M6, a work in progress...

[Andy01]

Hi folks,

This is the result of only 90 mins on the SBIG OSC under dark skies in country Victoria. I had hoped to get at least 3 hrs on it - but sadly, the clouds rolled in!

It's a pretty cluster and I was inspired to capture it after seeing Marco's amazing recent take on this. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=168157

It would have been lovely to get some Ha on this with my new QSI but it's gone back to the factory for repair, so that's a project for another day.

I've pushed this existing data as far as I can, but as you can see, it needs that extra data. Yes, some of you won't like the diffraction spikes, but I kinda like the look :)

I have since captured another 2 hrs on this from my light polluted suburban backyard in Melbourne, through the Hutech IDAS LP filter.

Question is ... do I now simply stack all the data together to get a deeper shot, possibly with mismatched colour files or do I make 2 separate stacks? ie: Use the Dark sky data for a Photoshop colour layer and the LP data for a Photoshop Luminance layer and align & merge the two layers to make the image? Does anyone have experience to share with this kind of thing?

Cheers,

Andy

[SimmoW]

You know I don't have the experience yet Andy, but I'll at least try and help - just give it a whirl with the mixed data, can't hurt?

Can you set the colour temps with your camera? If you set it for the filter separately to the non-filter setup, it might minimise colour differences, that's what I do. Though I'm yet to combine the 2 types of data.

In anycase, you should be able to neutralise the combined colour after combining. Tell us how it goes, as I'm sure I'll be doing plenty of that in future!

[cometcatcher]

I really like this image. I think you've done a great job already.

As for stacking different data types, experiment. I'd go with Simon's mixed data suggestion first and see what happens. Using one layer as luminance can sometimes desaturate an image or produce funky colours. They can be brought back though. Try other layer alternatives also, like soft light or lighten. Try them all! They all have different effects.