Omega

[Paul Haese]

This object has always dogged me. I first photographed it in the late 1980's. I have produced several versions of it since then and I had not produced one that made me happy. This time I think I am happy. :) Though it did take 19 hours or so to process the data.

It's composed of:

240 minutes of Luminance
90 minutes of red.
75 minutes of green.
75 minutes of blue
240 minutes of Ha
120 minutes of OIII

The Ha and OIII are added in small quantities as I often see images where I think those band passes seem to dominate the entire image. Indeed I have done this in the past myself. I wanted to aim for those band passes enhancing the LRGB image.

The colour is naturally processed from the RGB data. Though the addition of both the Ha and OIII did enhance the red/magenta and blue tones.

What I really love about this image is the smokey looking luminance within and around the main nebula. It gives a 3D look to image in my opinion. I also really like the dusty streaks across the brighter nebulosity through the field.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/M17.html) for larger image.

I hope you enjoy the view as much as I enjoyed creating the image. :D

[Placidus]

That's lovely, Paul. Well done. The natural star colours make the image sparkle. There's an Ara Shoreline style edge in the nebulosity running diagonally across the centre that's come out especially well, with sharp but subtle fine detail.

[marc4darkskies]

A beatiful rendition Paul! Great detail as well as subtle and nuanced colour! :thumbsup:

Though the understated look here has appeal and I can see what you're getting at, the bring-out-the-faint-extents obsession in me remains unsatisfied - but that's personal taste I guess. The only real critique I have is that I find the dark halos around the stars in the neb a bit distracting.

[atalas]

An awesome piece of work Paul :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: excellent detail,colour and dynamics.

Ref:

The dark rings Marcus refers to look more like a slight reduction in saturation around the colour halos to me....but I could be wrong.

Doesn't detract from the excellence of the image for me though on a target that is not even a favorite.

Still,easy to like something when It is done so well!

[Atmos]

Really nice Paul! It has a very natural look to it which is pleasing to the eye :)

[multiweb]

Well done. Very cool colors and sharp details. :thumbsup:

[Martin Pugh]

Great colour and detail here Paul. Very nice indeed, but I have to agree with Marcus regarding the black halos around the stars. Is this an artifact of blending in RGB stars? Nonetheless, really nice.

cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

A very nice Omega. Its quite a tough object to present processing wise. I like your rendition and you've shown some restraint in the Ha blend. It can easily take over.

Greg.

[lazjen]

Very nice image. I almost wish I hadn't read the other comments about the halos and now I can't "unsee" it. :) However, from the point of view of learning, I'll watch for more information.

Your comment about adding "small quantities" of Ha and OIII - how did you do this part?

[cometcatcher]

I've not seen so many filaments running through M17 before. Exquisite image Paul.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks to everyone for the comments.



Thanks Mike. That shoreline stood out in a few reference images and I thought it needed to be that way on my image too. When you look deep into that area there are so many interesting objects to see.




Thanks Marcus and Martin for your assessments. I had corrected the halos a little prior to both of your comments but once pointed out that it still existed I saw the halos again. Its caused from the star size reduction and the blend of the Ha and OIII together. I think I have reduced that problem now.



They should be unseen now.:)

I added Ha to luminance at around 15% and then added that to my RGB image in photoshop via a luminance layer. Then I used the Ha as a Lighten layer on its own at about 20%. Using Hue and Saturation and colourize in red and push the saturation to around 35%. Finally I added the OIII via a lighten mode layer at about 30% opacity. Colourized in blue at around 240 and saturation to 35%.

Generally smaller amounts is better than trying to add a lot for detail. Fortunately this nebula is well shown with the Luminance or clear filter so I was not relying too much on the narrow band data to give all the detail.

[Geoff45]

Great work there Paul. There are often some objects that never seem to come out right (My bugbear is Barnard's Galaxy) Nice that you finally nailed it in style.
Geoff

[niharika]

Personally I have never been a fan of this target but you have just changed it. Enjoyed looking through the high res image. Well done Paul.

[topheart]

Hi Paul,
A very original view of this. I really like the repro with less star halos.
Well done!
Cheers,
Tim

[Slawomir]

A seriously beautiful image of a DSO that is on my to-do list :thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Very nice balance of NB & Broadband - a delightful image - and an inspirational method to produce that result = win/win :thumbsup::)

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys. I am happy to have helped a few people reconsider imaging this nebula. It like the Cat's Paw often look lack lustre and they get relegated to the later list. I really enjoyed imaging this object.

[markas]

Great image. As others have commented, wonderfully nuanced colours.

Mark

[RickS]

Love the colours, Paul! I've never done justice to my data on this object and you've inspired me to try again :)