Horsehead revisited

[telemarker]

After a previous horsehead to test the camera, it was time to have a serious go. Same target but more traditional framing. I had ordered a Ha filter but due to delays it was a bit longer arriving than anticipated, as a result a lot of colour subs were accumulated.

Anyways, here tis.
Scope - ED100 at F9
Camera - Orion Deep Space Imager
20 minute subs with a total of 15.3 hr RGB and 9 hr Ha

This is the first attempt at Ha-red blends. Not particularly happy with it and it'll be Sidonio'd pretty soon.

Regards
Keith

[AlexN]

Kieth, Looks good to me, colour may be a touch too red... Im colourblind, so I guess I'd take that with a grain of salt if I were you! :) Getting the colours right in a Ha RGB blend is the hardest thing to do... It rarely goes well the first time around, and even after a few attempts on some targets I just gave up trying.

You're off to a good start with that.. Keep at it, and be sure to post up the sidonio!!

[telemarker]

Thanks Alex, it may be too red, I processed it on the lappy and only seen it on that and the itouch. You are totally right about being hard to process! It tends to come up salmon pink and I hate salmon pink. :P Tried following a tutorial about Ha blending but some more reading is on the cards before a repro.

Regards
Keith

[TrevorW]

Not bad at all Keith

[En1gma]

A little red, But I really like the shot overall.

Rob

[Jeffkop]

Loads of data in their to play with Keith ... This image is great ... the result of revamping aka "a Sidonio" will only make it better. I dont know how much HA data you've got, (there doesnt appear to be a lot of noise in the image) any amount of luminance data added to heaps of colour data will only help.

[AlexN]

Kieth, Robert Gendlers guide to HaRGB imaging of nebulae is fantastic and it very quickly sorted out my salmon pink problems! I would strongly recommend having a look at that...

Using the Ha data as the red channel, or blended with the red channel usually works too... If you use Ha as a lum across the entire image you will almost always get the salmon pink result, this is because the black and white Ha Lum simply brightens the red channel... We all know what happens to red paint when you mix some white in to lighten it up do we not? :)

Keep at it mate, with the amount of data you've captured I will bet my backside that you can produce a real ripper image! all the other variables (guiding, focus, composure, calibration etc) all look spot on... This game is going to come down to the processing!

[telemarker]

Thanks Trevor, hopefully it'll improve with more educated processing :P



Thanks Rob, I'll quit using the laptop for colour balance. Thanks for your input.



Thanks Jeff, I have 9 hours of Ha data but the blending is the tough part. Currently still reading up between chrismassy things, once time's available it'll be time to get stuck in.

Regards
Keith

[telemarker]

Thanks for the link. I was attempting similar blending using methodology outlined in the Starizona web tutorials. Rob Gendler's methodology is similar but relies more on experience and experimentation than hard and fast numbers. Also, using my laptop for colour work isn't such a good idea - it tends to play down the actual red in the image. OK for sticking to the histograms but....

Time to kick the kids off the desktop (shouldn't buy them games for Xmas :rolleyes: ) and have a real go.

[AlexN]

hahah!! Yea mate I'm the same here... I always do an initial stack and stretch on the laptop just to have a look see... In the end I always re-stack and start from scratch on the desktop... the colour and contrast on my notebook are very average.. Too many nights spent in the cold and dew I think..

[telemarker]

A repro that I'm happier with, preserving more of the detail while using less manipulation of the colours. Ha-Red blend replaces the red channel but no luminance channel was added as it tended to drastically increase noise in the dim areas.

And who has the last laugh?

[Nightskystargaz]

Keith,

:thumbsup:, on your very beautiful Pic. :D

:thanx:,

Tom

[AlexN]

Brilliant Kieth.. Alnitak looks FAR more natural now too...

Ha is tricky to work with at times, but isn't it worth it! tight stars, great contrasty detail, 0 issues with the moon...

Great work Kieth, Good to see that Orion is keeping you happy mate!

[telemarker]

Thank you for the compliment Tom. I don't think it's finished yet but improving it is beyond my skills ATM.

Regards
Keith



Thanks Alex, it's better than it was, but I really need to get a handle on blending and masking to improve it or maybe I'll just get a mono camera :P:lol:

regards
Keith

[Lester]

Beautiful image Keith. I never tire of viewing different images of this region, to see what each can reveal.

All the best.

[Jeff]

Poster material Keith. Beautiful!

[strongmanmike]

Hey Keith, the ...errr?..Sidonio'd (:rolleyes:) version is infinitely better and is a fine image. All the nay sayers (mostly silent) that used to (and still do :lol:) cringe when we post a repro can eat our shorts :thumbsup:.

I like the blue bias too but tweeking the registration of the various frames could help a tad and also a slap of minimum filter on the stars in the blue frame could help too.

The grinning horse is spectacular too, how long was that exposure?

A Horsehead walks into a bar, barman says..."why the long exposure?"

:scared3:

Mike

[telemarker]

Thanks Lester, it really is an iconic region, with each rendition having subtle differences in their interpretation.

Regards
Keith



Thanks Jeff, bit more tweeking first.

Regards
Keith



Thanks for the tips Mike, I'll give them a try.:thumbsup:
The horse is from my brother-in-laws farm, he reacted like this every time astrophotography was mentioned......:P

Regards
Keith

[multiweb]

Very sharp with loads of details captured in that shot. Nice work. :thumbsup:

[spearo]

very nice repro!
frank

[telemarker]

Thanks Marc, lots of Ha always helps with the detail.

Regards
Keith



Thanks for the kind words Frank. :D

Regards
Keith