Please help with processing M8/M20

[mbaddah]

Imaged M8 and M20 last night from the horribly light polluted Sydney skies. I'm not sure whether I'm processing the images in the best of manner, so I have uploaded the stacked TIFF file for somebody to have a play with and see what they come up with:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhnaeyeemo39evq/m8_v0.1.TIF

Capture details are:

Canon 600D (stock)
Astronomik CLS-CCD clip in filter.
Canon 70-200mm@200mm, combination of f4+f5.6 and ISO800/ISO1600.
Subs range from 1min to 1m 30sec, total of approaximately ~3.5hours.
A few darks taken.
Tracked on a Astrotrack.

I stacked these in DSS, saved the TIFF file (the one uploaded) and processed in PS CS6. I'd appreciate any help and advice, many thanks :)

[alistairsam]

hi,

I'm no expert, but this is a tough one, there are stacking artefacts as attached and green casts.
will give it a crack.

Cheers
Alistair

[jsmoraes]

it seems to be ok. The stars aren't with nice color: all them are white, but the nebulas are very well.

[pluto]

I just quickly ran this through Startools with just a wipe (to get rid of BG gradient), develop, and noise reduction.

It looks like the image has those noise lines in it. I don't know what they are though I've seen them in DSLR images before, perhaps someone knowledgeable about such things can chime in...?

[alistairsam]

hi Hugh,

what settings did you use in wipe, it keeps clipping out most of the image for me.

Cheers
Alistair

[pluto]

I roughly masked out M8, M20 and NGC655, and set the dark anomaly filter at 10. Everything else was default.

[cometcatcher]

Dithering gets rid of them.

[AstroJason]

Hi Mohammed,

Thanks for posting your data, I enjoy the challenge of processing other peoples data. I tried to keep track of the process I performed for this and am far from an expert at this myself. But I hope the below helps.

I used Photoshop for this. Like a couple guys have said above you have some type of stacking artefact in your image so I heavy cropped that section out as best I could.

Next was a couple simple stretching layers using Levels.
Then a Screen Mask Invert to remove some of the noise in the hope that it would also remove the colour banding in the image, it did help a bit but didn't remove it all.

Then I tried something new I have never tried before. This was to attempt to remove that colour banding. Using Topaz DeNoise (a photoshop plugin) I applied the heaviest noise reduction setting (RAW - strongest with debanding) to a new layer. I then changed the blending mode of that layer to "Colour". I repeated this process on a new layer each time and it seemed to really work at removing that colour banding and allowed me to stretch your image further. From memory I did it about 4 times. I think that was the key thing that helped me with your image. I'll remember that trick for my images (unsure if this technique has been tried before to remove colour banding?)

I think the image seems a little "cloudy" in the milky way areas now though but that happened due to my attempts to remove the noisy colour banding. Then I applied some colour enhancement using a technique called saturation block along with some further masking on M8 to not over expose the core.

Anyway, hope this helps! I enjoyed playing with your data, so thanks for sharing it :thumbsup:

Cheers,

Jason

[mbaddah]

Hugh that's a fantastic effort! I'll have to download startools and have a go, many thanks.

[mbaddah]

Hi Jason,

Thank you for processing this and your description. Even though it is a little cloudy it is far greater improvement over my original :D Looks like it was taken with a modded cam :D

[jsmoraes]

I reckon that the problem was you have did the convertion 32 bits to 16 bits in DSS. As they say, they aren't a good graphic process. You can use it, but it is not the best tool.

Unhappily your file to download is already in 16 bits. I would like to have it as original 32 bits. The problem in red channel, with much artefacts, probably was improved with that convertion 32 bist to 16 bits

Well, my contribution, with Photoshop CS3. Please, don't ask me what or how I did. I don't remember. But I started with convertion from 16 bits to 32 bits in Photoshop, followed by reduction of red saturation, and many work with mask, layer mask, background selection, noise reduction in red channel, .... It was not easy. :P

For large scale, original resolution: http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t510/jsmoraes/miscelaneous/m8_v01-final.jpg~original

[mbaddah]

Hi Jorge,

That's an incredible difference and it looks fantastic! I hadn't realised I converted it to 16bit in DSS. I'll re-upload a 32bit version tonight. Also I had another go at imaging last night using my 6D. I'll upload that tonight as well. I didn't take as many subs , 1.5hrs worth in comparison to the 600D version which is over 3hours, but i'll be interested to see the comparison :D

Many thanks guys.

[jsmoraes]

I feel that my process has some lack of red color of nebula and clouds around. So I did a boost. Unhappily some stars are saturated in this color. It was only an essay.

[SimmoW]

Thanks for the opportunity to process Mohammed. I'm only new to this myself, and have dived into the deep end with Pixinsight, so appreciate all the practice I can get. I like its subtlety. Is this one any good?

Amazing image by the way, alot of data for an SLR and lens.

[White Rabbit]

Here go, here my quick and dirty.

I used Pixinsight.

DBE for gradient removal.
histogram
curves
then a bit of HDR multiscale transform.

I also cropped it as there was a lot of noise going on in the corners.

Two things that I forgot to do was a back ground neutralization and colour calibration, DOH!

[mbaddah]

Guys keep em coming! These are excellent. Many thanks for showing me the potential of these images.

I've uploaded 2 new versions.

This one is saved as a 32bit file from DSS.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/32jij8d8d5ah8zk/m8_v0.1_32b_rational.TIF

This one is from the night after, using my 6D this time with a CLS-XL filter. Exposure time was ~1.5hours, 2hours less than the 600D version. No dark frames, but I had a go at bias and flats (first time).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uwn9spy2zs6i0yb/m8m20_6d_20140603_v2.TIF

Best of luck!

[Manav]

I used Nebulosity on original image and spent ~5mins cause I was bored

[astronobob]

Hi Mohammad,
Apart from my usual processing capers, I found taming the reds a bit tricky on this one, and also took some color noise out of the backround sky.
Some of the stars I was little lazy and were prob over-processed in patches.
Anyway, this was all done in PS CS3, about an hr or so, bit dodgy on left where the sudden gradiant was also. could have trimmed/cropped a few pixel on the edge aswell, but hey, worth a new challange ?
cheers..

[MrB]

Tricky data!
I had a quick go with the 16bit file in AstroArt, Downloaded the 32bit but I think it got corrupted as it wouldn't open.
In no particular order:
Crop, Gradient removal, white balance, Stretch, Curves, etc.

Not real happy with the background colour.
Tried to keep the colour as natural looking as possible.... well, natural for me that is.

Would really like to give it a go from scratch, but downloading 100something canon raw files doesn't appeal much ;)

[Manav]

Ohh yeah the 32bit image is definitely corrupted

[pluto]

The 32bit file is not corrupt, I have it open in Startools right now.

If you just right-click and download the file from the link here then it doesn't download properly, if you click the link then click the download button from the Dropbox page it works.

[pluto]

There does seem to be less noise in the 32bit file.
This is just running it through Startools.
Wipe > Develop > HDR > Contrast > wavelet sharpen > noise reduction

I'm sure with a bit more love you could get it looking great :)

[MrB]

Obviously, that's how I got the 16bit file ;)
I meant it may have been corrupted during the download, doesnt happen nearly as offten as it used to, but still does occasionally.

[jsmoraes]

Again you upload version 16 bits. But at this time the red channel is with better and clear information. It would be a good photo, but the excessive drift kill it. You loose details... and ... the photo.

I did a convertion to 32 bits and I worked with HDR curve. The red channel has much data about clouds around M 8. As I said... it would be a good photo ... sorry, it would be !

Red channel attached.

[pluto]

Fair enough, we live in an imperfect world ;)



Photoshop thinks it's a 32 bit per channel image...?

[MrB]

Sadly :lol:
Back in my dial-up days, corrupted downloads were the norm.
The only broadband I have access to is wireless(Vivid) which, while not as error prone as dial-up was, still has its moments :(
I thought about attempting the DL again but it was late and I didn't have the patience.

[jsmoraes]

I didn't understand the question. But the file from 6D to download is 16 bits, not 32 bits original from DSS. Probably converted with DSS.

You get better result if you load the Autosave.tif - 32 bits from DSS - in Photoshop, and convet it to 16 bits.

Photoshop CS3 with Local Adaptation option where you have an HDR curve to enhance the photo.

Photoshop CS6 is more complex. You have option to work with many sliders that act in specific area in the curve. The result is better than CS3, but I didn't like to work with it. I prefer CS3.

[pluto]

Sorry my fault for using a question mark in a confusing way :)

I just realised we're talking about 2 different images, sorry! I was talking about the 32bit 600D image D'oh

[MrB]

Played with the curve on my previous attempt (original 16bit file) to try and increase contrast but I don't like what it has done to the stars and it has blown the core of M8.
Would now need to play with masks and layers in PS, but I don't have time for that.
Again, all processing in AstroArt, resized in PS.

[jsmoraes]

yes, pluto, I am talking about the new photo from 6D. I didn't download the 32 bits version from 600D.


That is true. But, warning, when you use a version saved by DSS you can do it with or without DSS adjustment features. I prefer to use the original Autosave.tif. ;)

[mbaddah]

Thank you Yugant, Bob, Simon, Hugh, Jorge for taking the time to process these. Truly remarkable compared to the original i've uploaded :D

Jorge you're correct there was a little trailing in my 6D version, unfortunately. I can upload the Autosave.tif file if you wish?