NGC5236 first LRGB attempt

[peter_4059]

I've been collecting NGC5236 data over the past couple of nights to have a try at putting together an LRGB image.

Starting with the excuses - I'm in the middle of Brisbane, my neighbor is attempting to turn night into day with his floodlighting, the moon has been at 70% illuminated and the clouds rolled in before I could get some G images so I synthesised the G channel in PS. It's no award winner but not bad for a first attempt. I'm still trying to understand how LRGB works in PS so have used this approach

http://www.tpo.ca/PS_Tricks/Steve_Cannistra_LLRGB.htm

Image details:
Meade ED80/DSI IIpro
L: 16x4mins, R/B: 20x2mins each

Comments, tips and help welcomed.

[multiweb]

No excuses needed mate. That's a ripper. Nice and sharp :thumbsup:

[desler]

No need Peter, all looks good! or should that be great!


Darren

[peter_4059]

Cheers Marc and Darren. Thanks for the encouragement.

I'm not really happy with the colour - looks yellow and I can't seem to alter this. I also can't seem to keep the histogram from clipping on the black end when I add the luminance.

I'm planning to get some real G images tonight and will get more R&B if the clouds behave. I think I have the RGB bit under control but I need to do some homework on combining luminance in PS.

Peter

[peter_4059]

Finally got the green channel last night after much stuffing around. I think the colour balance and detail has improved.

[dpastern]

I've found these processing presentations to be of great use:

http://rdelsol.com/Presentations.html

It looks good so far (the image)! I can't wait to be getting images like this myself.

Dave

[dpastern]

I just had a very quick play with Noel Carboni's tools (very good value for money) with your 2nd image data set, I hope you don't mind! It's not perfect by any means, but a quick press of a few actions in Photoshop CS2, all of 40 seconds "work", if that and voila...I'm not sure how accurate the colour is, and I think I probably softened the image detail a bit too much with my choice of actions that I ran...

http://www.macro-images.com/web/astro/M83_LRGB2.jpg

Let me know if you're not happy with me editing the image etc and I'll remove it from my website temp hosting area.

Dave

[peter_4059]

Thanks David. The colour looks more natural in your image but it has softened up quite a bit. Which Carboni actions did you apply?

[dpastern]

I applied a fair few of them, was really mucking around more than anything. I haven't really played too much with them yet, simply because imaging with my setup is just not working for me...

actions applied were:

soft colour gradient removal
hard colour gradient removal
light pollution removal
make stars smaller
space noise reduction
deep space noise reduction
enhance DSO and reduce stars

Probably overkill on my part due to the lack of real familiarity with Noel's actions (yet).

Dave

[Rastas]

Dave
Was that using the Astronomy Tools for photoshop elements or the full version of photoshop actions?
What a remarkable difference you have made to Peter's original.
There's talent lurking there.

[peter_4059]

Dave/Rastas,

I bought a copy of Carboni's actions early on but have opted for levels, curves and a couple of plug-ins more recently. I found the instructions for some of the actions a bit of a dog. I really should give it another try.

Peter

[dpastern]

Actions for Photoshop CS2.

I hope you're referring to Peter's talent, cos I don't have any [in respect to astro imaging that is].

Dave

[dpastern]

Oh, here's a slightly sharpened version:

http://www.macro-images.com/web/astro/M83_LRGB2sharpen.jpg

Dave

[allan gould]

Thats great David. Its good to see someone getting their full $19.95 worth.