Finally!! My first actual images!

[Keshdogga]

Hey IIS,

I was lucky enough to be out at Pauls (1ponders) place Friday night when, for the first time in I don't know how long, we had a sufficiant lapse in cloud cover. Although it was quite average seeing due to the copious amount of moisture in the air I managed to get my long anticipated first light =D

First of the two images was M42. Unfortunately the mount was unbalanced at the time which gave nice R/A star trails =S 4 exposures of 30 seconds taken at ISO 800.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1221.snc4/155385_1494452882610_1272690910_311 74780_4333553_n.jpg

Second was by far my favourite. NGC 253 or the Silver Coin. We were very fortunate to have the mount aligned almost perfectly thanks to Paul and were lucky enough to have 2 minute unguided exposures with little to no star trails :D I'm sure we could have gone for at least 4 minutes =] The final image was the result of 6 images taken at ISO 1600.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1338.snc4/163011_1494453402623_1272690910_311 74781_5221345_n.jpg

I'm so happy I could get shots like this, I never expected to get the amount of detail that we got. It was a pleasent surprise :lol: It was also my first time processing which was confusing at times. I know i have a long, long, LONG way to go =] DeepSkyStacker made life a whole lot easier though.

Anyway I would love to know what everyone thinks but probably more importantly, to hear your opinions on how to fix, modify or improve what I have there :thumbsup: Also the pictures aren't as great quality as the image location was taken from my facebook. If someone could let me know how to upload the full image I'd be very thankful ;)

Hope you enjoyed looking as much as I enjoyed taking the pics. And a big thanks to Paul for all his help. Wouldn't have the images without him.

Thanks for looking,
Casey

[h0ughy]

Well done Casey. And you got help from the Man himself - excellent!! as time goes on you will look back on this day either with dread or with the joy of knowing you have now entered the dark side!

apart from the drift, your focus looks OK from the size of the image given. Paul is the master of drift, the sheik of tweaking your alignment - i hope his lessons have been taken in - it has taken me several years LOL

[Keshdogga]

Thanks Dave. Right now I'm thinking joy over dread but I suppose that could always change as I start getting that newer, shinier bit of equipment and start looking at my wallet :lol:

And yes I've attempted to take in as much as I can from Sensei Paul. Taught me some invaluable lessons thus far. :thumbsup: If I knew how to upload a better quality image It might give a better idea of the focus, the facebook pic doesn't do a whole lot of justice to the image haha.

[h0ughy]

Sensi Pual should have tought you that one as well - do you use a version of photoshop?

[Keshdogga]

Yep, CS5 =] I did all the levels and gradient adjustments there.

[multiweb]

Two very neat and tidy shots. Well done. :thumbsup: Gotta be stoked with that. :)

[h0ughy]

OK then make a copy of the image in PS (duplicate) then resize that to say 1280 (does the rest automatically) now go to save for web, select jpeg output then move the slider until you can read at the bottom of the image less than 200kb then you are done, save the file to somewhere (i normally denote with a web ending after the name cruddyshotweb.jpg for example then you are done - dont save the file just delete it - and the best bit you have not altered one pixel of the original file;)

[[1ponders]]

Nicely done Casey, 253 look particularly good. :thumbsup:

Make sure you save your final processed image as a 16bit tiff first before you try this next bit. You don't want to lose your work.

To upload images here, when you create a new thread under the text dialogue box is the "manage attachments" button. Use this to upload. You can upload a maximum of 8 images per post.

Keep your images to less than 200kb. I suggest you do your cropping and then resize image while still 16bit tiff in PS. Resize to around 900-1000 wide then covert to 8 bit and then save again as full quality jpeg. Then resave (file save as) and tag the end of the file name with "resized" then adjust the quality slider until it is under the 200kb limit.

You are now ready to upload it with about the best quality you can get without a lot more mucking around.

[[1ponders]]

There ya go, two options

[Keshdogga]

Thanks guys, lets see how it goes =]

edit: I had to redo the layers and gradient in this one. I saved my first attempt as a jpg not a TIF so I could keep the unprocessed image.

[that_guy]

haha.... wait till ron sees this thread "and my favourite the silvercoin"

[Keshdogga]

I'm confused, haven't been around enough to know what this means haha. Would he prefer Sculptor galaxy?

[that_guy]

haha just ask Paul or jjj... :P haha

[astroron]

Tony,Naughty! Naughty!:lol::lol::lol:
Nice pics Casey.
May catch up at Paul's or here at Cambroon in the future:thumbsup:
Cheers

[Keshdogga]

Sounds great Ron :thumbsup: And thanks =]

[Geoff uk]

casey they look good keep up the good work hope the skys are better in Aus than in England only had 2 good nights with all the SNOW all the best Geoff

[that_guy]

I do try ron ;)

[jjjnettie]

Awesome images Casey!
The Silver Coin (tee hee) is fantastic!!

[Keshdogga]

Thanks janette! Glad you liked it =]
But this Silver Coin thing is psyching me out haha :screwy:

[jjjnettie]

LOL To call NGC 253 the Silver Coin aggravates Ron no end. We tease him mercilessly. LOL

[Keshdogga]

HAHA, Aren't you guys just so nice :rofl:

[En1gma]

Whooooo,

Great pics Casey, and glad you got personal guidance.

Glad to see my old mount doing well, keep up the great work and keep us posted with your progress.

Rob

[Keshdogga]

Cheers Rob :2thumbs: The mount's been brillant so far =D

[RobF]

Definitely nice work. Agree the 253 is wonderful for a first effort. The help of the master is coming through there - what a great way to get started. Looks like you've got the habit now Casey...!