A Sidonio or a Davies? NGC 300 revisited

[marc4darkskies]

This is not so much a Sidonio of my NGC 300 image but a Davies (ie additional processing steps because you just can't stop tinkering OR you're tryng some new processing techniques) :D.

I tried Ken Crawford's Multi Strength Decon Layer Blending technique to a L+Ls layer (set as Lum in PS) (see http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Presentations.html). I also added a sprinkling of shadows/highlights and a pinch of selective sharpening and high pass filtering near the nucleus. You can be the judge whether it's an improvement - see before (below left) and after (right).

Small full frame:
http://upload.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/119360007/large

Large full frame:
http://upload.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/119360007/original

Cheers, Marcus

[Octane]

Marcus,

That is absolutely superb. I still maintain it's what I'd see in a dream -- only much more vivid now.

Fantastic work!

Regards,
Humayun

[h0ughy]

wonderful "Davies" rendition there. A "sidonio" is so old hat nowdays.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Humayun! Yep, Ken Crawford's technique looks like a nice addition to the toolbox. It's pretty labour intensive but the reward is there if you put in the effort.



Thanks David and yes I agree, but I think the phrase "doing a sidonio" will stick. :) Hmmmmm, maybe it's better not to have my name associated with OCD behaviour anyway :lol:

[Paul Haese]

Looks pretty good Marcus. Just remember OCD behaviour helped development of imaging.;) Don't knock it too much.

[strongmanmike]

Grasshopper Marcus, your Sidonio technique is coming along nicely :thumbsup:

Is it an improvement..?...overall, probably but only subtly. The first has a nice glow about the core though that gives the galaxy a solid feel, the second shows a little more detail in the inner core but looks flatter. The first looks to show some more detail in places half way out the arms :confuse3:

Look out, acting like me can drive you mad ;) :P...at least you have a laptop :sadeyes:

Mike

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks. A real but subtle improvement is well worth spending hours of processing time on for us OCD types!! :D:screwy: Anyway, it was important to avoid the risk of it appearing overcooked so I kept the opacity slider under control in my new layers! I really just wanted the nucleus to pop into focus a bit more and make the faint stars in the arms a bit more crisp.



You're right but that's what I was after. I thought my first version exaggerated the brightness of nucleus a bit too much. Could be I need to put a little of that glow back though :confuse3:

[Tom Davis]

What every you call it, it is a winner!

Tom

[multiweb]

The repro's a beauty Marcus :thumbsup: The colors and details extracted are much better. The image brightness is better balanced too. Nice shot.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Marc, it's the first time I've used different strength deconvolution layers (blended selectively) - it looks quite powerful if applied carefully.



Thanks a lot Tom - glad you liked it!

Cheers, Marcus