The Belt and Sword of Orion in Orion

[Octane]

All,

Another image from JohnG's place out at Cootamundra.

Argh, I sincerely apologise for the horrible composition. I strictly stick to a 3:2 ratio for framing and printing purposes. Therefore, I've had to lop 165 pixels from the width in total. As a result, the crop seems to be a lot tighter than I had wished for. And, furthermore, the horse and flame are too far near the bottom of the frame.

Note, however, the star colours. What an incredibly beautiful part of the sky.

Somewhere along the way, I've messed one of my masks and have a bit of star bloat on some of the brighter stars apart from the ones in the belt. Now that I've saved for web, I notice a slight green cast to the image, unless that's dust? Not a problem, though, I can sort both issues out when I open the half-gig *.PSD again. My poor notebook.

This is another one I will re-do as it culminates.

Read and view here (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Cootamundra/Cootamundra_20091024_Sword_Belt_Ori on.html).

Comments, critique, etc., welcome.

Regards,
Humayun

[Nightskystargaz]

Humayun,

:thanx:, for the nice pic. :). Keep them coming.

:thanx:,

Tom

[kinetic]

That's just beautiful Humayun!

There is just SOOO much in that image.
Nice work.:thumbsup:

Steve

[iceman]

Beautiful image, H. The star colours are magic!

[spearo]

well done H
reveals nice dust clouds
well done
I see what you mean by framing, Flame could be a tad higher off the bottom
great image nonetheless

interesting diff spikes too
probably from the filters ?
frank

[gbeal]

Lovely Mr H, just lovely.
Gary

[multiweb]

Very nice shot H. Colours and details are great and I really like the soft processing. :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

nice work - seem to have seen something like that before ;)

[lacad01]

Certainly a beautiful part of the sky. These wide fields are fantastic. :thumbsup:

[RB]

Lovely shot H.

Maybe a tad more contrast would lift the detail a bit but it's personal taste.
The star colours are great.

:thumbsup:

[tlgerdes]

I am in Luuuurrrrvvvvv with that shot. Fantastic star colours. Framing is something I think we can all improve on. Remember this is only the beginning of the Orion season, so you have another 4 months or so to try the framing again if needed.

[renormalised]

Great shot, H!!!. I think it's a great composition and it'd look great as a poster:D:D

[strongmanmike]

There have been a few of these FOV's posted lately and so far...this is the best IMO :thumbsup:

Nice work mate

Mike

[mill]

This is an very nicely done image with lots to show, i like all the dust clouds surrounding the nebulae.
About the framing: If you yourself like the framing then it is framed well enough :thumbsup: It is all personal preference anyway, the horsey could have been a little bit more up but who am i to say something like that ;), it all depends on what you want in your image.

[bokglob]

stunning image H! Beautifully colourful:thanx:

[seeker372011]

very pretty image

[zipdrive]

nice work! gotta love the L series.

[gregbradley]

Magnificent image Humayun.

You really have mastered the art of the DSLR.

By the way how do you rate the modded 40D over other earlier Canon models? I have an unmodded 40D I use for terrestial photography and really like it.

Greg.

[javier alves]

wow men, is very very nice.is a great capture.
regards.:thumbsup:

[StarGazing]

Beautiful stuff Humayun, the sky looks alive. Keep up the great work mate. Any more photos you have taken ??????.

Alex :thumbsup:

[Hagar]

Lovely image H, Agree with you on your framing, but S happens.
It certainly shows up the enormity of the dust in this region.

Great stuff.

[Octane]

Thomas,

Thanks, mate. More to come as time allows.



Steve,

Cheers! Seeing the widefield has given me a couple of potential future targets through the 127 triplet.



Mike,

Thanks. :thumbsup:



Frank,

Thanks, mate.

There were no filters used here. The diffraction spikes are caused by the lens diaphragm. If I had left it wide open at f/2.8, then, there would have been none, or very minimal flaring. It's always a wise choice to stop the lens down a bit to assist with flattening the field and avoiding chromatic aberration. I am really quite pedantic about closing down by complete stops. So, whilst f/3.2, f/3.5 would have been fine, I went the whole stop to f/4. Hence the 8 spikes.



Gary,

Glad you liked it. :)



Marc,

I'm glad you picked up on the soft processing. It's a carry-over from my landscape work where I strive to achieve a painterly feel. Gone are my days of worrying about the scientific authenticity behind an image. If it looks good, it's good. I'll leave the scientific work to the CCD wielders.



David,

Your image from IISAC was an impetus and inspiration. I have always wanted to do this but just never had the right equipment or chance to do it. I am going to go back and revisit it with correct framing. Thank you. :)



Adam,

Cheers!



Andrew,

Adding contrast seems to be a recurrent theme with my work. You're right, though, it's personal taste. I prefer a softer look. Whilst a slight S-curve would lift the detail, I'm afraid it might also wash out fainter parts to the image. Then again, there's nothing a mask can't fix. The next time I attempt this, I'll add a bit of contrast. ;)

Cheers, matey, for the constructive criticism. :)



Trevor,

I'm pleased you liked the image! You're right, I've got another 3-4 months to tackle this monster. :)



Carl,

Cheers! I'll reserve the print for the re-do of this region. :)



Michael,

Thank you. :D :D :D



Martin,

Cheers!

Over the 3 hours that I was imaging this region, something had shfited or moved, very early on, and, as a result, the framing's shifted as well. The very first test image I took of the region was perfectly framed. I must have bumped something. I don't know. In any event, PHD did its job and re-acquired a guidestar to continue with.



Darrell,

Thank you, sir. Glad you enjoyed it.



Narayan,

Cheers! :thumbsup:



zipdrive,

Thanks.

L-series glass is a godsend. :)



Greg,

Thank you. Pleased you enjoyed it. Watch this space -- I will redo it whenever I get the chance.

I really, really like the 40D. There is a marked improvement over the 3xxD/4xxD models. I'm not sure how it rates against a 20Da, though.

The ultimate would be to pick up another 5D Mark II and get it modified. It's something I'm seriously considering. Roger Clark's tests show that ISO-1600 is the very minimum one should be using for imaging with the 5D Mark II. I salivate at the thought. Despite that, I probably wouldn't go past ISO-800, and, even stick with ISO-400 as I do now.

My modified 40D is my backup/second camera for weddings. Of course, I don't show anyone the images on the LCD to any of my clients/guests as the images have that horrible pink cast to them all. ;)



Javier,

Thanks, mate!



Alex,

Appreciate you looking and commenting.

Do a search of the Deep Space forum to see which threads I've started in here, and, you'll find my images. :)



Doug,

Yeah, it's a real pity about the framing. But, that's OK -- as mentioned, I'm going to re-do it all. :)



Thanks everyone for looking and commenting. Glad you enjoyed the image.

Regards,
Humayun

[DavidU]

Fantastic H. Superb shot.:thumbsup:

[MrB]

Very nice H! Sure is a lot of dust out there.
Can't see a green cast on my lappie.
(unless you've updated already)

[Jen]

:eyepop: wow H beautiful pic :thumbsup::thumbsup:
My two favourites in the one pic i dont see that very often nice job :thumbsup:
Keep em coming :D
PS hope you dont mind thats my new desktop pic :thanx:

[Inmykombi]

Good work again H.
Colours are beautiful. Nebula / dust and / or gas appears everywhere....WOW.

Geoffro.

[Rick Petrie]

Another great production H.
Top shelf.:thumbsup:
Cheers

[Geoff45]

Great pic that show more patience that I would ever have. I really like the horsey, but I think you could have held back a bit on M42. It looks a bit too saturated.
Geoff

[Octane]

David,

Thank you. :)



Simon,

Cheers, mate. I haven't updated the image, yet. There is a very slight green cast to it. It's only really noticeable if you look for it, I think.



Jen,

Cheers! Glad you like it. Feel free to use it as a desktop. :)



Geoff,

There is so much in that small section of the sky. I'd love to do this again and add many, many more hours to it. One day, I'd really like to do a mosaic which encompasses all of Orion and Taurus.



Rick,

Thanks. :)



Geoff,

I agree with you on M42. It's a bit overblown. Next time. :)



Thank you everyone, once again.

Regards,
Humayun

[Tom Davis]

Sorry I'm a little late on this one ...Wonderful shot!! I love the FOV!

Tom

[Ric]

Just caught up with this one Humayun.

I am so glad I did it's a cracker. :eyepop:

Top imaging mate. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Lester]

Outstanding image Humayan, thanks for the Deep view of this famous area.

All the best.

[jase]

Top work Humayun. Perhaps its time for the mosaic to pick up barnards loop etc? Well done.

[Octane]

Hi Tom,

No need to apologise -- there are some who never comment on my images. ;)

Thanks for checking it out and for the kind words. :)



Ric,

Cheers, matey! Where's your piccies? You haven't posted any for a while!



Lester,

Whilst I'm not completely thrilled with it, it has turned out nicely. I wish to redo it and frame it correctly. :)



Jase,

Thanks, so much! Unfortunately, mosaicing is something I don't have the means of doing. It is something best left for those with permanent setups. Going to a dark site and managing to frame the next panel correctly, time and again, is not something for the faint of heart. I fear I won't ever have my own place or a permanent setup, so, I will manage what I can with the modest gear that I am lucky enough to have. :)



Thanks, again, peoples.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Also, Chris alerted me that this made Image of the Week!

That's got to be like a week-long APOD, right? :rofl:

I'm thrilled! Thanks, Mike.

Regards,
Humayun

[multiweb]

Kudos to you H! Well deserved IOTW. :thumbsup: Keep'em coming. :)

[alan meehan]

Well done Humayan a fine shot and lovely processing,thanks for the look
Alan

[alexch]

Excellent work, Humayun and congratulations with IOTW! Keep them coming.

Alex

[PeterM]

Like it, like it a lot. My new desktop background if that's ok with you Humayun.
PeterM.

[Rhino1980]

Very nice H.

[Benny L]

Nice image mate!:eyepop:

if i'm not mistaken the diffraction spikes are from the light bouncing off the aperture blades ;)