Gabriela Misteral and her jewels (+ new close up version)

[strongmanmike]

Battling strong breezes at times...AGAIN :scared::scared::scared:....

This field is just next to the Eta Carina Nebula (in the lower right corner of the full frame image) and is centred on the cool Gabriela Misteral Nebula, which I haven't imaged before except when I juuust squeezed it in, in a Ha wide field camera lens shot (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/70364113/original) (top left) back in 06.

The wind picked up during the colour data and was variable in dirrection so elongated my stars in different directions :doh:, so it was a processing nightmare :bashcomp: :rolleyes:

Anywaaaaay, becasue of the moon I decided to do a narrowband version :P

The attachment is only a small sized crop so see the links for larger files and the full frame - as usual all details can be found under each image :thumbsup:

Since I have discovered my monitor is crappy I am not sure how these will actually look, I did try and calibrate it on Marcus's calibration page but it is a crude and cheap TV basically :screwy:...so I'd be interested in some feedback :)

Full Frame (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/148857280/original) (large file)

Close up of Gabriela (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/148890547/original) (small file)

and...The Whole Album (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/gabriela_mistral_nebula) :)

Bit of fun and when the wind died down it was lovely to be out watching the Milky Way rise in the East into a dark sky in the small hours....

Mike

[Larryp]

That's superb, Mike! I don't remember seeing an image of it before:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

:lol:...you're always first Lazza :thumbsup: ...do you live at the keyboard? :P

It's imaged directly occasionally but often appears in wide field shots of the Eta Carina Neb region of course.

Mike

[h0ughy]

i think it looks very nice. i love the palette and the subject

[ourkind]

Beautiful image Mike I love the detail and the colours!

[strongmanmike]

Cheers David and Carlos, so it looks ok on your screens I take it...:question: :thumbsup:

Mike

[Steffen]

Wow, fantastic! First the Blue Tendrils, now this shot – you're turning this into an art form, bringing out all those colours without making it look like a false-colour image.

Cheers
Steffen.

[ourkind]

Yep :thumbsup: from me, and bit more than OK it's bloody stunning!

[LewisM]

Laurie, it's NGC 3324 I imaged it first for the season to show here:P You even commented :hi:

Mike's has just a few more photons in it than my paltry 2 hrs through a 4" refractor did :rofl:

[cybereye]

Pretty damn good that one.... I'm seriously contemplating moving down to your place! :)

I do a good bolognaise sauce... I can provide the chinotto as well... all I need are some of the photons hitting your part of the world!!! :D

A lovely, lovely image!

Cheers,
Mario

[Peter.M]

looking good Mike! not your usual colours, but they are so subjective anyway.

[dvj]

Your images are always a crowd pleaser Mike. Nice star images to the extreme corners.

j

[sjastro]

Very nice image Mike.

Clear skies

Steven

[marc4darkskies]

Picture it ... You're an Olympic ice skater - you've finished your graceful routine, come off the ice and are sitting next to your coach looking up at the score board .... waiting ...... waiting .....

.......

The score comes up ..... It takes you a few moments to recognise the result ...

...... the crowd roars!!! ...

9.8, 9.7, 10.0, 9.4, 9.7, 9.8 ...

... and you grin with satisfaction. You hug your coach ( :question: ).The lowest and the highest scores are discounted. Only some very minor deductions for lack or full res and maybe slightly understated contrast :D .... and lack of full leg extension on the I-spin move. :P

The crowd is pleased! :)

Cheers, Marcus

PS (& translation): Nice one Mike! :thumbsup:

[LewisM]

Gee that's a lot of words for "Nice one Mike! " :)

[strongmanmike]

Glad it looked ok on your screen Steffen and glad you liked it too :)



It's not the amount of photons that count...it's how you use'em ;) :P



Mmmmmmm Bolognaiseeeeee :love: welcome anytime Mario, you ok with Opera? :D :thumbsup:



Yes Pete, narrowband, it's so much fun :thumbsup:



Cheers John, I had troubles with the stars due to the wind but there is something going on in the lower left corner. Some of it is image rotation (I checked the unguided tracking the other night, seems my Polar alignment is out, better tweak it next session) I think but I suspect, as I have said before, I need to tweak the collimation/tilt one night to get it spot on. Thing is, I'm just imaging time starved so I don't want to lose imaging time to fiddling for hours after setting up and having to pack-up :rolleyes: anyway... the amount of distortion is small and I can live with it for now :thumbsup:



Cheers Steve :)

[strongmanmike]

:love: Must look ok on your screen then..?

:D

[PRejto]

Love the colours Mike....I really envy you your dark skies! I wonder what you will surprise us with next?

Peter

[Meru]

Absolutely amazing Michael, some very nice detail there!

[strongmanmike]

Hi Peter, actually, given this is a narrowband image dark skies were of little use really, when there is no moon however it is excellent for deep galaxy and broadband imaging :)....lovely to sit back though while the gear is chugging away and once the moon sets, look up at the dark star filled sky....:)

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Meru, once I am not contending with the wind in my location (ie get my observatory setup) the resolution should improve.

Mike

[cybereye]

Singing or listening? I'll do both for a clear night....

[RickS]

Mikey... I love the detail. Not fussed on the colours. Maybe I have no taste :shrug: Great to see you're getting some images. It seems to have been raining here ever since I started playing with the collimation on my AG12. Wonder if I can use the rainfall data to tell me how accurate it is? :lol:

Cheers,
Rick.

[marc4darkskies]

:rofl:

Yes it does! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[seeker372011]

Very nice. Don't recall ever seeing this in this palette...makes you look at an old favourite with a completely different perspective.

Great work. As usual. Thanks for sharing

[strongmanmike]

Oh singing mate, singing!!!



...yep no taste :lol:...ah sigh...narrowband imaging...it's like wallpaper..locked in the 70's :lol:



Cool buddy :)



Glad you found it..?...different Narayan, Eta Carina can get boring...:zzz2: :lol: :thumbsup:

Mike

[Poita]

I enjoyed looking at this one, but with that kind of investment in imaging gear, invest an extra tiny percentage of that into one of these:
http://www.imagescience.com.au/products/X%252dRite-i1Display-Pro.html?gclid=CMi5hZXxxbUCFSExpgod rHEARw
It is a pittance compared to the spend on camera/filters/scopes etc. but without it, we may as well have cheapo filters as we aren't getting the best out of our imaging. It can also calibrate your TV/projector etc.

For those on a budget, grab one of these, http://www.imagescience.com.au/products/X%252dRite-ColorMunki-Smile.html
they can often be found for under a hundred.

Without monitor calibration, imaging processing is a somewhat random exercise. I reckon a colourimeter should be the first purchase after you buy a camera. People spend so much chasing optical perfection, it's worth spending a tiny bit more to make sure you are seeing the results of all that work in their true colours.

[Poita]

Nah mate, the 60s!

[David Fitz-Henr]

Nice image Mike; great details and I like the colour scheme! Note that I am talking about NGC 3324, not the photoshop of you and Marcus at the ice skating - I may need therapy after seeing that one ...

[strongmanmike]

Yes it looks interesting and may be worth a try. Thing is my last 22" Samsung monitor was a cracker and seemed to produce the goods without any adjustments what so ever, as Phil Hart once commented in a thread about monitor calibration here on IIS... with words to the effect "Looking at your images Mike, you don't have to worry about monitor calibration mate" I'll take a Phil Hart assessment over a digital gadget any day :lol: :P

At the moment however and after the above monitor gave up the ghost late last year, after 6 years of faithful service, I am using a cheap small digital TV and I don't think it is optimally calibrated, particularly in dynamic range/contrast..?

I plan to get a new monitor at some stage reasonably soon, in teh meantime I will try and just gauge the crowd response :P



Man that looks awesome dude, I really dig it, far out it's making me feel so groovy...



Wha tha? What you talking about Willis?? ;) no I'm not sleeping with him....?...:evil2:

Glad you liked Gabriela :thumbsup:

Mike

[Phil Hart]

Poita.. as Mike says I am really happy with my Dell U2410 (http://accessories.ap.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=230-11017&redirect=1&c=au&l=en&s=bsd) monitor which I've had for awhile now. With a *quality* monitor like this, you can use one of the factory calibration settings and expect good results without further calibration hardware. If you're doing print production work, then it might be worth going down that route. If you have a cheap monitor, then you have a cheap monitor.

If you look at the levels for this image, the black point could definitely be tightened up (see attached). Hope that helps!

Phil

[Phil Hart]

Actually when you look at the full image (rather than the original IIS attachment) the amount of black correction needed is much less.. but still needs a little. In Photoshop I reckon it needs the black point shifted up 10-15 on the histogram.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers for that Calibrator Phil :D...

See? that version you reworked definitely looks clipped on my screen, soooo the images I have been posting since having this monitor must have looked quite white and washed out on some screens :doh:...Hmmm? what to do...? This image (like many of my NB work) has been absolutely loved by some, even had the comment "your best image yet" ?? :lol: while others haven't liked it so much :sad: so monitors and personal taste are clearly at play here :)...bloody narrowband...

Mike

[Phil Hart]

Attached image shows the Levels dialog in Photoshop for your full image. The histogram does not touch the black edge and the 'hump' is quite shifted to the right. On a good quality monitor, that should look a little 'grey' even in the darkest parts.

Pushing the black point up 10 is about right, but even up to 20 does not actually clip much data but the image does start to look a little clipped. It might ideally be done with a curves adjustment to spread out the dark end rather than a fairly crude levels adjustment.

Lots of monitors cannot display full range of blacks/whites and so display many images as clipped in either or both ends.

Checkout this page: http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/MONCAL/CALIBRATE.HTM

On my main monitor I can (just) see every step on both the white and black test charts. But on my crummy netbook screen, I cannot see anything in the bottom half of both test charts.

Phil

[strongmanmike]

Yeh, I knew that but it is hard to leave it looking clipped on my monitor, so I just processed it to look ok to me here :doh:

Mike

[avandonk]

If it helps Mike on my 30'' monitor that is IPS and calibrated the etherial clarity of the dust clouds are quite striking. My data in comparison looks like it was taken through an intervening fog.



Just get a an IPS monitor!

Bert

[Leonardo70]

Wonderful Mike...

All the best,
Leo

[marc4darkskies]

Yep, histograms don't lie Mike and it's clear you need a new monitor!

My 2c: Even though I did say your contrast was understated in my joking response, we are almost in personal taste territory here anyway. After all there are a few folks in this forum that like the "misty" look. With so much tonal range in the neb thoughout the image, the nuance of variation at the dark end will be hard to discern in anything but a darkened room on a perfect monitor if you are ruthless about levelling the histograms. So, is that what you should do? Depends on the subject matter and your taste and whether you're catering for those with "perfect" monitors. For a small galaxy in a sea of black space it makes sense (because you may not want the space to appear grey), but for a neb whose dynamic range is large across the frame it may not make sense because your eye may not perceive the tonal subtelties you want people to see at the dark end. EG: can you see the difference between the background and 1 & 2 in http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php (http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php). Now imagine if 1 & 2 were surrounded by brighter areas, would you be able to differentiate them?

It's all debateable I know, but do get a new monitor so you can make the decision and not your monitor! :)

[Phil Hart]

I agree with Marcus! :)

There is a danger that many people viewing on crummy monitors will miss the faint stuff so being a little conservative on black point is ok but still time for you to replace the nice monitor that went kaput..

[stevous67]

Difficult to see the effect wind had on the final image, well done. The composition is very nice, and the resolution of the system is very good; especially considering those detailed cropped sub-frames.

All the best,

Steve. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Thanks my faithful monitor monitors :P I appreciate the feedback :thumbsup:

Marcus, I have adjusted my screen so I can juust see all 20 squares on that page you linked to. So, can you both adjust the following image to look good on your monitors, please :prey:...and post the result for me :)

Gabriela (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/148890547/original)

EDIT: After adjusting my screen contrast & brightness to reveal all 20 squares on the page link Marcus supplied, I have now adjusted the black point of the Gabriela close up image, to look like Phils reworked version in post No 31, and posted it seperately on my site, what do you think?

Adjusted Gabriela (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/148908063/original)

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Steve :thumbsup:

The wind buffeted many of my colour frames elongating the stars, and some of my Lum (Ha OIII SII) so culling the worst frames and star rounding were necessary :sadeyes:...so even though the result is ok it is mildly frustrating to know I am not displaying the full capabilities of the scope-camera combo in this result. The first night I used this system at my new place the conditions were quite good, no wind and reasonably good seeing and these images (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/146795031/original) (crops) of tiny distant galaxies and galaxy clusters around NGC 253 were possible :)...no chance of this on a typical windy night here though :mad2:

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Yes, with a straight levels adjustment the adjusted version looks fine on my monitor Mike. I did a quick & dirty version too to demonstrate what I mean by contrast, but mine was a bit more than straight levels adjustment. Emailed it to you.

[Phil Hart]

That new version looks fine Mike. Tail of the histogram about +5 from black which is about where I would have it for this kind of image. Contrast and levels in the image itself look fine to me, clearly better than the original as I flick back and forth between the two.

Phil

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Marcus and Phil, very helpful guys :thumbsup: and thanks for the private email ice skating coach Davies, I will work harder on my figure 8's :P

Of course this means I really should go back and adjust all the images I have taken and processed on this monitor as they now look very bright on my monitor....:sadeyes: :scared:

The down side now is that people with unadjusted monitors will see my images as clipped, like I did of David Fitz-H's images :doh: :nerd:

Mike

[zardos123]

love the shot don,t think i can add to what others have said, When you have a few lazy bucks get one of these
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/02/14/Dell-releases-UltraSharp-monitors-with-99percent-Adobe-RGB-color-space-support
regards brad

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Brad

Yes those Dell monitors look great, thanks for the link

Mike

[dvj]

We have protos of these display types at work. They are great for flight simming.

[multiweb]

Cool close up and beaute details. I like the colour palette too. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

That repro looks better on my monitor. Nicer contrast and blacks.

Love the stars and detail but I am personally not a fan of this colour scheme. Too green and coffee although I like the misty blues. I like the soft light browns and blues Martin has in his narrowband colour scheme. Of course colour likes/dislikes has been beaten to death on posts so that is the usual caveat so each to their taste on colour.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers guys, appreciate the feedback, even though your colour opinions are opposing :lol:

This image and this thread has given me some great inspiration for my presentation in New York in April :whistle: ;)

Mike

[jjjnettie]

:) What a beauty. :)

[strongmanmike]

Cheers JJJ, it's a cool 3D looking neb in NB huh?

Mike

[Ross G]

Hi Mike, what an amazing photo.

Incredible detail.

Nice composition too.

Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks so much Ross, glad you liked it. As for the detail, it will improve again once I am free of wind..?..:question:...:ashamed: :lol: THIS (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/146795031/original) nicely demonstrates what this scope can do on a windless night with quite respectable seeing and is the the only completely wind free imaging session I have had from my new dark sky site (since Oct) :sadeyes: so protecting the OTA from wind (not mine :P) is paramount for optimal resolution.

Mike

[TrevorW]

Very pleasant to the eye Mike

[strongmanmike]

Unlike your avatar :lol: :P

Cheers big T

Mike