A HDR triumph - LOL maybe not - 1 April 2011 plus a few Sidonios

[h0ughy]

I promise to move onto other objects real soon, but this one has been a bugbear for me this whole summer viewing of Orion. I simply could not get it right, no matter how much data i got , and as for the bias colour shift i get with the CLS filter - its wicked to colour balance from. While most are at SPSP i have been held back by my mum being in hospital (she escaped on friday after a month being in there). So i though we had struck gold with clear skies friday night, but it was short lived as the cloud soon rolled in, but i managed to gleen some data to play with yet again..... and you know the complete irony of the sitution was i originally set out to do NGC2359, but found limitation of the mount/dome control so picked a quick target. So have I really done it and I apologise guys as its Orion again- is this image from 1 April 2011 really moving me forward? Its only 2 hours worth made up from 11 ten minute shots, 4 1 min shots, 4 30 sec shots and 4 15sec shots combined in a HDR script in pixinsight, then a mask was created from the luminance and applied over the image to help release the core through another HDR process, then levels in histogram and colour saturation. All processed fits files from stacking done in DSS. The key was all shots taken same night, standard process window in DSS to keep the image size the same. I am simply amazed; I need to see if I can recombine other data in fits format - OK i am slow to learn and i need to do everythng in fits.....


EDIT: i have included a Repro of the two nights data to see if i have improved a terrible shot by any margin? Total time is about 4hours

EDIT 2 - added the lastest repro - threw every phton i managed to get on this into this one and redid it

[firstlight]

Very nice Dave. It was a Malin image of this object I saw in the old Southern Astronomy the really fanned the spark of my interest in astronomy.

Very pleasing rendition.

Cheers
Tony

[ballaratdragons]

Naaahhhhh, you haven't been too long on M42 ;)

Check the date: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=134817&postcount=12
:rofl:

Seriously, nice bit of HDR work Dave.
The trap sits nicely proud :thumbsup:

[starfinder]

Dave. The time you've spent on the subject gathering data and processing has been well spent. That's a pleasingly excellent rendition. The skills you're learning processing M42 will pay rich dividends when you move to other deep sky objects. Enjoy! Regards, Russ

[gregbradley]

That is a very good result Houghy. A very pleasing image, nice and sharp, great detail, stars look good. If I were bein picky I would say when you did your mask for the core and got your levels right you should have also increased colour saturation for the core as it looks grey in your image. When it usually looks a bit more magenta in other images.

The fine nebula around Orion also looks a bit grey to me and it'd be nice to make it look that slightly greyish blue.

From here the easiest way to do it would be to use the magic wand tool in PS and select the core, feather it heavily (30-40 pixels) and play with selective colour (start with the neutrals and add magenta) or colour balance tool and add blues. Then those outer neb areas again use magic wand to select, feather and selective colour and see which one affects the grey - it may be neutrals again. And try to add some blue into it.

Again that is being picky as it is a very nice Orion.

Greg.

[h0ughy]

thanks Tony. Actually for me it was saturn as well as this object that took my attention those many years ago ;) Glad you liked it

OMG yeah tend to forget those imaging baby steps, and the skinned knees on learning to walk ;) i am up to crawling now....:lol:

i have a looong way to go Russ. Though this summer the weather has not been kind to trying to get on top of it:D

:thumbsup: thanks for the tips Greg. I would be very interested to see where you think it should be at - do you mind if i send you a file - PM coming:thanx:

[jjjnettie]

:) lovely Dave

[h0ughy]

thanks JJJ

[allan gould]

Nice Orion, David. It's all coming together. Processing is the other half of the data ie what to do with it. From past experience Greg usually has to goods and effective solutions to processing issues.

[Miaplacidus]

Very nice, David. Of course you should be pleased, it deserves it. Especially nice trap, BTW.

[h0ughy]

thanks Allan - I am seeking help ;) but really should upload the processed fits file ?



thanks Brian

[h0ughy]

managed to get another couple of hours worth last night and added a 120 sec shot to the mix - will update the image after i process that and add it to the original.

[White Rabbit]

Thats a great image I'd be more than chuffed with it.

Nice one.

Sandy

[h0ughy]

OK I added the two unprocessed HDR files from the 1 april and 3 april and then processed them up in Pixinsight1.6– to me it looks a huge step up – but to another’s eye it may look like it smells LOL. Image processing is like cooking, you never know when to add salt to taste - until you ruin the mix?

127Ed cooled canon40D and the CLS light pollution filter, all up it is only about 4 hours worth.

[White Rabbit]

Nice detail and your right this one is better, but the red is a tad over the top IMO.

[h0ughy]

well it is maybe a new SID needed

[h0ughy]

lunch can be a challenging time;) - repro2 now included in the first post (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=91666)

[allan gould]

Sorry David - heaps of detail but its a bit RED for my tastes and it appears that you have lost the subtle browns of the dust in Orion. The rest of it is fine.

[strongmanmike]

I dunno, I think the red looks fine...some like it saturated and some not so much, all in the processors taste really.

For my eyes, it's just the trap area that still looks a bit B&W grey, other than that it's quite a fine image IMO :thumbsup:

Mike

[suma126]

i think the right hand one is my pic. very nice detail :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Overall a very striking image, lovely stars, lots of detail.
I like the repro better but the core and outer whisp colours to me
are a tad off. Orion can often look greyish.

However its right up there as an Orion image, top 10% stuff.

Greg.

[h0ughy]

Thanks Greg, i can see many hours of practice to get things right - but i look forward to doing that.

thanks

I hope to upload the two HDR 64bit FITS files somewhere soon, see what a real image processor can do



yeah too much cherry cheer:sadeyes: - it will be raining for the next few months so i will have plenty of time to redo this one to death (I now own a namesake of a Saturnian moon :rofl: )

[h0ughy]

repro 3 added here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=91764)

[h0ughy]

Yet again another Sidonio – this time I removed the green background cast over the whole image.

[DavidU]

That's a fantastic shot Dave !

[h0ughy]

Thanks Dave,

I found some more data i havent processed yet so i will try to add that to the image as well.

[h0ughy]

ok promise final repro

[spacezebra]

Excellent David - keep em comin!

Cheers Petra d.

[Hagar]

I don't know about all these repro's (Sidonios) I kinda think the first image was the best anyway.

[h0ughy]

yeah you are probably right, far too many Sidonio's in this world:rofl:. I Promise next time only to post one:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

I think the best version will be some sort of blend of a few of your Sidonio's :question:...you are pulling out some intricate detail in near the Trap.

You certainly don't live by Marcus' adage...good on you :thumbsup:

viva la Sidonio's :2thumbs:

[h0ughy]

I shall post a marcuspro later ; ) with a blend of your Sidonio's - man this sounds like bride of Frankenstein:screwy::P

Mike with this weather having something to play with is better than nothing. May need to attend a Mike Sidonio Masterclass;)

[alan meehan]

:thumbsup:Dave i like the last one for sure or i think its your last one ,must be some sort of record for the most repros ,sids
AL

[h0ughy]

:rofl: