Lagoon at Astrofest 09

[batema]

Hi,

I tried to take a series of 3, 5 and 8 min exposures and then blend them using masking and that was a disaster. I have just done the 8 x 5 min lights and 6 darks with flats and bias frames applied.

Taken with W/O Flt 110 and Canon 400d unmod ISO 800 and stacked in DSS and processed in Photoshop cs3. I am unsure about processing of it so any advice welcome. I think it looks OK. I am happy with the focus and guiding. Any advice welcome.

Mark

[multiweb]

That's looking good Mark. Some very nice details there and good processing. The core is always hard to get when you display the outer neb but you did a great job. :thumbsup: Provided the data is not burnt you can always finish off with the shadows/highlight tools in PS. I use that a lot.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Hello Mark,
Looks good - you've done a good job at capturing a lot of the extended nebulosity. I'm just a novice at processing, so I'll leave others to offer advice. I've also just posted a shot of the Lagoon in another thread, so it's interesting to compare. Mine needs more colour saturation - did you do any colour enhancement processing with yours ?

[AlexN]

I agree.. a great image to be sure!

I also use shadows and highlights in PS a lot with astro images.. especially targets where dynamic range is high..

Even with the core being a little too bright, this image is very pleasing to the eye.. well done.

[jjjnettie]

Very nice work Mark.

[Octane]

Mark,

Wow! That's got to be your best effort, yet.

I love the soft stars that you have. A suggestion I'd make is to increase the blue towards the centre of the nebula, and, perhaps a slight saturation boost to the magenta of the nebula proper.

Otherwise, that looks fantastic. :)

Regards,
Humayun