Jewels of Orion

[allan gould]

Pulled an all nighter on Saturday. Have quite a few shots taken as it was such a great night. Stacked 8x5 min shots (taken with Eric Styles modded Canon 20D) using DSS. Processed in PS for levels and curves. M42 was a b^gger to process with all the different levels of intensity, but I wanted to show the extent of the nebulosity without all the red colour bleeding through. I processed the horsehead with only levels and curves in PS. Scope was 127mm APO - the moonlight focuser was a dream to use. I was pleased with the flatness of the field and sharpness across the plane.

[Hagar]

Very nice clean images Allan. What happened to the QHY8?

[allan gould]

Have not exposed it to photons at the moment. I'm waiting until I learn Nebulosity as well as some of the characteristics of the QHY8 before I give it a go. The first photo will probably be a H alpha shot due to the light pollution where I am. I didn't want to try a new camera in the field and spoil a great night with new equipment frustrations. Have to take things in baby steps for me.

[Garyh]

Looks good Allan, some of the dark lanes in the M42 look a little contrasty this end but other than that very nice!
cheers

[Dennis]

Hi Allan

Those are very nice portraits of these jewels in Orion – great stuff!

Cheers

Dennis

[Ric]

Lovely shots Allan, wonderful colour and detail.

[h0ughy]

inspirational Allan - there is hope for me yet

[Matty P]

I agree, :)

A fantastic pair of images Allan. The amount of detail in M42 in quite something.

Very well done. :thumbsup:

[Tamtarn]

Two very nice images Allan, the detail and colour in both look great.
The 20D is serving you well. :thumbsup:

We long to be able to have an all night imaging session. :(

[stevenc77]

Beautiful inspiring images! What ISO settings did you use and what about the darks, flats etc?:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

You have done a mighty fine job on both images Allan, very nice!

Hope Matt is looking at these, you have demonstrated quite a nice natural reveal of the inner trap region.

I think the size you posted is too big to appreciate the image though :sadeyes: and it shows all the imperfections and jpeg compression way too much, this image would look much better at a smaller size and with less jpeg compression.

Great job mate :thumbsup:

Mike

[allan gould]

The settings on the modded 20D were ISO800 with 6x300 sec lights and darks for the longest shots, then 10x5 sec, 10 x 20 sec and 10 x 60 sec (no darks for all of the latter shots). Used DSS to combine each set (median combine with hot and cold pixel removal) to give a master tiff at each exposure and then used masking in PS to add each element without over-exposing the core. Finally built up and image that wasn't over-exposed and did levels and curves in PS. No unsharp masking etc etc in PS as I wanted the tones to be as "natural" to what the eye sees as possible.
Learning PS is climbing a mountain in itself and I havent even got to the first base camp yet :D

Thanks for all your nice comments guys as its much appreciated when you start out learning to use various bits of equipment and software. Expensive aint it - no body told me and thats why I havn't told the wife.
Allan

[allan gould]

Thanks for the kind words Mike - from you its a real compliment.

[Tilt]

Very nice Allan, what time does M42 rise?

Michael

[allan gould]

At the moment - late, about 3:30am I think

[Tilt]

Ouch, that is late. Looks like I better put a couple of teaspoons of cement into my coffee and get imaging on this object.

Michael

[RB]

Very nicely done Allan.

:thumbsup:

[Jeffkop]

Really stunning images Allan ... well worth the loss of a few hours sleep thats for sure ... 3.30am eh ... sounds like an alarm set as long as the weather is going to be compliant.

Once again .. tops shots

[Phil]

Stunning love the M42 one best. Great colour.
Phil

[browndog]

Excellent image. I really like your presentation of the Orion Nebula.
Well done.