Almost Collimated again

[PeterSEllis]

Hi Guys,
If you have read my little missive about Meade secondary centering under the Equipment Forum, you know that I started tinkering with the collimation of my new Meade 12" F8 LX850. The collimation is almost back to where it started from, not quite there yet. Sometimes I think bugger, why could you not leave well enough alone, you had too have a tinker, well I'm getting plenty of practice now at collimation.
I took this shot the other night when there was a two hour break in the Clouds.
M104 10 x 6Min. lights, darks, flats, etc, camera is a unmodded Canon 600D with a cold finger.
If you try to over process this one you loose the detail underneath this Galaxy.
Cheers
Peter

[cometcatcher]

Some nice detail under the "hat" Peter!

Acquiring the image is half the challenge, the image processing part is the other. There are ways of pushing the processing further with layers and masks. If you have a look at the top shooters here, they have the ability to bring out incredibly faint background detail without blowing out the highlights. It's like the ultimate in high dynamic range. It's an "art" that requires much practice and time to learn. I don't think I'll ever grasp it fully.

[PeterSEllis]

Hi Kevin,
I have been at this game for about 5 years, since I retired, each year I'm getting a little better. I have to admit the swap from Photoshop to Pixinsight was bloody painful, but I'm getting more fluent with the change and consider that it was well worth while. The ability to bring out fine detail and yet retain the large dynamic range is an art, I will grant you that.
You are right, some of the shots I have seen in this forum by the Top Shooters are absolutely mind blowing, I will never be in that league. At my age your not sure when you are likely drop off the perch, so each year I try to make the next shot better than the previous year (I have had a good year this year, so far). When I started Astrophotography I read in a book "as long as you're happy with the shot, that's all that counts", I tend to agree with that sentiment. "I haven't figured out how to put the smiley faces in the posts yet".

Cheers
Peter