M42 My Very second narrow field attempt.

[mswhin63]

Hi Everyone,


I didn't expect to even consider narrowfield deep space but here it is. There is a lot I have to explain so I will list it;
Dobsonian 12" 1500mm - Lots of Coma distortion and as I didn't expect to deep sky narrow-field haven't bought a Coma corrector.
Happy Snaps - 45 x 10 second snaps ISO 1600 20 x darks and 20 x library Offsets. Any lower ISO or longer shots, my mount wouldn't have handled it. I am happy with noise levels though.
EQ platform, No guiding at all, each snap was hopeful tracking. Mount is out of balance a bit, was design as a prototype needs more refinement for better tracking.
65 Shots taken - 35 used in final stack better than 50%
Unmodded Rebel XSi / 450D
Used APT to take snaps as well.
Electric focuser came today so had to manual focus last night.:juggle:
Colours - don't go there, wouldn't have a clue :D
DSS stack nothing else.
Apart from that overall I am happy :D with my 2nd attempt, although my first attempt was a single shot shot using the camera shutter, wobbled everywhere.

I am not really after any serious comments on composition but are welcome, I don't think I could handle it at the moment. I expect before I serious commit to low cost DS AP I will get a guide/widefield scope attached to the DOB.

Enjoy

[Sylvain]

Wow nice one Malcom!
I like it!
It must have been a bit of an exercice, but I reckon you nailed it!

Well done mate!

[niko]

what an excellent image - lots of nebulosity detail and the trapezium looks terrific

well done Malcolm

[mswhin63]

Thanks for the positive comments, I really couldn't let this one go, I have reprocessed it not sure if I have done anything wrong but I wanted to contrast more the 4 star in the centre and more for the darker dust lanes. There is not much exposure level and with a bright moon behind I wouldn't have been able to increase the exposure time anyway.

I have made some adjustment the most prominant is the 4 star in the middle of the original image are distint more now and not so much blown out. I also reduced the number of image stacked from 45 to 17 as I manually went through each image and discarded any stars that looked a bit out of wack so the image is a bit noisier

I don't have Photoshop only GIMP, I need to spend more money on hardware more than software so if there are any extra information on making GIMP usable would appreciate it.

Enjoy.

[multiweb]

That's a good shot Malcolm. Very nice colors in there and the framing is spot on IMHO. Good work. :thumbsup:

[rcheshire]

Malcolm. I use GIMP quite a bit. As you know it will handle fit files, otherwise your working in 8 bit with tiff or jpeg, or 24 bit if using bmp - but the conversion needs to take place outside of GIMP.

It's a bit messy, but CinePaint, a GIMP derivative works in 32 bit which makes it good for converting files, but doesn't have the flexibility of the GIMP tools.

There are two tools that I use almost exclusively in GIMP, EAW Sharpen in local contrast mode (maximum 2 applications at default settings), and Sharpen (Smart Redux) using the refocus plugin and default settings.

These two are gentle applications and can be downloaded from the GIMP plugin repository, or in the case of Sharpen (Smart Redux) it's part of a package containing various Script-fu tools if your using Linux.

[mswhin63]

Thanks Marc,

RC, EAW Sharpen is great, I am going to work with it just a tad, I don't have Linux so the other suggestion actually broke my GIMP for a short time until i removed it.

I am now working on a site to display my images, when completed I hope to show the higher res images for viewing.

[rcheshire]

Eek! Broke GIMP? Pity. Sharpen (Smart Redux) applied before EAW Sharpen produces very good results.

I forgot to mention that your image is very good and helps me out with a question I had about the length of subs for this target.

[midnight]

Malcolm, I would be extremely happy with your narrow field attempt! There are hints of more data buried in there and your framing makes for a nice presentation.

Now that I have more time as our outage has finished, I'm hoping to get back into the yard and this shot has edged me along more to move into narrow field myself. Only problem is the east coast weather seems to have moved over here :P

Well done. ;)

Darrin...

[mswhin63]

:rolleyes: niticed too

I am considering ging back to the original image of 45 as i work with the 17 image version the noise levels get a bit high and not very flexible.

I seem to be having trouble letting this go. :screwy:

[that_guy]

I have no idea why this is in the beginners forum D: ITS SOO BLOODY GOOD!!! :D:D Awesome capture haha

cheers,
tony

[jjjnettie]

Wowee! Nice work!

[jenchris]

There's nothing wrong with that shot at all - most people blow out the trapezium the slight graininess is a result of limitations not your fault.

Everything you've done is good!
Mind you, I know next to nothing about it!

[mswhin63]

I appreciate the comments, seeing it was first proper attempt at dedepsky, I feel it belongs in the beginner section. I do like it as well not going to be able to try again till the moon subsides, but i have finally felt the bug and is hard to shake it.

I managed to print it out on A4 photo paper today and showed my son. Told him I shot the photo and he didn't believe me. It took convincing from my wife and my older son he finally accepted I shot it :)

I actually manage further detail from it again and this time went back to 43 stacks and 2 x Drizzled it in DSS. I would post it but it is currently 280MB file size.