Reprocessed lobster

[Benjamin]

Lightened it all up, got the stars cleaned up (no RGB just yet). Link here: https://www.astrobin.com/full/410558/0/

[strongmanmike]

That's bloody good Ben...and it's tri colour too yaaay! :thumbsup:

Mike

[Benjamin]

Thanks Mike. I’d just read your comments on narrowband colour so thought I’d better get some variety in there :-)

[Atmos]

Really nice Ben! You’ve processed the stars really well, not sure if they even need RGB replacements :)

[Benjamin]

Thanks Colin. I’ll give it a shot with the RGB, mostly for the wider field version. With the cropped image there’s probably enough going on!

[Andy01]

Yep, looking much better, very nice lobster now :thumbsup:

The background looks a tad magenta/blue on my monitor, so tweak that a bit , add in your RGB stars & it's a sure fire winner! :D

[Benjamin]

Cheers Andy. Yes the monitor/website seems to make some difference with hues and backgrounds. For my laptop I reduced the brilliance a bit (attached) and it looks great, but then on Astrobin it looks a bit dull... hmm. RGB stars soon I hope..

[Benjamin]

Now with added RGB https://www.astrobin.com/410558/F/?nc=user and a more neutral background

[Ryderscope]

That's come along well Ben. I like the transition between the different colour elements in the image :thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

Cheers Rodney. Some colour noise reduction has been applied and the original colour tone map was quite noise reduced so hopefully that’s paid off a bit.

[strongmanmike]

You must just about be sick of staring at this one by now Ben :lol:

The whole process is well worth it though and glad you kept us abreast of each iteration, been fun watching its development, it's like looking at baby-child photos as they slowly grow up and mature :thumbsup:

Mike

[Benjamin]

Almost there Mike, but on another forum someone did a starless version of my picture and it looked great. He used starnet++ so I thought I’d see how that compared to the Fabian Neyer method (I’ve used that a lot). So, my image has grown old, lost some of its youthful definition, picked up a few scars and is now starless. However I think it’s still got some character...
https://www.astrobin.com/full/410558/G/?nc=user

[strongmanmike]

Gee..that looks Amazing! Like a big cave in a huge elaborate cosmic coral reef...cool

Mike

[Benjamin]

As if I could leave it alone.... I added Lum and RGB stars back and got what really should be the last of these. A blueish gradient lives in the corner of the wider field but it looks a bit like the glow of this star. Crop I added a little more of the bluish hue.
https://www.astrobin.com/full/410558/K/?nc=Brasspoodle

[multiweb]

Really cool Ben. I like them all. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Benjamin]

Cheers Marc :-) I think I’m happy where I ended up, even if it was just learning a whole bunch of new things along the way.

[strongmanmike]

A successful journey Ben :thumbsup:

Mike

[Benjamin]

As I fall into the fires of Mount Doom I’m left still wondering about framing and pareidolia. Andy’s “Deep Space 9” 3D effect (loved that sound track at the time!) and your Cat playing with a lobster Mike all offer a way in to the complex image. I was pretty abstract in my framing. There’s probably a limit with how much one can zoom in on things but as something different I’ll leave all this fiddling with my distant misty mountain.

[strongmanmike]

Well Benny...I recon this is aaalmost perfect ;) the mountain area in the middle is awesome. The only thing not perfect is the stars, they are dull and washed out, stars are not dull, they are bright intense points. While you may feel it accentuates the nebula detail it is not natural nor does it look right IMO. I would suggest selecting the stars and brightening and increasing their intensity and then slightly sharpen them....then, the image will be done and dusted :thumbsup:

Mike

[Benjamin]

Okay, here is a go at a bit of star enlivening! Enough? Astrobin link is now more Hi Res too. https://www.astrobin.com/full/410558/U/?nc=user

[strongmanmike]

BINGO! :thumbsup:

Mike

[Paul Haese]

The detail is excellent Ben. Colour is nice and rich with good contrast. I really like the handling of the central star area.

[Benjamin]

Thanks Paul. It’s been an incredible period of learning for me, just working out how to develop techniques in response to feedback: RGB stars, star intensification, pushing the data in starless form, balancing colours to reflect all 3 bandwidths, keeping it intuitive etc. Wonderful advice and guidance here on iceinspace makes it a really valuable collaborative space :-)

[Slawomir]

What a fantastic image Ben - I like versions C and T the most :thumbsup:

[topheart]

Awesome and original!
Well done.
Cheers,
Tim

[Benjamin]

Thanks Tim and Suavi. Version T I like too - lesson brazen, more gaseous.

[willik]

What a cracker Ben top notch
Martin