The SMC + 47 Tuc.

[Retrograde]

Hi all,

thought I'd throw up another of my SPSP wide-field shots.

Really struggled with the processing of this as I have in the past with the LMC.
I find it really hard to get the colour balance right. Open to suggestions :confused2:

20 x 90 second subs using a Samyang 135mm f2 lens (at f2.8) and ISO 400 using the modded Pentax K-5iis

Larger view: http://www.astrobin.com/full/305459/0/

Thanks for looking,
Pete

[gregbradley]

Lot of detail there Pete. Some red still remains in the background and Tuc
glob core is blown.

I would use levels or curves or the colour balance tool to pull back the red background (its also a gradient as not everywhere has it so really it would be better to use a gradient removal technique).

Shadows and highlights will pull back the Tuc core.

Greg.

[Atmos]

Nice detail Pete :)
It is showing the upper portion of the tidal tail nicely. As Greg mentions, there is some tweaks that can be made but the data looks good :)

[Retrograde]

Thanks for the feedback Greg.
I rather rushed the processing on this as I'm heading off to the USA very soon for the eclipse. I should be able to sort out 47 Tuc reasonably easily when I get time (although I don't think it was resolved to the core on the original subs as it's only 135mm).
The gradient might be a different matter as I haven't had to deal with this before. I suspect it might even be light leakage in the camera from a red torch.
A friend told me to be careful of this with a modded camera but it's not till it actually happens that you take it seriously. :rolleyes:



Thanks Colin - I think the image has potential if I can just get the processing right. Will probably have to wait until I get back from O/S however.

[atalas]

Always nice seeing a wider shot of SMC Pete....good work :thumbsup:

As Greg mentioned, get your gradient under control and when having trouble with colour balance go back to basics....things tend to go amiss when you push to hard....work with a colour wheel.

Tip. remember as far as your software knows It's working with brightness levels for each channel.

ps. have a good trip.

[avandonk]

Pete light pollution and gradients are the bane of wide field imagers. Especially with fast optics.

The best invention ever is DynamicBackgroundExtraction in PixInsight.

I used PI DBE on your large image. Here is the result.800k

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2017_07/PeteSMC.jpg

This was done at eight bits and stretched so not ideal.

DBE works much better on 16bit and unstretched data. If you want give me the data and I will use DBE on it for you.



Bert

[Retrograde]

Thanks Louie - appreciate the advice. :thumbsup:



Thanks Bert - that's an awesome job!

Unfortunately I haven't made the jump to PixInsight as yet (although I realise it's probably inevitable). I appreciate the offer to do it on the 16bit data but I need to try and work out how to do it myself as part of my self-improvement as an astrophotographer.

Apologies for not commenting on the many other fine images posted here lately (including your excellent SMC mosaaic Bert) - just doing frantic last minute travel stuff as I leave in less than 24 hours!

[Paul Haese]

I really like the field of view and composition. Puts that small galaxy into perspective.

[RickS]

Look forward to the repro, Pete. Have a good trip!

[Retrograde]

Appreciate your comments Paul and Rick.:)