The Blue Green Swan

[strongmanmike]

Well (Fred)..I DID IT :D

Finally, my first ever narrow band image :clap:

I have three image data sets on my hard drive ready to assemble and this looked like the easiest so I did it first :P.

This is the first test of the new low reflection Astronomik HaSIIOIII 13nm narrowband set and they seemed to perform beautifully..?

Like most narrow band first timers I tried a few different combinations (this is wacko stuff Fred!) and settled on this which in the end in SII Ha OIII combo

Unfortunately this was done in very poor seeing :doh:but I think I salvaged it..? Of course more exposure would be good too but getting another 20hr three day marathon ala Cen A looks like it will be a rare (unique???) event for me :(

Full frame 60% size image 2.5meg
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/113037053/original

Tighter framing 1.4meg
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/113037136/original

and for those poor restricted long FL addicted chaps who get lost in all that space...here's a close up of just the swan herself in all her Vanderhavenesque Psychadelic colours :P
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/113037540/original

Hope you like it :)

Mike

[Jen]

:eyepop: wow looks awsome Mike good job :thumbsup:

[jase]

There's a first for everything Mike. A great start indeed. I'd probably up the SII a little, but thats a matter of personal taste. Welcome to the freedom that is narrowband processing, no more G2V and the like. Looking forward to seeing more as you progress.

Filters look to be performing well.

Cheers

[Bassnut]

rubbish

[jase]

:lol: Give the man a chance Fred. :D

Re-layer the Ha data as luminance Mike. That'll get Fred's approval surely.:)

[marc4darkskies]

Mike, Mike Mike ... I always lament when an honest, hard working WB soul goes over to the NB dark side :(:sadeyes: I haven't taken my LSD today so all I can say is .... YUK!! :P But it is of course a very well executed image. ;):)

Take the stars away next time!!!! :lol:

Cheers, Marcus

[strongmanmike]

I actually did do that Jase ...I guess with just 75min of Ha you can't expect miracles and yes deffinitely a personal taste thing. The bad seeing didn't help that's for sure :mad2:

Ah Fred, cons a few drunk astronomers at SPSP to vote for his coloured messes with glaringly obvious processing and now he is a one word arogant Guru, fits with the SBIG badge I guess :lol:...actually I was one of those drunk astronomers, voted for his silly little bug :doh:

Just joshin Fred :D

Mike

[strongmanmike]

:lol: Yes that will likely please the Pope and plebs

PS. Sorry I didn't vote for your excellent Horsehead at SPSP it was the best image technically in your categroy but it's done like that to death, it needed to be something out-a-da ordinary for me so Freds Bug was, well...unique.

[Bassnut]

Sheesh Mike, I was just kidding, dropped that in to wind you up :shrug:.

That worked way to well, take it easy man, Im no guru :help:.

Its a very good 1st NB light, way better than my 1st attempt. The background is a bit blue, and you could saturate the colour bit more, and as Jase wisely points out the SII could do with a tweak, and yes , Ha as Lum sure smicks things up. Truely, its a fine image, I like it :D

[strongmanmike]

Yeah yeah I know, geez, run with me man :thumbsup:



Thanks Fred glad you like it.

I was kinda trying for a subtle smokey dusty look :shrug:...bah! who knows :screwy:

This NB stuff is so easy, now I know why you like it so much :lol:....bit of blue here, bit or green there, blend it this way blend it that way..no right or wrong, just what ever you like. It's a bit like decorating your own home, personal taste is all it comes down too as long as the technical quality is there I guess :)

Mike

[Bassnut]

You got it, its way easier than youd think 1st up, just more to-taste fiddling than RGB.

[strongmanmike]

Yeh it's like cooking

Here, I had the wrong link to this before - this is the narrow field version, just for guys like you :thumbsup:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/113037540/original

Mike

[bloodhound31]

I feel like I am being left behind in a cloud of blue-green dust....anyone care to donate a mono CCD and narrowband filters to Baz?

Beaut first go Mike.

Baz.

[Alchemy]

first time NB , details all there, well done on your first go , feel free to reprocess it again and again and again (thats a joke:whistle:) actually if you do, try as below as there doesnt seem to be any fixed rules for this kind of game

(ive actually kept a copy of bassnuts version its in an orange and blue , which makes the contrast pump out. )

[Paul Haese]

Not a huge fan of NB, but this is pretty reasonable. It shows heaps of detail in the nebula and the banding that one can see in a large aperture scope.

Just one little criticism though. You appear to have either reflection or serious vignetting on the right hand corners. It is wost at the top right and less of a problem on the bottom right. Don't know if you were aware of this.

Now go for something really different Mike.

[Hagar]

G'Day Mike. Not being a NB purist my only real comment has to be Horrible purple stars. Otherwise detail, focus and well, colour all seem to be very good. Nice first try.

I still like your LRGB better.

[Peter Ward]

The magenta stars are hard to tame, not your finest, but not bad :thumbsup:

[avandonk]

Nice colours Mike. The detail is good too.

I made an animated gif with your image and from this image
6MB
http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2009_05/swaneagle.jpg


Animated GIF 3.7MB
http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2009_05/mikS.gif


WB...NB...WB...NB...WB...NB.. Homer


Bert

[Tom Davis]

Very pretty! I like it!!

Tom

[Jen]

:lol::lol::lol: you guys crack me up :rofl:

[richardo]

I remember when you said.....:whistle:
And now your............:D

I think NB imaging is the way to go in showing other features/ dust/ gas/ light wave length to these well imaged objects, plus you can image when the moon's up.

I do like NB images btw!

I personally don't like M17.. due to probably imaging it too much or seeing too many rgb images of it...
To me NB brings it to the table in a totally different light... mmmm funny about that:rofl:

Nice job here Mike, can make out the little Bok globules hangin' to the L/H side.. well picked up. Not bad for an iffy night!

Just one thing imo.. (yeah I know, every one's got an opinion:rolleyes: or an expert :P)
I find the background magenta/ purple a little over the top. So in PSI I tweaked the back ground (levels) to a more neutral colour.. it reduced the purple significantly and then I used 'shadow highlights' and found with the nice data you have, brought out more contrast and vibrance with a little bit of messing with the sliders.

Ok, you have the green light for a repro here mate:thumbsup: Just not too many ok....:whistle:

Other than that, I'm looking forward to many more NB images from you.
Looking good Mike!

All the best
Rich

[multiweb]

Nice NB pic Mike. :thumbsup: Hey I voted for you (hand of god), and I voted for Fred too (NB starless M8 - my favorite). I guess you presented so many pictures in the comp you've "diluted" the number of votes across the board. :)

[strongmanmike]

Ah...yes :D Me was like that too a while ago but I thought hmmm?..better get into this fad, seems many like it, don't want to get left behind :lol:...mozaics is another thing I have to try :scared:



Your kidding right? :eyepop: :lol: man good to see you looking so closely :thumbsup:

I do get a bit of filter cut off but only in the very minute corners and flats wont get rid of this 100% when the cut off is so strong but it is only at the very corners - I think I can live with this. Actually if you have a look at Berts anaimation flicking between his 100% unvignetted (only part of his wide frame) shot and mine, ya can't notice it at all really :shrug:



Ah yes...pochi passi prima :) The biggest stumbling block to taking really good NB shots for me is just time :sadeyes:

[strongmanmike]

Ah yes Jen...I just gotta be careful that what I say is taken in the context and sarcastic ribbing Aussie humour it was intended...sometimes I stuff up there :doh:

[AlexN]

Being a massive fan of NB images.. I'm going to say...

AWESOME!

I really like it, good colours, as always, perfect focus and tracking.. Well executed indeed. As I understand it, SII requires much more exposure than Ha and OIII... Something to think about next time around..

I look forward to watching you progress in NB imaging..

Alex.

[strongmanmike]

Dang oh man! I liked the purple too :sadeyes:..so you think more mouve then? How about Lilac?...Oooooooh I just don't know darling (said in Jeannie Little voice)

I will most likely have another fiddle with it...but it all seems so subjective really..?

The seeing was crap, the guide star looked like a pom pom, so luckily it was in NB otherwise little detail would have been extractable, I'm just lucky I got that Starfire too:eyepop:

Now to repro or not to repro that is the question...

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Ah thanks for that Alex a man with an eye for quality piant mixing I say!..so! that's two people who like my image now - you...and my mum :D

Yeh no where near enough exposure, this was an after thought after finishing off another imaging project :whistle: ;)

[strongmanmike]

I only entered the allowable number ie 3 :shrug: but yes each received total votes in the high 30's (Cen A with 39) while the winning image got 41 so yeh I probably did myself a diservice but oh well never mind it isn't all about winning....?....:sadeyes:....... :bashcomp::eek::tasdevil::bashcomp: ...... :sad:

:)

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Tom...good to know you're a man who likes green :)

[AlexN]

is it another 20hr imaging project? ! :)

As I say I'm a massive fan of narrowband imaging, mostly because im colour blind, and I can't always balance colours in my images the way they are supposed to be.. To that end I've been getting all the gear together to start narrowband imaging so that I can balance the images to my liking without fear that they are "incorrect" :)

Narrowband is to imaging what nudists are to... clothed people... Feel the freedom baby... Feel it!

[strongmanmike]

Hmmm?...last I knew true NB only images unavoidably have magenta stars..? even Hubble shots in this kind of pallet have them? One must take a short RGB and layer it on top to get natural RGB coloured stars and I didn't do this for this image...I have done this though with the other data set waiting on my hard drive :whistle:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Love it when you do this Bert, it's great.

I wasn't sure if cloud had contaminated some of my subs (when I was asleep in the back of the car) and it wasn't really nebulosity in places but your image confirms it all, thanks mate :thumbsup:

Discusting unatural colours......arggglllll driiiibbbble Homer

[BerrieK]

Looks fantastic Mike, you guys are all so clever.

For poor seeing in the wind its a very pretty pic. INteresting colours.

Cheers, Kerrie

[tornado33]

Great shot. I like the subtle differences in colours across the nebula. Those low reflection filters seem to be doing their work. No sign of reflections around the bright stars. What sub length were you doing, as dont they say one needs to do longer subs for NB imaging.
Cheers
Scott

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Kerrie :thumbsup:

Not sure about the clever bit..? arsey, maybe..? :P

...and not one man was hurt in the making of this image

sorry, sorry :D :whistle:

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Scott

Yes the filters look good although time will tell better

I used 15min subs across the board, that's up from my usual 10min with LRGB. Might even push the envelope to 20min in the future..? :scared:

I went with the broader Astronomik 13nm filters rather than the 6nm to allow shorter subs and shorter exposures allround.

Mike

[BerrieK]

Good to hear Mike!! :lol: (cheeky)

[Octane]

Mike,

Congratulations on a beautiful result for a first time narrowbander.

I'm split down the middle when it comes to narrowband (probably because I can't do it as I'm a DSLR newb), but, am slowly leaning towards the I-like-it-side.

Looking forward to more.

I'm going to Honeysuckle Creek tomorrow and going to camp/image for a couple of nights. I hope the weather stays good for me. If I'm successful, I'll be processing my first image since November, 2007 (Alnitak region).

Cheers.

Regards,
Humayun

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Hum-V

Love to be coming to Honeysuckle Creek with you, it's very dark there, who knows, I predict I'll be back in Canberra in a few years..? Milky Way should be rising nicely after the moon sets at the moment.


Mike

[RB]

Doesn't even come close to Fred's "tie-dyed 70's t-shirt" version of M42, but I like it Mike. :lol:

http://fredsastro.googlepages.com/M42NBfinalsitecopy.jpg/M42NBfinalsitecopy-full;init:.jpg

[gregbradley]

Hi Mike,

Overall I like it. I perfer the approach where 30 minutes of RGB for stars to replace the inevitable purple stars from narrowband. But lots of nice detail there.

In my limited narrowband efforts I found as Jase pointed S11 is the weak link. So either take more S11 or push it hard in the curves when processing the red channel to bring it up. It probably is in there and just needs a hard push in curves.

Don Goldman and Ken Crawford are probably among the 2 best narrowbanders around. Don often uses RGB stars and about 30 minutes worth to make a pleasing image.

1x1 for Ha and 2x2 for O111 and S11 or bicolour which is Ha and O111 plus (Ha+O111)/2 and assigned to red. Star colours as less warped with bicolour.


Greg.

[Jen]

:lol::lol::lol:
that looks cool though :D
:thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

no, no stop it Jen :D (if you mean my NB M42), Ive changed my mind on that one, badly needs a repro, its awefull really :whistle:.

[Jen]

:eyepop: did you say aweful i dont think you could produce aweful could you :lol::lol:

Im so jealous i love your pics good stuff ;)
:D

[Bassnut]

Well thanks Jen, but I oft stuff up (just dont post them..........usually, and thanks for the reminder RB :whistle:), anyway, Mikes effort is worthy and with some, no, much more effort :thumbsup:, it just may pass muster :D.

[RB]

I really do like it though Fred.
I know I joke about it but it does appeal to me mate.

:thumbsup: