Orion in hydrogen alpha

[multiweb]

Here's an old hyperstar shot I've never processed ... until today. See what the rain makes you do? :P

I've been experimenting a lot lately with different techniques to separate stars from nebulosity so I can tweak the contrast and details on one or the other independently. Actually that's my excuse. It's mainly because of the weather...

For this one I got rid of all the stars with multiple passes of dust and scratches filter in PS. Then used a difference layer with the original to create a star mask and copied the stars from the original into another layer. Then I started playing with curves,levels, highpass filters with various masks and intensities then a bit of Topaz Lab micro-contrast. So there's a bit of everything in it. It's much better than the original anyway so I was pretty happy with the result and thought I'd post it, because there's always room for another M42 (http://www.multiweb.com.au/astro/HS3_M42_Ha.jpg)right? ;)

[desler]

Top quality work Marc, I really enjoyed the view, great structure details.

Darren

[astroron]

Nice work Marc, very eye catching:thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

Cloudy here too so guess what I've been doing

Good work Marc

[David Fitz-Henr]

Yes, very nice work Marc! So you enhance the stars and nebulosity as separate layers and recombine them? Have you tried this for standard RGB images as well?

[jjjnettie]

Ooooh Aaaaah!!
Nice.

[Peter Ward]

Nice. The core looks a little artificial, but I really like the (hard to capture well) flowing strands. Great work :thumbsup:

[batema]

The strands look amazing. I am always amazed that no matter how many times you look at an image you always see new stuff in the picture. Beautiful image.

Mark

[MrB]

Agreed, the strands are awesome.
Can't wait for the colour data to be added.

[gregbradley]

A very beautiful and nicely processed image.

Greg.

[richardo]

Very nicely done Marc!
Maybe imaged to death but it's still great to see it in all the different fov's.
Especially when the outer dust tendrils are brought out as nicely as this.

Gotta love the wet weather (well.... live with at least :shrug:) for simply making one sit down and try new techniques... gets you prepared for that one recalcitrant object that needs that little extra touch.

Cheers
Rich

[Octane]

Like an oil painting.

You're really churning them out, Marc.

Excellent effort.

H

[allan gould]

That's really beautiful Mark. Nicely processed and framed. It takes talent to take something that everyone has seen before and give it a new aspect. Really, really nice.
Allan

[[1ponders]]

Nicely done Marc. Quite surreal

[Hagar]

Very nice Marc, The hyperstar is definitly delivering the goods. Lovely detail in the faint swirls and would look great with some colour added but I guess that will have to wait now.

[multiweb]

Thanks Darren. :thumbsup: Came out detailed enough yeah. Original data was fun to play with.


Thanks Ron - glad you liked it. :thumbsup:


Thanks Trev. :thumbsup: Yeah same here. Although we had a couple of clear nights in Sydney but it's touch and go and I've been lazy setting up. Not game either to get out in between rainfall.


Thanks David. :thumbsup: Yes. Remember I've been playing with the 3D Stereo thing from astro-anarchy and there is a technique to remove the stars in there. So I used some of his work flow and techniques to make an accurate star mask so I can focus on processing the nebula detail and contrast, then drop the stars back in as 'lighten' mode. I can definitely see that working for RGB although it would be best to do it per channel. I tried to process some old Ha data on NGC2264 that I never managed to salvage and it worked really well. I'll post it in processing tips with a before and after shot.


Thanks nettie. :thumbsup:


Thanks Peter. :thumbsup: Yes the core is dodgy. Was burnt to start with. I have a bit of dilemna. With the hyperstar I'll cook the trap, the keyhole or even the tarantula cores at 30s. Problem is that my camera read noise is too great for this exposure time or any shorter. So I'm thinking next time to do a separate shot at F/10 at prime focus, let's say 1-2min then scale it, register and blend it back in. As a result I should be able to capture some details in the center as the whole dynamic range has gone out of the window on this one. It's white, bright and whiter in there... :lol:


Thanks Mark. :thumbsup: Yes the outside turned out very well. I used a highpass layer at 60px blended back in at 40% to enhance the big arches then another pass at 5.5px blended in at 50% for all the small details.


Thanks Simon. Colour? :confuse3:I actually have color data on this one from the hyperstar so I might try a Ha blend. Good idea. :thumbsup:


Thanks for the kind comments Greg. Much appreciated.


Thanks Rich. Glad you liked it. :thumbsup: Yes not much more to do at the moment than repros. Gotta be quick with M42 though. I have it from good sources that it's been imaged so much it's running out of photons. Get in there while you can. :)


Thanks H. Repros on old stuff trying new things. Glad you liked it though. :thumbsup:


Thanks a lot Allan. Glad you liked the repro. :thumbsup:



Thanks Paul. :thumbsup:


Thanks Doug. :thumbsup: Yes, love my hyperstar. It turned the C11 in a viable widefield rig. Don't get me wrong, I'll still go at F/10 when I get my AO unit and the thing is collimated 200% but this is so quick and so much fun.

[Bassnut]

WOW, top work there Marc, deep indeed. Nice to see you found the Astroanarchy site usefull. His pics with average gear show how powerfull his processing method is.

[multiweb]

Thanks Fred. :thumbsup: And thanks for posting the link to his processing methods (http://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2009/11/power-of-tone-mapping.html).

[JD2439975]

WOW Marc the detail in those filaments is pretty special, very nice.

Another link to processing technique...Aww my heads going to explode. :lol:

[multiweb]

Thanks mate. I'll put something together with the various steps so you can try on your pics. :thumbsup:

[RobF]

Wonderful work Marc. J-P sure knows his stuff, and if some of it has rubbed off that's explain this masterpiece. I love the contrast and the smoothness and the way it all works together. You need more wet weather if that's what comes of it!

[bluescope]

Well done Marc ... nice fov and loads of details.

[adman]

Marc - that is nothing short of spectacular! The level of detail gives it that great 3 dimensional look. I think one comment above was 'surreal' which says it nicely. You are the salvador dali of the astro world...!

Cheers
Adam

[multiweb]

Thanks guys. :thumbsup: Yes J-P is a legend. Very cluey bloke. I've uploaded a basic procedure here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=602136&postcount=7) so you can have a look at the various steps involved.

[multiweb]

:lol: Thanks Adam. I remember Salvator Dali vividly. There was a commercial for selling chocolate in France with him, long long time ago, late 60s. I must have been 4 or 5 years old and he used to have those wicked moustaches on saying "J'adore le chocolat lanvin!". ( I love lanvin chocolat!).

[Jeffkop]

Gee Marc .. just came across this one now ... this is a really impressive image. So much detail. Got to be up there amongst the best mono images of M42 Ive seen, boy for that matter up there amongst any mono image Ive seen.

Exceptional result that your no doubt very happy with and proud of.

[multiweb]

Far from the best but some nice details came through. Reasonably happy with it. In restrospect knowing what I know now I would have got way more data on this one at the time to get all the ousite neb in the field. It's only 20min in 2min subs. Thanks for the heads up. :thumbsup: