposures, consisting of 6X(1,2,4 and 8 minutes) at an ISO of 200.

I used ImagesPlus to convert from RAW to TIFF and correct for flats. Then used digital development
to simultaneously get a set of four sets of images with suitable brightness range.
Then used RegiStar to produce a set of four aligned images of the same dimensions.
EasyHDR was then used to produce an LDR tiff and PhotoShop to adjust levels.
I would increase the brightness for printing but should be OK on most monitors.

Bert

[iceman (Mike)]

Beautiful image, Bert. I love the darker lanes that surround the objects and move in like roots into the starfield.

[Ric]

Great image Bert, an excellent widefield of that area. very rich starfields and lovely colour as well.

Cheers

[avandonk]

Thanks for the comments. I am just starting to get to grips with this HDR. It is actually capable of working with images with 96 bit depth.There is no way of displaying this dynamic range. This is then converted to an image of 8 or 16 bits using human visual perception algorithms which is logarithmic to show the full gamut of detail in the 96 bit image in the low dynamic range of 8 or 16 bits.

If you consider the Canon 5D has a 12 bit A to D converter and its actual dynamic range (signal to noise ) is 14.3 stops. Then producing an image from four exposures differing by one stop each (x2 exposure) you can potentially produce an image of 18+ stops dynamic range.
This is why the stars all have colour and the nebulae are not blown out in the bright regions but still show detail in the faint regions. This also explains why the dark regions are also almost noise free. There is actually more detail in the dark regions but it is starting to get noisy. More even longer exposures would minimise this noise. One could collect data all night!

I will keep exploring this method. Just bear with me if the colours get to much! This technique will show details and colour not possible with conventional methods. It would be interesting to see what could be done with a 16 bit chip such as the cooled B&W Astro CCD's.

This would also work for planetary images if the dynamic range of intensities of the planet was higher than the detector. One shot colour would be better
B&W would be a nightmare with the planet rotating.

One thing I would like to try it on is a crescent Moon to show in the one image the bright Sunlit crescent and the Earthlit part.


Bert

[Garyh]

A lovely widefield Bert..soo much detail!!!! love those 300mm lense shots!!

[spearo (Frank)]

beautiful!
And the ISO 200 gives it so much detail, very nice
well done
frank

[davidpretorius]

lovely, every morning i am getting up for jupiter and i spend a few minutes just naked eyeing the bulge.............it is soooo lovely under dark skies!

[sheeny (Al)]

I love your work, Bert!

Al.

[tornado33]

Yes it looks great on my LCD monitor
Scott

[avandonk]

I have beaten the same data into submission as it appears as you all see. I agree with everyone from now on and will attempt to get it right!
Large image 2.5MB
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~trlee8/LAGTR_L.jpg

Bert