The Orion Nebula - M42 - Detail Lost in the Core?

[Logieberra]

Hey guys

A bit of long exposure stuff - it's been a while (finished uni and got married!) - and my first crack at M42.

Setup: NEQ6 Pro, Sky 90, Nikon D40, ISO 800
Details: 6 x 10min exposures, darks, photo shop

A question. Why is the middle blown out / white? Should I bump the SLR settings down to ISO 400, or shoot a combination of a shots - ranging from 2 - 10mins to capture these details?

Cheers,

LOgAn

[Logieberra]

This one is my preferred image, but she's also really blown-out in the core:

[mswhin63]

I found M42 very challenging the other way around. I have since learnt it is a complicated processing nebula to capture as it requires multiple exposure lengths and the trick is to combine them through Photoshop.

I think it can be in GIMP but still learning. he only thing I need to do is achieve longer exposures as the longest I have done for M42 is 10 Seconds at ISO 1600 and the core comes out perfect. With longer exposures I believe I could do a really good one. One day

[luigi]

Logan you have a nice photo, only overexposed.
For M42 you have to take series of different exposures, make sure you have the faint detail in your longer exposures and make sure you don't blow the core in the shorter exposures.
Usually 3 or 4 sets of exposures should be enough.
Process each set as an individual photo.

If you use Gimp then open the overexposed shot and the 2nd one, create a layer mask using the B&W version of your overexposed shot and blurr it a little. The idea is to hide the brightest areas from the overexposed shot making them transparent to the layer below: the intermediate exposure.

Then merge everything and repeat the process for your underexposed set.

Hope it helps.

[Logieberra]

Thanks guys. I should have done my research before posting - looks like a common problem @ this time of the year for us newbies.

Found a cracker of a video / tutorial. I'll give it a try tonight:

http://atalas.businesscatalyst.com/Masks_for_Photoshop.html

[BlackWidow]

Hey Logan that link is great. I was just about to post a thread to ask this very question. I gues newbee's like me always start with Orion. I have read it's really the hardest to get correct and is perhaps not the best first location. I went for it right away as my first target and had the bright over exposed center problem. This video is great and solved my problem. The guy mentioned that this is his 4th video?? do you know how to get to his other video's?

I think I need to re-name you "Logan of the Bright Idea's" :lol:


Seeing Stars
Mardy

[Logieberra]

Thx Mardy, it's a steep learning curve for all of us: http://www.atalas.net/index.php?option=com_expose&Itemid=4

Look on the right hand side of his page:

Tutorials:
Levels & Curves for Photoshop (http://atalas.businesscatalyst.com/Levels_and_Curves_for_Photoshop.htm l)
Noiseless Color for Photoshop (http://atalas.businesscatalyst.com/Noisless_Color_for_Photoshop.html)
Boosting Star Color For Photoshop (http://atalas.businesscatalyst.com/Boosting_Star_Color_For_Photoshop.h tml)
Masks for Photoshop (http://atalas.businesscatalyst.com/Masks_for_Photoshop.html)
Star Repair for Photoshop (http://atalas.businesscatalyst.com/Star_Repair_for_Photoshop.html)
Noise Reduction & Masks for Photoshop (http://atalas.businesscatalyst.com/Noise_Reduction_Masks_for_Photoshop .html)
Deconvolution for Photoshop (http://atalas.businesscatalyst.com/Deconvolution_for_Photoshop.html)

Atalas - thx for the videos chief. Well done!