The Dark Tower - Finished!

[marc4darkskies]

This was a tough one! I fought clouds and poor seeing for 5 nights over 10 days (the other nights were completely overcast). The guide star was faint for Ha (mag 9.9). I threw out a whole night's data (5.5 hours worth) because of poor seeing (FWHM >= 4 pixels). The object is dim and demands a reasonably large amount of data so this is a record for me - nearly 14 hours all up. Processing was a hard slog as well.

Anyway, I'm quite happy with how it's turned out, but may tinker depending on the feedback I get. There aren't many renditions to compare with either. Colour rendition varies quite a lot among other versions out there and none, apart from Rob Gendler's LRGB and Don Goldman's LHaRGB versions, effectively render the reflection nebs at the top of the tower to their fullest extent. It's these refl nebs that make this image IMO, and to appreciate them you need to view at full res.

Hopefully I've done justice the raw LHa version I posted earlier too. Let me know what you think!

Small:
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/135434539/large

Large:
http://www.pbase.com/gailmarc/image/135434539/original

Cheers, Marcus

[leon]

Well Marcus, what you described seems to have been a hell of a struggle, and it appears you won, very nice indeed, you came out a winner, well done indeed.

Leon

[Hagar]

Looks very good to me Marcus, Very vibrant but thats what this one needs to bring out it's best. The little reflection neb areas have been blended into the huge emission nebula beautifully. I can only imagine how difficult this would be to get right without washing something out.

Beautiful.

[strongmanmike]

Yeh justice done I think Marcus, great result :thumbsup:

You are right, having the LRGB as well as the Ha showed up the reflection nebulae nicely.

I see you didn't bother tackling thosee iron cross halos, they are beauties :eyepop:...can't say I have see those in your images before..?

Oh and I have absolutely no sypathies for your trials and tribulations one iota, with a remote automated dome and PME operated from inside a warm study, being able to throw away soft data is a pure luxury.. you are just winging & winning, so.... shut up! :mad2: ;)

Mike :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

i think mike is a little hormonal;):P

great image, you look as though you have wrung out every photon.

[DavidU]

Beautiful.:thumbsup:

[atalas]

A wonderful result Marcus! dropping back to the small image I see a stunning composition:thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Quite a treat Marcus. The highres is great to browse around. Top effort considering the weather of late. Well done. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

That's it! you always start on me David, we don't all have your sense of humour you know? You high falutin gringoes with domes and automated egg beaters sitting in your ivory automated dome towers..:mad2:...:sadeyes:...does my bum look big in these...? :face:

[Peter Ward]

What's not to like?

Another well executed cool-wall candidate. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

Well I definitely had to work for this one that's for sure! Thanks a lot Leon!



Cheers Doug! Yeah, I love the little blue patches - Many emission nebs have them lurking somewhere.



Cheers mate! No, even I won't try to remove those halos - an artefact I think of the vignetted field of the 1.6 extender :( I should have framed it better so they were away from the edge of the field - but they don't look tooooo bad IMO.



Oh now c'mon! Jealousy's a curse don't forget! Besides, having an obs, a PME, an air conditioned control room with Foxtel and a sofa can be a struggle ya know! :lol:



Thanks Dave! Yep, I think so too. I usually know when I've finished processing ... I spend an hour or two tinkering and nothing changes! :help:



Cheers Dave!



Thanks a lot Louie! Framing and composition is just as important in astrophotography as it is in traditional photography (of course) and worth spendng some time getting right.



Thanks Marc ... but DON'T talk to me about the weather!!! :sadeyes::(:mad2: ... ;)

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Peter! Pictures starting to spread down the hall now! :D

[renormalised]

Absolutely stunning, Marcus:) Excellent work...great detail and brilliant colour. I like the effect of the "streak" of neb coming down like a lightning bolt and hitting the tower...looks like it's what energises the tower!!:)

[John Hothersall]

I love this sort of dedication as the result is absolutely splendid.

John.

[Ross G]

Hi Marcus,

What an unusual and beautiful object and what an amazing photo of it.

Technically and artistically perfect!


Thank you.


Ross.

[Phil Hart]

superb work as usual Marcus. a treat for the eyes. :thumbsup:

your red tones look very natural given the strong reliance on HA in the image. care to share any info about your preferred way of managing the HA in the image?

some of the stars embedded in the neb do look like they have unsharp mask dark halos around them, or is that just an affect of the HA layer as well?

cheers
Phil

[marc4darkskies]

Cheers Carl! I hadn't thought of it that way but you're right, it does kind of look like that.



Thanks John, glad you liked it.



Thanks a lot Ross, appreciate that!



Thanks Phil! I'm glad you liked it!

There is no unsharp masking of the stars. Blue stars in an Ha cloud invariably look like they have a dark halo. It's always an effect you have to try and minimise with an Ha blend of course. I could reduce the halos more by lowering the luminosity of the Ha, but I think I've struck a reasonabe balance for now. I may do some more tinkering though :)

[Phil Hart]

Your tinkering may include trying to mask out the effect a little with a star mask but you've probably already tried that!? With your skill I've no doubt that you've balanced the processing well already!

[marc4darkskies]

Always appreciate honest feedback Phil! Did a bit more halo reduction without changing the Ha luminosity much - should look a little better now. :)

[Paul Haese]

Great work Marcus. I like this rendition. Tones of red and pink look great. The reflection nebula looks great superimposed on the tower. Well done.



What about us with roll off roofs and our automated egg beaters? :P Only sky time I have gotten lately is the finally sort my PME out. Now I want some sky for imaging. :lol: Champing at the bit.;)

[RobF]

Another work of art Marcus - I could stand in front of it for hours in a gallery. Have been gazing at it on the screen for quite a while. What's not to love?!

[telemarker]

Perfect. That's all. No need to say more.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks lot Paul, glad you like it. I love the subtle mix of red and pink hues too. And the blue refl nebs are like little gems!

Sorry to see you're having issues with your PME - hope you get them sorted soon.



Cheers Rob! ... There's no better compliment for an arteest! :);)



Thanks a lot Keith - much appreciated!

[Stevec35]

Excellent image Marcus. Should do well at the Malins I imagine.

Cheers

Steve

[marc4darkskies]

Kind of you to say that Steve - thanks a lot! Although as others have suggested already, astrophotography competitions are getting tougher every year - there are a lot of excellent astrophotographers out there!

[White Rabbit]

Really nice image, I've never seen that subject before.

Thanks for sharing

[gregbradley]

Just got back from my dark site. A very striking image Marcus. It turned out better than I expected. You got that nice light blue nebulosity very well indeed which is a trick with Ha blending being done. The colour saturation is strong, perhaps a bit too strong or am I becoming conservative? Certainly very detailed and illuminated which probably lacks in other Dark Towers.

Regarding the stars, I have no attention on them but regarding other comments did you use lighten blend mode in which case the stars should be unaffected or otherwise have the stars in a separate layer?

Another high quality image from you that is well above the norm.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies]

Thanks Mr Rabbit!



Well, you said it, other renditions tend to be a bit monochromatic or insipid. There's a lot of colour depth to be brought out. I have actually reduced the saturation a little bit because it did seem to be a bit over the top when I went back and had a look just then.



Thanks mate.

[gregbradley]

The saturation looks great now.

Greg.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Well done Marcus, wonderful image and masterfully processed as usual!! I'll have to book in with you for some in-depth tutorials (once I finish building my scope)!!

[allan gould]

Beautiful image and so well framed and processed. There's not much I can say that the others have not but dedication to get the best image shows through. The difference between a snapshot and work of art.

[ngc891]

A great challenge for others to emulate... brill!

[marc4darkskies]

Thankyou David! Hmmmm, would a couple of tutorials be worth a counterweight bar assembly for my TOA? :D



Thanks a lot Allan!



Cheers Francis

[stevous67]

What a beautiful rendition of a difficult object, smooth, finely focused, and nicely colour balanced. Another premium image Marcus.

Steve M

[Aris Greece]

Oh My God!
That's out of this Earth!
Great job!!!