First Time Milky Way Mosaic

[nebulosity.]

Here is a Milky Way mosaic I did this morning. 17 panels, 200 seconds each with the Canon 1100d at ISO 1600 with a Nikon 85mm lens at F4.

I'm pretty happy with how it came out :thumbsup: I haven't done a mosaic of the Milky Way core area before so it was fun to do. I hope do a "proper" mosaic sometime soon with at least a few hours each frame with 10 min subs and see if I can go a bit deeper.

Large version Here. (http://astrob.in/87132/C/)

Cheers
Jo

[cazza132]

Wow, nice work Jo. Can see a bit of the blue horse head and picked up the rho ophiuchi region nicely

[sjastro]

Very nice image.

Steven

[gregbradley]

That turned out very nicely. I would try to boost contrast a bit though. Either by contrast tool or an S curve in Photoshop or adding a soft light layer Photoshop.

Greg.

[h0ughy]

how cool is that - if that is your first go then you are heads and shoulders above a lot of others. I think the image is first rate.

I did however save you large version and had a play - without detracting from your image i think you could repro it by creating a new layer in PS then editing that for the levels and adjusting the outer markers to the start or base of the left side and then the right side then do a 50% opacity and merge with original layer. then create another layer and then go to the mode and change to lab colour. from here you then select the channels and then select "a" then go to the adjust brightness contrast and slide the contrast to 30, then do the same for the "b" channel then go back to layers and then change the mode back to RGB. note i said no to flatten the image on both occasions. then blend into the bottom layer with the opacity tool. hey i am only a hack so if you have your own way of doing things have a "sidionio" or a repro. normally with these things you take a few attempts to improve things ;)

I love your image the focus is sharp and the colouring is so subtle - there is so much to see there. thanks

[alpal]

Excellent work.
I love wide field mosaics.

[Astro_Bot]

Lovely stuff, Jo. :thumbsup: You've been busy lately. Clearly, the weather out your way has been better than near the coast ... :rain:

[nebulosity.]

Thank you everyone for your comments! And David for your help :thumbsup: ,

I have worked on boosting the contrast and updated the large version.



Well actually, we have had 6 inches of rain this week and just had another inch this morning after packing up my gear from taking this image! It is the most rain we have had for a couple of years!

Cheers
Jo

[gregbradley]

Nice work Jo. That is looking pretty sweet now. Some stars are blue and have a blue halo and sometimes excessive blue ringed stars is simply chromatic aberrration from the lens. A fine line there. Programs like Adobe Lightroom have chromatic aberration tools that get rid of blue/magenta rings very well indeed. There is also a plug in from Noel Carboni that does this as well. Often widefield lenses tend to be a little low quality and CA (chromatic aberration) often rears its head especially wide open where CA tends to be worst in most lenses. Something to keep in mind. I think there is a small amount of CA in this image but not a lot. I would expect a bluish tinge to the stars on the left as you have shown (most galaxy images show the spiral arms to be bluish and our MW is no exception). A few around the Rho area may be bue stars accentuated by CA (it can look similar). Additionally, I notice Canon DSLRs tend to be quite blue in their response - perhaps a quality of the sensor or the white balance engine.

Greg.

[bobbyf]

Awesome job Jo :thumbsup:
Really impressive
Cheers
Bob

[IanP]

Lovely mosaic Jo
:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Fantastic shot Jo, the higher contrast version with vivid colours look quite excellent :thumbsup:

Mike

[SkyViking]

A stunning MW core image for sure. This is a really nice pleasing view, and so colourful too. I really like it, great work!

[nebulosity.]

Thank you all very much for your nice comments Bob, Ian, Mike and Rolf, I really appreciate them and am glad you liked it.

Cheers
Jo

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Great work Jo!:thumbsup:

Like your processing, especially the contrast on the 2nd.
What program are you using to stitch?

Cheers,

Justin.

[nebulosity.]

Thanks Justin, stitching was done in a awesome free program called 'Hugin', it does a great job and the best bit is that it works on the Mac :thumbsup:

Jo

[nebulosity.]

Sorry people, I have done my last and final repro and I thought I would post the link.

Thanks for your feedback, this final version is Waaaay better than the original and I am very pleased with the result.

CLICK HERE (http://astrob.in/full/87132/D/) for the final image.

Cheers
Jo

[gregbradley]

Oh yes that is spectacular.
Greg.

[rcheshire]

I think you've done a spectacular job, as well as the colour and contrast. Beautiful.

[omegacrux]

That is really nice , good one !

David

[nebulosity.]

Thanks David!



Thanks a lot Rowland :thumbsup:



Thanks Greg! I really value your comments and am stoked that an astrophotographer of your standing would say something like that about my humble attempts :eyepop: :D :thumbsup:

Cheers
Jo :D

[multiweb]

+1 - Outstanding details right down to the fine features. Definitely one for the cool wall. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Harel_Boren]

Great color, sea of stars, wonderful detail. A keeper.
Cheers,
Harel

[atalas]

Awesome!

[nebulosity.]

Thank you Marc, Harel and Louie :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[dutch2]

Amazing image, beautiful colour and detail.
Well done.
:thumbsup: