Arachnophilia

[Slawomir]

Sharing my attempt at the Tarantula Nebula...

7hrs of 'sky data' collected on the 14th and 15th of December.

Any form criticism will be appreciated and valued :-)

Full resolution image: http://www.astrobin.com/141358/

Thanks for looking!

Slawomir

[Placidus]

Superb! Some might complain that the very brightest bits are burned out, but I think that we all know what they look like, and it is more interesting to do what you have done: show the fainter bits and their relationship to the bright bits.

I'm assuming you've mapped it to achieve a "natural" look. Would you consider posting a version in Hubble palette?

Best,
Mike

[RickS]

Very nice and crisp, Slawomir. I'd like to see more colour too.

Cheers,
Rick.

[alpal]

Hi Slawomir,
It seems everyone has Arachnophilia. :)
There are infinite versions of this nebula.

The picture has lots of detail - it's nice & sharp.
I think you'll be like me & want to re-process your data.

I would try to handle the brighter areas by layering in an earlier version of the first stretched version with a blurred layer mask.
A colour boost in LAB mode might give you more colour but
then you'll get colour noise so you'll need to do a layer mask to only
reduce noise in the darker areas.

cheers
Allan

[Slawomir]

Thank you gentlemen very much for your feedback.

I tried to better control the histogram and also adjusted colours a bit.

Full resolution version: http://www.astrobin.com/141358/B/

Thank you for helping me to get more out of my data :-)
Slawomir

[alpal]

That's looking much better.

[Slawomir]

The image is a result of LRGB combination from narrowband data. Unfortunately where I live light pollution is so intense that 12nm filters are inadequate, and having only one 3nm filter (Halpha) I use it as a luminance channel for the other two that are 12nm filters. This technique works okay for me, although I would love to be able to be able to create narrowband images, including Hubble palette, without blending.

May try to stimulate Hubble palette though :-)

Slawomir

[PeterEde]

Stunning detail

[Slawomir]

Thank you Allan :-)

In fact, I am still learning techniques and rules for 'composing' astro-images correctly, so feedback helps heaps.

[Slawomir]

Thank you Peter :-)

[Slawomir]

Hi Mike,

Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in creating a SHO image, mainly because signal from SII filter was very weak, so I added 80% Halpha to it.

The resulting image is not entirely in Hubble palette, but rather (S+80%H)HO.

http://www.astrobin.com/141358/C/

[RB]

Wonderful detail Slawomir !

:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

This version works well, great improvement over the original version too :)

Mike

[gregbradley]

That's a sensational image. I was interested in seeing some images from an ICX814 chipped camera. Very detailed and 3D like.

FLT110 had TEC lenses at one point. Do you know if your scope has a TEC made lens?

Greg.

[Slawomir]

Thank you Greg :-) I really like this camera and I am glad I chose it over QSI 660.

As for the lens, I think my telescope ( TS ED 102mm f/7 Refractor ) has about average quality lens, after all this scope costs about 800 euros...

[Slawomir]

I made an attempt to liven up the image a bit by slightly modifying the histogram and giving the colours a boost...

http://www.astrobin.com/141358/D/

[alpal]

Its' looking better & better.
If you'd used NASA Fits Liberator to stretch the FITS stacks with the function of x^(1/5) it would have done the hard stretching for you.

cheers
Allan

[Slawomir]

Thank you for the hint Allan. Will certainly look it up.

[RickS]

That's another nice improvement, Slawomir. Well done!

[gregbradley]

I really like this image Slawomir. Its like one of those drunken modern art pieces that somehow capture your interest with colour only!

I find it quite vibrant, 3Dish and a very pleasant and unusual colour scheme with tiny stars.

Greg.

[multiweb]

That's a great shot. Love the repro. Sharp details and very smooth. Top shelf. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Slawomir]

Huge thank you to the IIS community for encouragment and feedback that has allowed me to win my first ever, but hopefully not the last, photo competition.

https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/blog/astro-blog/2015/01/27/stargazing-oxford-2015-photo-competition-the-winners

:thanx:

[alpal]

Hi Slawomir,
Well deserved - you put a lot of time to get the processing just right.
I am trying to win one on Cloudy Nights but the sketches nearly always win.

cheers
Allan

[DJScotty]

Congratulations good sir!
:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Congrats on your win!

Greg.

[RickS]

Congrats from me too, Slawomir!

[strongmanmike]

Very cool :)

Mike

[Andy01]

wahoo, well done :)

[Slawomir]

Once again, thank you all for creating and maintaining such a supportive environment for amateur astrophotographers.

:thanks:

[Ross G]

The Tarantula I have found is such a difficult object to photograph.

Your photograph is brilliant.

The best I have seen!

Ross.