M31

[oernulfs]

Captured with Skywatcher 80ED pro and QHY8L using a flattener, guided with C9.25 and starshoot autoguider on cgem mount. Stacked and processed in nebulosty and some processing in photoshop.

[alpal]

That's quite good - & I'm sure you could make it
much better with some advanced processing.

[oernulfs]

Thank's. The only thing I've done is to have played around with curves and levels. I've also used a tecnique using a copy-layer and high-pass filter to sharpen it. I'm quite lost when it comes to photoshop. Have you any hints about what can be done to make the image better?

[alpal]

Yes but I can only find one right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZlpDFsugYk

Also - Atalas - a member here - called Louie - used to have a lot of training videos on the web but I can't find them anymore.



cheers
Alpal

[oernulfs]

Thank you, I'll have a look at it and see if I can copy what it says. Again, thank you for good directions/advice :)

[alpal]

No worries Rnulf - that guy "Doug" has other videos on Youtube too.
Star masks will stop you blowing out all the stars as white in colour.


I wish Louie would chime in - his videos are fantastic.

[Ross G]

Hello Rnulf,

I love photos of M31.

Yours is very sharp with nice detail.

What were your exposure details?

Ross.

[oernulfs]

Hi, Ross.

I used many exposures. They are 60s, 120s, 180s and 240s. I have approximately 30 minutes with each (i.e. 30x60s, 15x120s and so on).

I have stacked in nebulosity and used digital developement. That seems to prevent the core from beeing over exposed (burnt out).

[ew]

Nice shot of M31 :thumbsup: I'm doing the same as you except for the longer exposure times (My HEQ5 controller failed so only could do short exposures this year) I use Nebulousity for stacking and stretching the image them use photoshop CS5, I find a useful tool in the menu Image-Adjustments-Shadows/Highlights. Tick 'Show more options' try using it after levels and curves. Hope this helps :)