* M42 & Running Man Final Final *

[EzyStyles]

Apologise guys. I got too excited and still am. i mean i never expect the image will turn out like this. here's the final version now a few more hours adjusting the colours and processing methods. I have also framed this final and added the exposure and ISO settings that i used.

Cheers guys.

[strongmanmike]

Hi Eric

This image of the Great Nebula is just fantastic and I agree it's deffinitely worth a few struts up and down your steet in the buff :thumbsup:

I feel the excitement I know you have been feeling since you started processing that baby and I know exactly what it is like. My very last imaging session before sending off my entries for the David Malin awards in 2005 was a case in point. It was the last image of the morning and after a near flawless LHaRGB imaging run with the 80ED and SXV-H9, I packed up and shut down then went inside about 4am or so. I of course imedeately proceeded to align, combin, layer, adjust, adjust, adjust and for good measure adjust again! The excitement level rose further and further as the image grew and improved and started to reveal it's star quality. A couple of hours later I printed off the final version as a glossy 8" X 10" colour print and mounted it on foam core board...I did all this before the Sun rose! :) . I was holding it in my hands standing in our living room near our full length wall of glass waiting for the level of natural sunlight to increase in the house as my wife struggled out of bed. All bleary eyed my wife smiled and said "what are you doing dear?" and no joke I said to her in my sleepless stupor.."This is it darlin, I know it, this will win!" the rest is history :D Somtimes you just know when somethings good!

Give it every bit youve got mate you are a rising star! :thumbsup:

Mike

[EzyStyles]

cheers mike thanks for your kind words and especially from you. I can actually picture you in the middle of the night getting excited and showing it to your wife. that feeling feels good. I did the same thing just then to my gf. She thought it was someone else haha. I think im definitely going to print it out at k-mart or some camera shop when i can find some time to do so. thanks once again. the jpeg didnt came out as nice as the original processed image.

[gbeal]

Eric, that is a darn fine image, and one which you should be justly proud, well done. You seem to have the coma and other problems sorted now. Keep at it.

[iceman]

Stunning result and a very nice job on the processing.. you're coming a long way in a short time!

And I guess the main reason is practise! I can't believe the sheer number of images you churn out.

[matt]

Well done Eric. That's a beauty and arguably your best:thumbsup:

As others have said, it's great to watch your progress and heartwarming to see your images continue to improve.

Again, well done:)

[Garyh]

Hi Eric,
After all your hassles and late nights getting your scope to focus...you still manage to get a great shot!! with a unmodded camera!. masking well done too...:thumbsup:.
Wait to the coma corrector arrives and we will be blown away..
Gary

[Ric]

WOW!!!
:jawdrop:

[Lee]

2 days ago he was in a world of hurt with non-focusing Newts, collimation up the garden path, and coma everywhere - and in that time he gets the DSLR focusing through the Newt, fixes everything and churns out that image...... all in the wee hours too..... :bowdown:
You are a machine Eric - now stop for a bit and leave some photons for the learners! ;)

[acropolite]

Superb effort Eric, very pleasing to the eye. :camera:

[Lester]

That is the reward for the hard and long hours you have been spending at it.

Fantastic Eric.

[seeker372011]

Eric:

this is probably your best ever image and one that will hold its own against most others of the same object

congratulations

Narayan

[avandonk]

I doubt very much that it is anywhere near your best or a final final. Wait a bit for the moon to go and also get images nearer the zenith and my bet is you will do even better. Also try the in camera noise reduction and correct for flats and you will be amazed how much further you can stretch the histogram. It has been a joy to see you get better and better Eric. The results show the effort and determination you put in. Could you bottle some and send it to some of us that need it.
The 8" F4 Newt and 350D look like a very good combination for both detail and moderate wide fields. The real joy of astrophotography is pushing everything to the limits with the equipment you have.
Oh by the way very nice image! Lots of clear detail and dynamic range.

Bert

[janoskiss]

Looks good, but the jpeg artifacts don't do it justice. Got a link to another version with less compression noise?

[Striker]

Targets like these need to be high rez.

Like Steve said we need less compression as I look directly at the artifacts instead of just enjoying the image.

How are you removing the coma.....is it all PS processing

[EzyStyles]

:ashamed: cheers guys many thanks . It is the people from IIS which helped me all the way.

here's a .tif version of it 5 meg good enough for desktop :) . I had to resize it still 50% off from the original size. original is 46meg. tpg webspace is 20meg lol.

http://users.tpg.com.au/eric_lo/m42.tif

All ps processing tony.

[janoskiss]

Much better, although there is some strange compression-looking artifact in the tiff image also (but a lot less of it and a lot finer).

Whatever you are using to generate jpegs from your images is doing a poor job with the compression. I resized and compressed the tif into a 95KB jpeg with the Gimp, and you have to look close to see the difference.

[davidpretorius]

wow!!!

I hope you do not mind, but this is going to be my desktop!!!

This one gets shown to the lovely wife!

[EzyStyles]

nice one steve. i use windows paint shop after converting 8bit from photoshop to .tif. lol davo, go for it :) its on my desktop.

[iceman]

Windows paint shop?

Don't you resize and then save for web in photoshop?
You can select the amount of compression used to get it under 150k.

[tornado33]

That has GOT to be sent to an astro magazine or 2 for publication, fantastic work Eric.
Scott

[snowyskiesau]

Fantastic image.
I'd like to have this as my desktop, will it be available on your website as a hi-res image?
My screen resolution is 1920x1200 and just expanding the available image to fit, doesn't do it justice.

[EzyStyles]

i mean i use windows paint to resize and save as .jpg from .tif after converting it to 8bit in photoshop cs2.

[EzyStyles]

thanks scott and jeff. i submitted it to S&T see what happens. I was playing with the high pass sharpening technique. here's the final final final .

warning 2mb
http://users.tpg.com.au/eric_lo/M42_FINAL_OUTCOME4a.jpg

[Striker]

Eric,

You can just go file then save for web in PhotoshopCS...their you can change your compression for jpeg and how much compression you want.

The final image is a beauty Eric...well done

[EzyStyles]

cheers tony. what i did just then was convert to 8bit then in photoshop image, image size eg: 30% then save as .jpg and select level.

[TidaLpHasE]

:eyepop:Awsome Eric the detail is fantastic, gee imagine if you did have a modded camera:scared:

Your images and effort in getting them is inspiring to say the least.

[richardo]

Top image there Eric !!
Glad the coma issues are sorted.
The fruits from your labour :))
Nicely processed/ multiple layered to end up with a beauty!

Cheers
Rich

[dugnsuz]

Absolutely Fabulous image Eric!!!:D :D
Keep them coming.
Thanks, you're an inspiration to us noobies.
Cheers
Doug:thumbsup:

[gaa_ian]

Just saw this one, that is an Awesome shot :eyepop:
Only one I have seen better was from the Hubble !

[EzyStyles]

cheers guys thanks :)

[Starkler]

Thats a beauty Eric :party:
Its also my new desktop image :D

[richardo]

That's a beaudy there Eric,
congrats !!
Well processed.
Did you use the MPCC on this iamge or have you yet to use it??

Cheers
Rich

[spearo]

Eric,
I think this is a great shot, I can tell the original without compression must be a stunner!
I think that scope of yours at F4 is doing a great job, great field of view and fast too. I'll bet it wont be long you'll be shooting at ISO 200.
Keep it up and keep 'em comin!
frank

[EzyStyles]

thanks guys cheers. i didnt use the MPCC on that image. lol iso 200 might be slightly too low. I can always swap my scope with your C9.25 if you want frank ;)