Orion lums

[xelasnave]

I stacked everything from the 8 inch which was about 3 hours of 30 sec cause I was bored and thought I would try to build a foundation for when I get decent colour data and to see how stuff captured in Sydney went with the recent Tabby stuff.

alex

[casstony]

Looks good in blue Alex and I see the Trapezium stars in there.

[xelasnave]

Hi Tony
The blue gave the most detail.
Re trap and other stars.
I cheat here a little.
Usually there is little to see with stars in this usually blown out region.
I use first the burn tool in PS sample the darkest part of the blown out region and use that tool to make that area darker without affecting other parts of the image...most of the stars are bearly visable even after merging in the best short exposure core that I can produce...so then get the burn tool make it the same diameter as the faint stars and "hit" them a few times until they are nice and bright...I think such a system would be great for giving a few key stars colour if lacking.
So a few stars treated like that should help when,if ever, I get decent colour data.
I am doing this again from scratch right now with 663 images that I spent a long time reviewing to find the most suitable...U do have some colour so I will start building and see what they look like after stacking and processing.

This narrow band is really something else..I am only doing 10% of the work and yet it is taking all my time..
I worked out you need approx 28 groups of captures when you add up lights, darks, flats and dark flats...
Thanks for your kind words.
Alex

[casstony]

I like the greater detail you get compared to a dslr but I'm not sure I have the patience to deal with a mono camera. I have been eyeing the ZWO ASI294MC Pro but maybe second hand one day.

[xelasnave]

When I look at my Lagoon Neb which was with a Nikon D5500 about 3 hours of 30 seconds dss and star tools and photo shop gimp and a final colour injection from a simple phone app☺ I wonder why I bothered..the colour may not be to others tastes but I like it...one shot colour cooled probably would have done it for me.
Here is the Lagoon ... maybe its all about the cooling.

Alex