Omega Centauri & Tarantula

[blueskies123_89]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the encouragement re my previous post a month ago. During this time I've tried to refine my drift align skills and mounted a guidescope on top of my SN8. There is just so much to learn! :shrug:

My 400D records a completely green tarantula... quite different from the great images posted here. I know this is probably due to the unmodded dslr been insensitive to Ha, but are there any fixes, except modding?

Anyhow here they are, stacked in dss and processed in ps, with dark, flat, bias added.

ngc2070
17x2min, 17x1min

ngc5139
33x1min

[atalas]

Both nice shots with the Tarantula showing good detail.

[TrevorW]

Check how they are being stacked in DSS as I found out you can lose some of the colour in the stacking process, some red should still show up when stacking even in an unmodded camera.

Cheers

[blueskies123_89]

Thanks Trevor, I'll certainly reprocess them sometime. Is this a stacking option that I should check or after stacking processing issue?

[gregbradley]

Not sure about the 400D but the 40D is relatively red sensitive for an unmodded DSLR.

You can try selecting curves in Photoshop and trying different curve shapes to bring up the red channel.

With the Omega Centauri image you can get rid of the gradients (the green background on one half and the red on the other) using Gradient Xterminator (it has a free trial and is the best tool there is for that).


You can also do gradient removal in Photoshop.

There is a free tutorial on it I think it is called Wade Observatory or google gradient removal tutorial. But really nothing works as well as Gradient Xterminator.

Greg.

[blueskies123_89]

Thanks Greg,

I've reduced the gradients on Omega Cent. by playing with each channel seperately. I've gota check out gradient xterminator, sounds fun and hopefully not expensive. Oh and I played around with the red channel on the tarantula. Probably will take new data for them some time later, the focus are quite soft.

[peeb61]

Nice work George,
Both shots are tip top! Love the Omega shot, nice and tight right down to the core.

Paul

[Tilt]

I'm not too sure why (at this stage) but when a Baader UHC-S filter is used with my unmodded 350D, the Tarantula tends to show reasonable amounts of red, without it I get pretty much the same as what you have there.

Michael

[Hagar]

Two very nice images. Looks like your extra work has paid off.
Well done.

[blueskies123_89]

I've redone the Omega Centauri one from scratch, trying to remove the gradients (Checked out that filter, just a little out of my price range atm). I increased the saturation a fair bit on the stars, please tell me if I've over done it.

Thanks for looking at the same thing again XP