IC434/B33 From Barambah.

[AlexN]

Heres my horse head from barambah dark sky camp...

This one is 14x300sec OSC with the addition of 18x1200sec Ha..

Image processed as Ha (Ha+R)GB, I used Rob Gendlers guide to HaRGB processing on this one.. it definitely helped keep the colours more natural.. Still a work in progress I think, but its definitely looking better! :)

Its pretty heavily cropped, as the Ha image and RGB images were taken a few weeks apart, and from different locatons, so the camera was in a different orientation, and the framing was also a little different... Something to work on in the future I think...

Cheers for looking.

[RobF]

Nice Alex! The halos around the brighter stars seem a bit too blue/green, but I've only ever seen the "son of horsehead" off to the right of the frame in one of Peter Wards shots. You've definitely done a great job of incorporating the nebulosity behind the horse from the Ha data. :thumbsup:

[AlexN]

Thanks Rob,
Those halo's are actually off the Orion StarShoots internal UV/IR filter.. Its only in the green/blue channels of the OSC data, not visible in the red channel or the Ha image.. there is little I can do about them unfortunately.. Im sure there is a way to process them out, however thats beyond my skill at the moment..

Thanks for the comments mate..
Alex.

[jjjnettie]

Oooh Aaaah
Nice work Alex.
Can you post just your HA one too?

[AlexN]

Thanks JJJ...

Ha data only.

[jjjnettie]

That's the one. Colour's nice but detail is better. I don't mind mono images at all.

[jase]

oorrrr, looks like the HaRGB blend may have got the better of you this time Alex. Tricky stuff to get right at the best of times. To quote Yoda, Do or do not, there is no try. Keep at it, you'll nail it I feel sure.

[Kirkus]

I love this object! Very nice Alex.

[h0ughy]

looks good to me - nice and deep

[Buddman]

Very nice Alex, I prefer the halo compared to my attempts where the star just blows out and swamps the picture.

Adam

[toryglen-boy]

some good work there Alex, you must be well pleased

:)

[atalas]

Very nice Alex!

[AlexN]

JJJ - Me too mate.. I love the mono shot... I do also see a lot of value in colour images being boosted by good NB data.. I just need to figure out how to get it just right... I'll try a few different methods of combining the data over the next few days.

Jase - Mind tellin me where you think I've gone wrong... I know it needs more data, and I will be working on that this weekend hopefully... If its a colour based issue, Im fairly colour blind, and generally trust my eyes more than I should... Please point out any areas you think I could improve, as that is my goal! I know this data has great potential, I just need to learn how to best utilise 8hrs of data...

Kirk - This is in my top 5 favorite areas of the sky... This, M42/Running Man, Sagitarius, Antares/Rho Orphiccus and everything that revolves around the SCP...

Adam - Thanks mate.. Im actually very happy to have tamed the halo's down as much as I have. such that you can still see Alnitak as a double.
You'll figure out a way to tame that star, its all in the curves... dont push the high range too much to keep the stellar profiles to a minimum whilst bringing out the feint stuff with a reverse s shaped curve.. Next time we catch up I'll give u a quick rundown on how I go about it... It might not be the best way to do it, but it works for me! :)

Duncan - Cheers mate, you're quite right.. Im very pleased with the result.

Louie - Thanks, I was recently flicking through your gallery and spotted your shot of the area... Made me want to give it a good go! :)

Alex.

[sjastro]

Looks good Alex.

Steven

[multiweb]

Not to keen on the Ha blend colors but you got real nice details on the neb in the Ha shot. :thumbsup: Try to clone the color layer as a color blend on top of your Ha lum and decrease the Ha lum opacity. That always boost contrast and saturation for me so you don't get pastel salmon colors in the reds and the colors go deeper.

[AlexN]

Thanks Steven,

Marc, the colour blend I've posted is Ha Ha+R G B.

The Ha lum is at 30% opacity, the Ha+R is a 30/70 blend of Ha and R.. The salmonish pinky hue is supposed to be taken care of by that (according to Robert Gendler anyway..) My eyes can't see it, so I just trusted the settings he mentioned in his "How To"

Maybe if I went Ha+R at 50/50 it would help more... I'll have a play around tonight and see how it goes..

Cheers.

[multiweb]

Sorry - I forgot about your color thing. Must be hard to judge - just ignore my rambling. :lol: ;)

[AlexN]

:) not to worry mate.. like I said, I'll try it with more Ha in the red channel, and less Ha in the red channel and post them both.. someone can tell me if its headed in the right direction...

[jase]

Alex,
Whats your layer blend mode? You'll get considerably different results between normal and lighten modes. If you want to get a little more daring, push the Ha layer up a notch with curves. Don't over do it however. If you're having problems getting your reds a deep red, the selective colour tool can work wonders.

Cheers

[AlexN]

The Ha layer is set to Luminance blend mode, the RGB image layer is set to colour blend mode.

I was thinking of setting the Ha to screen blend mode, but that seems a little too aggressive... I could give the Ha a bit of a push in curves..

The selective colour tool would probably work wonders, however I wouldnt know what colour to set it as.. Tricky eyes.. I'll get to work on it tomorrow some time, see what I can come up with... This is exactly why im leaning towards a mono camera and SII Ha OIII filters.. :D hahah

[jase]

Screen blend is too aggressive, but you can dial it down using the opacity controls as you've mentioned previously. This is a trial and error process.

Have you tried working with a colour card as a reference? You might be surprised at the results.

[AlexN]

I dont have a colour card... might be worth investigating..

[Tamtarn]

Lookin' good Alex !!

Will look forward to seeing the finished project as you say it's a work in progress. Coming along really nicely at this stage :thumbsup: D & B