The Witchhead Nebula area mosaic

[gregbradley]

I took this one ages ago and did not process it until recently.

Mosaics are always tough to process but I am fairly happy with this one at this point (never say never though!).

TEC110 fluorite triplet APO and FLI Proline 16803, PMX mount.

4 panels, 2.5 hours each.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/156041798/large

Greg.

[Shiraz]

what a great field that is - really atmospheric and captivating. Very nice work Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Perhaps a bit thin-on for such a faint area but as Ray says, a captivating field :thumbsup:

Mike

[RickS]

Nicely stitched up, Greg! It's a tough field with those bright blue stars and you've managed it well. I can't really tell at that resolution but there should be a plethora of small galaxies in the field too.

Cheers,
Rick.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Ray. I like mosaics even if they are a pain to process.



Thin on with regards to exposure time? Yes compromises have to be made as a mosaic really has to be done in just a few days otherwise you lose it. I tried to do the panels at much the same time but even then cloud interrupts some blue or red and they have to be redone at a later time. I have another one which is now 7 panels to be processed.

Its a mood image Mike, the mood, mood.:lol:



There probably are a few now you mention it.

Greg.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Fabulous Greg!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Love the colour, very rich.
As you say mosaics can be tough, did you have any problems with gradients?

Cheers,

Justin.

[gregbradley]

Hi Justin. Yes I did have some gradients. I corrected for excess green (there must have been airglow that night) and normalised the backgrounds before I stitched them. I also did a gradient correction although by that stage gradients weren't too bad. The main issue was one panel was taken at an earlier date to the other 3 which is not good procedure as I decided to do a mosaic later on after the first image of the Neb.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Maybe a tad saturated but overall I think it is quite a pleasing field. I really like the way there a few things to look at in the field. Cool.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Paul. Colour is definitely rich and for this one that is a personal preference. It is potentially a bit of a boring area otherwise. The reddish dusty nebula to the right and to the top for example are usually either not seen or very background. It took a fair bit of trial and error. I thought it was going to be easier to process as my last mosaic was a breeze, this was not! I could try another repro using PI DBE tool which seemed to work well on this.

Greg.

[Bassnut]

Nice work Greg, the link at large size fair pops, the saturation works, adds interest. Doesnt stand original viewing though, but thats OK.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Fred. I had some difficulty with the original stitching. Also couldn't get PS to stitch it either for some reason.

I just redid it from the stitch up and got it to work in Photoshop CC. That gave me a better base to process it from. Its more seamless now and I repro'd it from the stitch up.

Same link.

Greg.

[TrevorW]

Very nice Greg - like it :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Thanks Trevor.

Mosaics can be a lot of work but they can create a nice moody image and show off a large number of objects.

I plan to take another mosaic soon.

Greg.

[alpal]

Hi Greg,
So much blue - a very unique image - well done.

cheers
Allan

[gregbradley]

Thanks Allan. Yes it does have an amazing amount of blue yet its quite close to the Orion Nebula. That with the giant star Rigel really creates a moody area.

Greg.

[David Fitz-Henr]

A great wide field perpective on this object Greg; some nice colour contrasts too that show up well when viewed at Large option in pbase!

[gregbradley]

Thanks David. It took a bit of processing work but I am happy with the final result.

Greg.

[LewisM]

Great image. Covers the area superbly. Lots to look at.

[Rigel003]

That's a knock-out image. Love the way the field's composed with so much to see. It's great to see a photo that shows the witchhead's relationship to Rigel.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Lewis. There is more in that area than would seem at first



Rigel is very dominating in that area. Thanks.

Greg.

[DJT]

Great composition Greg. Loads going on, as you say.
:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Thanks David. Mosaics are a lot of work but they bring a look that is hard to achieve without it.

Greg.

[Elio]

Great job Greg, a pleasure for eyes...perhaps a tad saturated from my lcd :)

[gregbradley]

Thanks Elio. It is pretty colourful I backed it off a bit already I suppose it could do with a smidgen less.

Greg.

[cometcatcher]

A magnificent image. This area fascinates me, even though I've never imaged it myself.

[gregbradley]

Thanks for the nice compliment Kevin. It is an interesting area. Not often imaged.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

I think you've done an excellent job in giving a natural look to a part of the sky with such a massive dynamic range. One of your best :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[rustigsmed]

amazing job, does the area justice!

cheers

russ

[gregbradley]

Thanks Peter. I appreciate your critique.



Cheers Russ.

[marco]

Lovely image Greg plus the technical difficulty to stitch together different panels deserves you more kudos. I am also (slowly!) processing a mosaic of the same area and I am still struggling to find the perfect merging, get those panes to stay together seamlessly (in particular on colors) is always a headache..

Clear skies
Marco

[gregbradley]

Thanks Marco.

Yes it sure is. Its easier these days with proper pano stitching in Photoshop but it still requires the panels to be shot under similar circumstances, same exposures, same height above the horizon more or less etc etc. Same processing up to the point of stitching.

PI has some mosaic tools. I tried using them once and they are complicated to use and one little box not ticked and no cigar.

Greg.

[atalas]

Good work Greg!

[gregbradley]

Thanks Louie!

Greg.

[rogerg]

Love the colour and clarity.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Roger. I like this little TEC. Yuri hasn't made many of them as I think they were a lot more work than he thought. He said they took as long to make as the TEC140.

Greg.