Ic434 - Colour Added

[Martin Pugh]

Hello all

Well, I certainly hope I get to finish this as the luminance shows much promise.

I have combined 5 hours luminance and 5 hours Ha through pixel math to produce the final lum in what will hopefully be a (Ha+Lum)LRGB production.

So, just in case I run out of time or weather denies me the last few colour frames, I thought I would post this first up.

12.5" RC, SBIG STL11K, Astrodon 6nm Ha filter and Gen2 Lum....all AO-L guided.

thanks for looking and clear skies.

Martin
http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/images/IC434HALum.jpg

[Hagar]

Very nice Martin. Hope to see the final colour image. Should be worth the wait.

[jase]

Lovely work yet again Martin! The finished result should look rather spectacular. Interested to see how you'll manage the flare from Alnitak. Caused me considerable headaches in a similar image which I'm still working on. Stars look incredibly tight, do you use the minimum function then fade the action to 40%-60% by any chance? The AOL would help, but not to the level you've presented.

[theodog]

Nice image Martin.
I feel that monochrome images are more dramatic, specially the oft-imaged targets, pure and simple data.
The detail is esquisite.
Well done.

[multiweb]

Very nice and smooth. Can't wait to see the color added.

[spearo]

great detail and pinprick stars
lovely
frank

[iceman]

Damn that is good. Huge image scale and so much fine detail.

Beautiful.

[richardo]

This is going to be a stunner Martin!
Wow, what a field your getting, nice equipment of course.

Probably one of the best on the HH once you get some rgb's to go with this lum.

You're certainly stepped the bar way up there.
Keep 'em coming.

All the best
Rich

[Ric]

Excellent work Martin. I know it will be spectacular with colour but I'm quite enjoying it just the way it is.

[tornado33]

I can see those tiny, faint galaxies above the horsehead. I first saw those in an AAT image!
Scott

[Martin Pugh]

Thank you very much.

Alas, the weather forecast has changed, and while it is only a forecast, prone to changing in just a few short hours, I am in with the chance of 4 or so straight clear nights...so I might just get to finish this.

Jase...no minimum filter required. The proper combination of luminance and Ha took care of the stellar widths. In fact, I only followed up with deconvolution as an after thought (just 30 iterations of Pos Constraint). The challenge of course will be to blend the RGB while maintaining those tight stars.

I know what you mean....I have already cropped out massive reflections imposed by Alnitak....I do not plan on expanding the FOV. However, it is amazing what moving the scope a little and then taking some short frames achieves. This becomes a 'patch' frame to mask this stray light....I've got those frames, but dont intend to use them.

thanks for the comments all....I appreciate it v.much.

Ooopss...its clear, and its dark....time to cool the optics and roll back the roof!

cheers
Martin

[leon]

Have to agree with the others Martin at top image indeed, well done.

Leon

[Bassnut]

An excellent image Martin, as expected, but I dont see a much of the verticle gass lane streaks I have seen in other images of this calibre ?.

[Peter Ward]

Most excellent data Martin. I would had to have gathered 20+ hours from my urban locale and suspect would still not get the S/N your image shows (damm those Yass skies :) )

Crappy Sydney has ensured I have done virtually no imaging of late...hence am also impressed by your tenacity to have found skies clear enough for a good imaging run.

Beautifully tight round stars, super smooth data. Brilliant stuff!

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks Fred/Leon/Peter.

dont worry Peter....have been suffering the same withdrawal symptoms as most (unlike Mr Gendler who has bagged yet another APOD today with his LMC shot from Pingelly)...obviously WA is the place to be.

Fred...I know what you are referring to....but I do see those streaks on my monitor? There are plenty of them there with 10 hours exposure.

cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Super impressive Martin.

Greg.

[AlexN]

I've seen better.... on hubblesite.org

As for land based scopes, I think this is easily the most detailed horse I've seen.. I very much look forward to color.. (not that it needs it, its a ripper as is.)

[renormalised]

Another masterpiece:D

Once it's in colour, it'll be good enough to eat:P:D

Great work.

[Matty P]

Superb!!! I'm speechless.

Well done Martin. :thumbsup:

[Martin Pugh]

Hello all

Well, I managed to squeeze in the remaining colour frames and now sadly the weather has moved in for the next few days at least :mad2:

So this ended up being a HA+Lum RGB of 5:5:3:3:3 hours exposure..

Many thanks for the additional posts, and I certainly hope you like the final colour version.

http://www.martinpughastrophotograph...C43 4LRGBV2.jpg (http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/images/IC434LRGBV2.jpg)

best regards and clear skies

Martin

[Jen]

:eyepop::eyepop: WOAH...... now that is a stunning picture :thumbsup::thumbsup: thats the best i have seen great work ;) hey if your interested in making a bit of cash i would love to buy a pic like this blown up to put on my empty walls around the house send me a PM if ya interested nice work cheers :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: even the black n white pic is just magic :thumbsup:

[monoxide]

:eyepop:
i think the only way you could improve on that is to send your scope into space!

excellent shot, nicely processed too

[Octane]

Martin,

That is stunning.

Reminds me of the famous image taken by the ESO.

Speechless, really.

Congratulations.

Regards,
Humayun

[iceman]

Stunning! Just stunning.

[AlexN]

Selling Prints Martin? I'll take one as big as you can print it!! :thumbsup:

Thats an incredible image mate.... A breathtaking look at one of the night skies most recognizable gems!

Alex.

[Ric]

A beautiful image Martin, an absolute ripper.

Cheers

[bluescope]

Beatiful image Martin.

:thumbsup:

[Martin Pugh]

Blimey!

many thanks for the great compliments...glad you liked it so much.

Alex/Jen - I do sell prints (although not too many lately), so I will contact you separately to discuss. As this is cropped somewhat, it should upscale beautifully to A3+.

Thanks for the interest.

cheers
Martin

[Peter Ward]

The luminance domain of your image is absolutely delightful (so smoooth), but I'm not so sure about the colour.....looks a little magenta to me and lacks saturation (16 hours of data.....)

That said, definitely in the heavy rollers league and an image to be proud of to be sure. :thumbsup:

[RobF]

Wow. Many thanks for showing.

:bowdown: :bowdown:

[Bassnut]

Martin, I dont mean to be critical, the colour version is exceptional of course, as good as ive seen. But my very ordinary Ha effort clearly shows a strength of verticle gass lanes I have seen elsewhere, perhaps your smoothing reduced them?

http://fredsastro.googlepages.com/Horse_Head_Neb_Ha_smlsite.jpg/Horse_Head_Neb_Ha_smlsite-full.jpg

[Martin Pugh]

Hi chaps, and thanks for the feedback....most welcome.

Peter you were right....when I stepped back from the monitor, I could clearly see that, so I think I have fixed it.

and Fred....I went right back to the Lum/Ha combination....adjusted it somewhat and reblended that in. I think you will agree that the gas jets are more prominent now.

let me know if you prefer this new version.

cheers
Martin
http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.a u/images/IC434LRGBV3.jpg

[AlexN]

New color is very pleasing also... perhaps more like other images of the horse head...

Flicking through my dirty great big book of the universe, the hubble image of the horse head is closer in color to your original posting.. Its hard to say which of the two is better... they both have their merits.. although the newer one definitely shows more strength/contrast in the details where as before they were very subtle..

[Bassnut]

Martin. Nice, now its right, you extracted that detail without additional noise, although I suspect you could push it even futher. The overall effect of the image is very pleasing, desite much zooming. Detail whilst smooth is a difficult challenge.

[multiweb]

Vibrant colors on this one. Beautiful picture. :thumbsup:
I'm amazed how you got rid of any flare or hint of alnitak.

[marc4darkskies]

A spectacular shot Martin!! Bringing out a bit more detail in the lanes did the trick for me. :thumbsup::thumbsup: Incredibly smooth too yet still natural looking. Definitely the best rendition I've seen of this object.

Cheers, Marcus

[renormalised]

You know, every time I see a beautiful piccie like that, and see all the stars in the fore and background, I always think...."I wonder how many of those stars have a civilisation on a planet in orbit about them"....wouldn't it be interesting to know:)

[Peter Ward]

Now that's an exceptional HH! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

BTW I really like the exquisitely deep and very tight stars...begging the question....did you use the AOL?

[Martin Pugh]

Many thanks....glad you liked the reworked version.

Peter.....I rarely image these days without the addition of AOL guiding....and yes, it was used throughout.

cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

I like the reworked version. You brought out that bit of pink nebula in the blue neb area.

Ha areas are a bit subjective in how they are presented/processed and often can be slightly pinkish/magentaish or salmonish. I would have preferred a slightly more red look to the Ha areas myself but thats just a preference.

When you mix Luminance and Ha into one image perhaps you lose a bit of colour control as opposed to assigning Ha to various blend modes and to the red channel. I mixing Ha and Lum into one image a Rob Gendler technique?

Amazing image with the sharpness and detail, better than anything I got out of my 12.5 RCOS.

Greg.

[rwong]

Hi Martin

Absolutely stunning image. I'd love to purchase an A3 print to have it framed.

Cheers
Reg :eyepop:

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks Greg

no, the Ha plus Lum approach to create a master luminance is my own doing, and the aim is to accentuate the extended data, and the additional detail revealed by Ha, and to significantly reduce stellar profiles. When you add deconvolution on top, the stars look great.

The correct approach will prevent clipping the stars.

cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Hi Martin,

Not only an accomplished imager but also an innovator!!

Interesting data. Yes I can see that Ha and lum added together could bring out the best of both worlds - small stars and increased detail.

Do you run deconvolution on all the RGB masters as well or do you run a separate luminance with deconvolution?

Also when doing deconvolution do you use positive constraint or entropy?

Also when selecting a star to start deconvolution do you just click on any star that seems to be typical of the image or do you select on some other basis - like one that is a bit tighter than the others or one that is less tight than the others?

Also when doing your colour work did you add another layer for Ha or were you satisfied with the Ha/lum blend used as a combined luminance?

Sorry for all the questions but you are at the cutting edge here and your results speak for themselves.

Greg.

[Martin Pugh]

Hi Greg.....not quite an innovator, just someone who experiements often and wildly!

Do you run deconvolution on all the RGB masters as well or do you run a separate luminance with deconvolution?
Occasionally I might deconvolve one of the RGB frames if stars are more bloated than others, or I might run the Minimum filter or other techniques I have in my arsenal to make those stellar widths equal. However, I always deconvolve my luminance frame.

Also when doing deconvolution do you use positive constraint or entropy?
PC

Also when selecting a star to start deconvolution do you just click on any star that seems to be typical of the image or do you select on some other basis - like one that is a bit tighter than the others or one that is less tight than the others?
I find that star selection is quite important, and combined with whether you deconvolve or ddp first. Noting that deconvolution can take a while in CCDS, my procedure right now with the Vista 64bit box I have, is to run two separate routines, on a selection for additional speed, choosing different stars, and comparing the results. However, as a general guide, I select a star that is well separated, near saturation, having a lowish FWHM value.

Also when doing your colour work did you add another layer for Ha or were you satisfied with the Ha/lum blend used as a combined luminance?

For IC434, the Ha/Lum blend was all I needed......I did not then blend Ha with Red, although, that could have proved to be an interesting outcome, but I was pleased enough with the result to begin with. I might go back and see what that additional 'traditional' approach might do to the image.

Sorry for all the questions but you are at the cutting edge here and your results speak for themselves

no problem.

cheers and HTH
Martin

[rwong]

Hi Martin

Just let you know I have received the printed version of IC434 Horsehead and IC2948 Running Chicken.
They arrived in mint conditions and the colour are superb. :eyepop: Fantastic print work at reasonable price. Also thanks for the 20 postcards thar come with the prints and printed descriptions of the objects.

I will definitely have them framed.

Cheers
Reg