Lmc

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #1 14-09-2012, 10:06 PM

Captured over 4 nights at Leyburn.

184 x 5 minute subs. Unguided.
Canon 550D @ ISO 400 and 800 and the Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro @ F4

It was a mammoth undertaking. My poor laptop almost choked trying to chew through that much data.
This is the first processing. No doubt it will get another going over or 5.
The image came out of DSS with the top part of the image pre clipped. Not sure why that is so.

I'm all ears for some constructive criticism on this one. The colour balance in the shadows seems a bit funny, and I'd love to add more contrast, but any changes I make affects those delicate outer arms that were so hard to draw out.

Added repro number 2.

Oh, and I should say thanks to Greg Bock and Pat Pearl for their hospitality and 5am port.

I had a wonderful time. Thanks.

Larryp (Laurie) · #2 14-09-2012, 10:09 PM

Very nice!

Martin Pugh · #3 14-09-2012, 10:12 PM

.....and you talk about my perseverance?!
very well done JJ.

I take it you flat fielded right? Because it just looks like vignetting to me at the top.

You can add contrast without affecting the outer arms quite easily by adding a reveal selection layer mask and feathering heavily.

cheers
Martin

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #4 14-09-2012, 10:23 PM

Yes, I took flats. It's just weird isn't it. I've gone and done another repro, adding contrast, and it's helped a lot, I think. ( processing with tired eyes is never a good idea. )
It would be interesting to capture the same number of hours using a 50mm lens. I think the outer spiral arms just don't fit into the FOV.

RickS (Rick) · #5 14-09-2012, 10:54 PM

Good use of a few nights, JJJ

gregbradley · #6 14-09-2012, 11:15 PM

That looks very good.

Tremendous effort. You can really see its a barred spiral galaxy in your image.

Greg.

tornado33 · #7 14-09-2012, 11:53 PM

Great shot there, very deep indeed, so much so there is so much outer detail not normally seen.

I hope you dont mind but I used Gradient Xterminator photoshop plug in to remove gradients and flatten the field.
Scott

Paul Haese · #8 15-09-2012, 12:33 AM

I like Scotts rendition. Certainly good potential JJJ. Great data and good fun playing around with it too I'll bet.

bartman (Bart) · #9 15-09-2012, 04:39 AM

Great shot JJJ!
15 hours

Wow.....
Is this a crop of a full image ? and if so by how much-ish?
Cheers
Bartman

multiweb (Marc) · #10 15-09-2012, 05:06 AM

Great shot. Love the field and colors.

dvj (John) · #11 15-09-2012, 06:09 AM

Really excellent image. That gradient tool from Russ did a great job. I'll have to check it out.

jg

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #12 15-09-2012, 09:45 AM

Excellent JJ and a huge effort!

About all it needs IMO is a teensy bit more contrast. Nicely done!

Cheers, Marcus

PS: I'd like to see a higher res version though.

tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook) · #13 15-09-2012, 12:04 PM

Wow jjj !!!

Just over 15 hours, that's a lot of data.
Looks like you will be playing around with that for months.

Cheers,

Justin.

SkyViking (Rolf) · #14 15-09-2012, 06:28 PM

What a beautiful barred spiral you have teased out there, that's impressive. It certainly sounds like a serious effort and the result is all worth it. The remaining gradient should easily be able to be removed, Scott's version looks great. I use PixInsight's DBE for gradient removal, it works wonders.
Thanks for the view

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #15 15-09-2012, 07:31 PM

The image isn't cropped at all. I needed as much of the FOV as possible to show those outer arms.
I wish now I'd used the Nifty 50 instead so the full extent would be visible.

I'm thinking of taking some more flats and see if that will fix the clipping problem at the top of the image.

h0ughy (David) · #16 15-09-2012, 10:55 PM

nice image JJJ - i do agree a repro with some better flats may help. Some mega time on this - well done. Leyburn Eh - was it good there?

bokglob (Darrell) · #17 16-09-2012, 05:58 PM

Wow! Awsome jjj

petershah (Peter Shah) · #18 16-09-2012, 06:24 PM

wow four nights, i could only dream...im lucky if i get four good nights in a season........a beautiful shot there, an object i would love to see

iceman (Mike) · #19 17-09-2012, 04:35 PM

Beautiful result JJJ. With a modded camera you would've got some more reds which would really complement it.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #20 17-09-2012, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Beautiful result JJJ. With a modded camera you would've got some more reds which would really complement it.

The image had to be taken with a regular DSLR unfortunately.
It's to be the visual light comparison to the LMC shot taken by Spitzer.

(Man....I feel like I'm telling porkies every time I mention the Goddard thing. Pinch me. LOL)