NGC6188 AP RHA in colour

[gregbradley]

Here is the HaLRGB image I took last Saturday night with the AP Riccardi Honder 305 F3.8 astrograph and a FLI Proline 16803.

I have imaged this area a few times but I like this one the best.

It was high in the sky when I imaged it as well which helped. Seeing was reasonable.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/160125076/large

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/160125076/original

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Greg, you still have the public view lock on in Pbase ;)

[jase]

Linky no worky Greg. Say's I must be logged in as you. Can you give me your username and password please :D

[gregbradley]

Sorry, linky now worky.

Greg.

[jase]

Thumbnail piccy looks good though! Perhaps a little too heavy handed on the Ha. You've got a cracking set up there.

[jase]

Yes, linky worky. Thanks. I'll take back my comment on being heavy handed on the Ha blend. I think it works well. Lovely details on display. This is one of your better images I believe. Good job.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Jase. I am quite happy with this one also and agree its one of my better images. I tend to pull back Ha. Gone are the days when I whack it in at full blast red. I go for a more balanced colour pallete in the image where I can.

I also used that history brush technique you linked to. Its very handy for bringing up fine detail points in an image.

Greg.

[jase]

Try these mods and see what you think.
In PS curves;
Select the red channel, enter 98 for output and 124 for input
Select the green channel, enter 137 for output and 117 for input
Select the blue channel, enter 131 for output and 123 for input

You'll find the surrounding golden star field will pop and the reflection nebulosity will start to shine through. You may not liked it. it does tone down the Ha blend a little.

Good to hear you've making use of the history brush. Its pretty cool that you can paint with adjusted time. Helps to go over the highlights of images to bring out more features as you mention. You can do so much more though. Try painting with soft light and see what happens around dark dust lanes. They get quite colourful as the slowly dim. Powerful tool indeed.

[Stevec35]

Yep - I reckon that thing was worth the money Greg. My only criticism is that the bright areas seem a bit too blown out but it's a fine image.

Cheers

Steve

[gregbradley]

Should those numbers be the other way round? I tried those and it made the image almost all green. I'll try the other way round to see if it makes a difference. Thanks for the tip about soft light mode.



Thanks Steve. I think so too that its worth the money. I did a little highlight taming on the bright spots.

I should add the NGC6164 shock wave has some TEC180 data added which had O111 in it hence the blue shock wave that does not show up as much in Ha.

Greg.

[jase]

No Greg, Just add an anchor point in the curve before entering the numbers. Attached was the result, as I said, it may not be too your liking.

[DavidTrap]

I reckon she's a keeper. Fantastic detail right across the FoV.

Rick will be along shortly with the relevant Pixel Math equation in PI for Jase's suggested channel mixing adjustment.

DT

[gregbradley]

Thanks David. I look forward to the Pixel Math formula!
I generally don't play with RGB channel input/output values so it could very educational!

Greg.

[Leonardo70]

Wonderful result Greg, what a great combo of setup you have ...

All the best,
Leo

[gregbradley]

Gratzie Leo.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Ah,I see. Thanks for that. To my eye it now looks too weak and lost some vibrancy. Processing is much in the eye of the processor and "my style" is a bit more punchy and vibrant and I like to a get a sense of transparency and clarity with good micro contrast. Like a really good Zeiss DSLR lens can sometimes. Thanks for the suggestion though. I haven't really played with input and output values before as I usually just adjust the curve itself. I agree Ha needs to be kept tamed in its cage as the dominance of hydrogen in the universe can easily take over an image. I'll leave it as-is for now and look at it with fresh eyes in a few days. That sometimes shifts your view of an image.

Greg.

[Placidus]

The outer OIII shell on the Norma bipolar nebula is wonderfully strong and clear.

[RickS]

Excellent result for 3 hours, Greg!

I won't bother with the PixelMath since you didn't like the result. If you ever want an eyeball searing version of the Ha then I'm your man :lol:

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike]

Yeah, nice, coming along Greg...think we will all enjoy the journey and with Jase back on board pressure's on mate, so make that Honders rev :)

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike. It was good data.



Thanks Rick.



Thanks Mike. Yes Jase runs a high standard.

Greg.

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Greg.

Amazing sharpness and detail.

I love the colours and contrasts in your version.

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Ross. I am very happy with it also. The RHA is a very sharp telescope which I assumed it would be but its always good to see proof.
F3.8 is great for speed of acquisition.


Greg.