Helix wide field - right colour?

[Craig_L]

I took this a few days ago, stack of 13 images - 7 mins at ISO 800. Canon 450 Hutech modded with LPS-V3 filter. Tak Sky 90 with reducer. Stacked in Nebulousity and finished in PS.

I haven't touched the colour balance but wonder whether the central core is the right colour? Any thoughts?

Thanks for looking.

Craig

[AlexN]

i think its too red...

Here's what I've done to the smaller image

Crop.
Color balance: more towards cyan, more towards magenta, and a tiny bit towards blue.
Levels: moved the black point to darken the background a bit, this cost a bit a bit of nebulosity in the outer tail, but gave a bit more contrast towards the center of the helix.
Smart Sharpen: 29% with a radius of 0.9px

What do you think?

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: nice pics

[Craig_L]

Thanks Jen and Alex. Definitely looks more bluish to me now Alex, if that's right. Should I be using a CWB with a modded camera? I'm using AWB at the moment.

Craig

[strongmanmike]

Looks quite ok to me..? I think the Helix is an object that can still look good whether you have it vivid red with a blue centre or slightly orange or even magenta with a greenish centre, it is such a dramatic object that you can run with a bit of license either way I recon?

Mike

[leon]

Everyone to their own I suppose, to me it is a bit over, but then I am more into the pastel sort of colour, however a fine effort.

Leon

[Craig_L]

Thanks Leon and Mike. Should I be using a CWB though?

Craig

[Matty P]

Nice image Craig, tracking looks spot on and lots of detail.

Either way the colours looks great IMHO. :)

I'm wanting to get my 450D modded so I'm looking forward to more of your work.

Very well done. :thumbsup:

[RB]

Craig I prefer your original, in terms of overall & central core colours and your sky b/g colour looks more natural too.
It's a personal preference but I think you've done v.well especially considering you haven't touched the colour balance.
Looking at your histogram shows it's quite nicely grouped.




You can try setting a CWB and see what difference it will make but since you used AWB on this I think it's turned out fine.

[dugnsuz]

Nearly slipped by me Craig...
Very nice - ripe and vivid spring to mind!
I don't think your colours are off though - I like them, steaming fresh straight out of the Tak!
I like the wider field (no surprises there), as the background noise isn't emphasised. Also, what's the sharply defined gradient 1/3 from the left hand side?
I also like the nebulosity you've picked out to the left of the Helix - I can't remember seeing it so nicely defined before.
Nice one
All the best
Doug

ps...does it matter if one uses a CWB or AWB or whatever when shooting RAWs? I thought it didn't!?:shrug:

[AlexN]

CWB has little effect on RAW images, as one can define the white balance later.

Alex.

[RB]

True that White Balance can be set later on RAW frames in Post Processing.
Here he's stacking them and wants to see if CWB will affect the output colour from his modded cam (before colour adjustments are made).
That's what I assumed Craig was asking. :shrug:

[AlexN]

in that case yes, custom white balances will help.

[Craig_L]

Yes Andrew. And I'm converting to Tiff files in the Canon software before stacking. But I will try the CWB. I might need to start using flats as well.

You're right Doug. I hadn't noticed that before. Wonder where its come from? Some detective work needed.

Thanks Alex and Matty. Matty, I've taken quite a lot of different exposures of the Helix now at 400, 800 and 1600ISO. I can post a comparison between the different ISO's if you're interested.

Craig

[AlexN]

I got nothing out of the helix on saturday night from my DSLR... 3mins at ISO800.. too much light pollution.

[Craig_L]

Hi Alex,

There's a fair bit of pollution in Adelaide but maybe being drier than Brisbane helps. The Hutech LPS-V3 filter seems to cut through it quite well, maybe more than your UHC-E.

Craig

[AlexN]

yeah I think an LPS might be the go... the UHC filter also adds a lot of discoloration to the image, which in turn makes it very hard to process.

[dugnsuz]

Yeah Alex, I heard there' one for sale in the classifieds!!!:P

[peeb61]

Very nice image Craig, I have my sights on this target after the full moon, I only hope mines turns out like yours.

Keep em coming.

Paul