M42 Orion

[gypsy]

Orion And Running Man

Hi all
Not my first attempt at Orion but definitely my best
my previous attempts were just camera on a fixed tripod
this is first time I have used my star tracker to image Orion

a lot of processing on this one
I took 2 sets of images stacked and processed separately
1 set for the nebula and 1 set for the core
stretched using a combination of Archsinh Curves and levels
Then blended the 2 images using a mask in photoshop
I also used Topaz De Noise (probably overdone but i like the smoother look lol)
i processed the main image in several different ways and then used masks to blend the best parts into a final image.
happy for criticism I feel it’s the only way to improve.
any suggestions on how I can improve the image would be appreciated

Equipment
Nikon D850, Tamron 150-600 G2 lens and sky watcher star adventure 2

Nebula
81 subs at 30 seconds ISO 1600 f5/6 lens at 350mm stacked in DSS with darks flats and bias.
Core
68 subs at 20 seconds ISO 800 f7 lens at 350mm stacked in DSS with darks flats and bias
taken in my back yard Bortle class 4 sky

Kind regards
Mick

[Hans Tucker]

First attempt at this target eh ... and what a truly fine result :thumbsup:

[gypsy]

hi Hans
No its not my first attempt just the first time i tried this target with my tracker
ive had a few failures trying with just a fixed tripod and 2 second subs
the tracker has made a great difference

thanks mick

[gypsy]

hi all
should i have posted this in deep space??

if so could admin please move it across

thanks
mick

[AdamJL]

Hey Mick. That's your call :)
That Deep Space section is definitely for critiques and the like. I guess the forum gods here decided to split beginners off into this forum for whatever reason. If you want to post there, go for it. This is a great image and would suit that part of the forum well.

If you want some comments, firstly, I love that you've exposure blended this, as you've really let that core through well. I can see the trapezium there which isn't an easy thing to do and still retain detail in the darker sections of this nebula. Exposure blending is definitely the trick with Orion.

You've got some elongation of your stars throughout the image, which I guess is understandable when shooting with the Star Adventurer. Just keep that in mind next time.
Also maybe run the image through PS' camera raw plugin and focus on that CA a bit. PS is really good at removing CA, and this looks like a relatively simple removal as it's quite uniform.

Great work :thumbsup:

[raymo]

Yes, you will get more advanced criticism/comments there.
raymo

[gypsy]

Hi Adam / Raymo

Thanks for the reply’s

I will move it across to deep space

regards
Mick