M8 Lagoon nebula (with Hourglass Nebula now)

[luka]

M8 taken over 3 moonless nights a month ago from my lightpolluted backyard close to CBD. These are my first "serious" images since I motorised my EQ5, added guiding and IR modded 1200D.

12x180s + 24x180s + 34x180s (total 3.5h) with IR modded 1200D, ISO1600 on ED80 with Hotech SCA flattener. With darks, flats, bias. Stacked with DSS but I tricked DSS not to use bias for darks/lights.

Processing... I am trying to move on from the simple curves/levels in PS so I downloaded the trial of StarTools and used this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3ZNaoMOJlA) as a guide. The trial of StarTools does not allow saving of files so what you are seeing is the screenshot. This is my 6th attempt of processing M8 with StarTools (the first 5 attempts were disasters). Therefore, I am only 16.77% convinced to buy StarTools (so far) :)
But I have to admit that I am still not sure what I am doing.

Any hints about processing (good or bad)?

Thank you
Luka

edit: I added the core with the Hourglass Nebula 100% zoom, screenshot from StarTools again. I am starting to like StarTools more and more.

edit 2: I added two more images. Lagoon with more background stars and another more-punchy core.
Which ones do you like more?

[Kunama]

I know nothing about imaging but do like the M8 area, looks good to me.

[vlazg]

Looks good Luka.
I am also struggling with processing. At the moment i am using Pixinsight, there are some great tutorials on this especially http://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorials.html
George

[billdan]

Hi Luka,

That's a good looking M8 you have there even for a low res screen save.

I have been using Startools for 6 weeks now and I really like it. The most critical module I found is Wipe (Gradient Removal), if it is too aggressive you lose nebulosity. So I tend to go back and forth between Wipe and Autodev until I am satisfied I didn't lose any data.

Getting used to the pastel colours was another thing I had to overcome, coming from Astroart v5 where the stars are more neon looking.

Don't be afraid to ask questions on the Startools forum, even if you don't buy it, Ivo or another experienced user will respond.


Cheers
Bill

[Atmos]

That is a good looking M8 Luka. You've managed to capture a good dynamic range without blowing out the core.
Bright emission nebula are good to image from the burbs, light pollution is still a bit of a pain to remove but it appears like you have done a good job with that as well :)

[luka]

Thank you for your replies.

George, Pixel Insight is on my list to try but I want to gather some more data before starting the trial, if the clouds ever go away.

Bill, I believe you have hit the nail on the head. I was getting suspicious that incorrectly used Wipe was the issue for my first attempts and now you mention it as well. Once I even managed to turn the red core of my M8 to green with Wipe (after AutoDev). I will need to be more careful with it...

Colin, I did not even try to mess with the core... I believe I just got lucky or the StarTools did the job for me :-)

Anyway, I have added another image of the core of M8 with the hourglass region (or should this have been a separate post?).