Antares dust cloud from Astrofest: updated with a new WO image.

[[1ponders]]

I wanted to try something different this year, so I thought I'd dig up some old info and reprocess it as well as collecting some complementing info.

What I thought I'd do was a series of shots of the Antares/Rho Oph complex through various focal lengths, just for the hell of it. I already had a 135mm shot but I wanted to reshoot it (damn Jupiter was close and bright that year) I already had an 85mm that I wanted to reprocess. To add to these I wanted one through the ED80/WO FR (FL 560 @ f/5.6) and my WO72 FD/WO FR (FL 344 @ f/4.8).

I've still got away to go with the processing but here's the first off the block. Not quite there yet I think, needs something to lift it, but I'm generally happy with it.

Details:
ED80/WO FR 0.8
Modded Canon 20D
11 shots @ ISO800 @ 480 sec each.
ICNR
Average combine in Images Plus
Post processing in PS CS3
Slightly cropped (no flats....my bad :ashamed: )

Due to the narrow FOV there is very little of the dark dust lanes visible but I'm happy with the way the texture of the Antares Dust Cloud came through.

More to come later on in the week.

[renormalised]

Nice shot, Paul. Lots of detail in the cloud:D

[AlexN]

Nice wispy details through the antares cloud... the dusty areas you've captured look great too.. very little colour noise involved...

All in all, it looks like the beginnings of what will be an awesome final image!!

I look forward to seeing some updates! :)

[Octane]

Paul,

There's some great fine detail in the shroud there, well done.

Looking forward to the finished result.

I also remember the year Jupiter was very close by. How annoying, it left all sorts of nasty internal reflections at 180mm.

Regards,
Humayun

[Lester]

Hi Paul,

you have revealed the faint nebula in this region very nicely.

[jjjnettie]

You've done well Paul.
Waiting patiently for the next installment.

[atalas]

Another nice shot Paul.

[TheDecepticon]

Very nice. It's one on my list, too. Waiting for the repro to come.:thumbsup:

[troypiggo]

Excellent - saw it on your screen up at Astrofest. Looks great here on big monitor.

[gregbradley]

Very nice indeed.

You may have pulled the curves a tad hard or need to slide the black point of levels to the right to the bottom of the bell curve of the histogram.

Try shadows/highlights with the top slider set to 5 and then adjust the highlights to pull back the brightness a tad.

Perhaps this is what you seek!

Greg.

[[1ponders]]

Thanks for the feedback folks.

Greg; one of the problems I was having with this was not darkening the lower dust clouds too much using levels. I readjusted the dark point, but it seemed to flatten the antares dust cloud too much. I retried using the shadow/highlights, at 5% shadow it looked ok, a bit flat, but I left the highlights as any adjustment made it look worse.

Part of the issue is most likely the difference in calibration of my laptop monitor. Yes I process on a laptop and not on a decent monitor. My bad. :)

The order of images is New Levels, Shadow/highlights and original. The Histos show the original on the left and the new stretch on the right for the preceding photo.

Thanks for the input. I'll keep practicing.

[AlexN]

I think that final image with a slight boost to the saturation in the yellows and reds might see you happy Paul?

To be brutally honest.. All three of them are about 100 times better than my best attempt at this region of sky so far...

[[1ponders]]

What I'd really like to be able to do is take some of the red out of the background (modded camera ) without affecting the dust areas. Area selection isn't one of my strong processing points. :P

[AlexN]

Paul..

Maybe try Image - Adjustments - Colour balance, click shadows and lower the red slider a bit.. that will only remove the darkest reds... the background red should be darker than the dusty reds... experiment between midtones and shadows... You'll find a way to do it mate! keep at it.. and if all else fails, more data!! :)

[[1ponders]]

I gave your Colour Balance idea a go Alex and it seems to have had the desired affect. I needed to redo a bit of curves after but I'm definitely happier with the background colour now. :thumbsup: Unfortunately the CB did have the effect of a strong clip on the white point end. Might have to work on that a bit. Maybe I'll look into a bit of masking or I could have used the fade option.

The Histo shows before, CB then Curves

[AlexN]

looks great!

[[1ponders]]

I've had a bit more of a play with curves and levels, but i think now it's starting to look a bit to artificial for my tastes.

[jjjnettie]

Yeah, looking a bit icky Paul.
undo undo undo

[DavidU]

Super shot Paul. I actually like your 1st image,nicer background.
Attend to the reds and all will be good. More data would be super. All with an ED80 !

[[1ponders]]

Ok I've taken a different approach on this one for the processing. I think I like it better....but then maybe not. Maybe a combination of the two....if i could remember what I did. Time to turn on the log option in PS me thinks.

WO 72 FD with WO III 0.8 FR and Flattener. There is rotation at the corners, probably from guiding outside the image area. Similar images of another object doesn't show the elongated stars. Something to work on when I have a FR of my own. (Thanks Troy for the lend :thumbsup: )

Details:
Canon 20D (modded)
10 shots @ ISO 800 @ 360 sec
ICNR
No Flats so slightly cropped (one side only :screwy: )
Aligned and Average combined in IP
Post processed in PS CS3. Basic levels, Curves, and contrast enhancement actions.

[jjjnettie]

It's looking very green this time Paul.
I'd leave it sit for a day or so then come back for another crack at it.

[h0ughy]

:rofl: knew he had a green thumb.......:help:

actually he needs to trim the left side a little:whistle:

very nice work Paul:thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

Your right, but I didn't want to chop anymore off. Flats flats flats are the answer.

[RB]

Paul I kind of like the original the best.
It's hard to get a nice balance in this area I find.

Very nice detail in there.

:thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

This one Andrew?

[[1ponders]]

How about a blend of the two to keep everyone happy. I've even cropped h0ughys edge for him. :lol::P

[RB]

hmmm, this one still looks a touch green to me Paul. :shrug:

When I get a chance later I'll have a look at it in PS. :thumbsup: