NGC2070 and LMC (now with colour adjusted)

[Paul Haese]

During the holidays I undertook another project which I am pretty happy with given the low amount of data collected. The green and blue are comprised of a single sub of 15 minutes each. I am not sure if I will gather more data on this object in the coming month.

What I really like about this field of view is seeing all the nebulosity present within the LMC and also the clusters of stars that can be seen in the arm of the LMC.

I am not sure I have the saturation correct though. It is probably not to everyone's tastes but I went with subtle over my usual saturation standard.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/NGC2070andLMC.html)for image.

Critique welcome.

Edit: colour changed.

[RickS]

It's a different look to the usual but I like it, Paul :thumbsup:

[Bassnut]

Yes, was expecting thE usuAl, but pops right out, top work for little data, pleasure to view Paul, different.

[SkyViking]

That's simply superb, I love the colours! Very well done Paul.
It's interesting how the LMC is full of all these bubble shaped nebulae, and in this image they really pop, especially in the bottom half. I wonder if they are mostly old supernova remnants, or if gas dynamics of the LMC differ from our galaxy - I don't think the Milky Way is loaded with 'bubbles' to that degree? Very interesting!

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys,

Rick, Fred my thinking here was to offset the nebulae of the region with the population stars of the central bar. A wider field of view would show the bar a lot better I suspect.

Rolf, I don't think I have seen images of those bubbles in the Milkyway either. It would be interesting to find out if they are caused from SN. I do find the whole area quite interesting because of these twists and knots.

[marc4darkskies]

Certainly is eye catching & different Paul! IMO though, nowhere near enough red. The left half of this field drips Ha signal. But then ... I'm a traditionalist! ;)

Cheers, Marcus

[gregbradley]

I can get into that one.

I like it.

Greg.

[Craig_L]

Very nice Paul. Love the composition - nice and clean - unusual for this part of the sky for many images. I like the colours.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys,

I reassessed the Ha signal as Marcus suggested. I made a few comparisons to images on the web and I think this is more in line with other images.

[Rigel003]

You have been busy during this cloudy stretch. Nice composition and love fine star fields and the richness of the colour contrasts. To my eye the nebulous bits themselves look a little unnatural, maybe a bit too smoothed out?

[strongmanmike]

It's an amazing field that is always great to image, so much happening all over the place. I agree with Marcus, a little muted in the Ha but then you haven't used a lot of exposure either.

Mike

[LightningNZ]

That's a great look Paul. Very clear and uncluttered looking. I'm really digging the subtle colour use that's been coming up lately. Get a little sick of having my eyes melted by over-saturated colours. Thanks for a refreshing (and beautiful) image.

Cam

[gregbradley]

That new version is an improvement.

Greg.

[atalas]

Nice shot Paul.

Although exposure time is low I would expect to see more body in the low to mid range.

This leads me to believe that lower mid range channels are clipped making good color balance and faint structure difficult to achieve....a little noise don't hurt mate.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys,

Graeme, I had this data and was just playing around with it really, and as you quite rightly pointed out it has been cloudy. The weekend is looking promising though. Not much smoothing on this data really.

Cam its probably melting your eyes time now. Colour saturation can be quite tricky and not every one is going to be happy with the results. I do wonder sometimes though what all this really looks like close up.

Louie, you are right, the data was a little clipped. I have addressed that a little since your critique. Being a hater of noise (yes some noise is ok :)) I have to be careful to expose some noise sometimes for effect. What do you think now? Same link, different image. :)

[Stevec35]

Certainly an unusual view of the LMC Paul but I like it.

Cheers

Steve

[TrevorW]

Different unusual, I'll reserve my opinion on this one.

[iceman]

Lovely image Paul, the colours really make it pop.

[atalas]

Too strong on blue and week on green Paul...something still don't look right in shadows,but this could be due too color balance. Still,I really like the detail in the spider Paul.

Paul,while where talking color,It's interesting note that certain detail can be lost because of too much this or not enough that....not surprising though.

[Paul Haese]

Louie, yes the green is clipped. Raising the level does push a green caste in the image, perhaps the blue is too strong but other examples of this on the net from prominent astrophotographers show stronger blue representation.

Ha is a great example of where too much of it affects the colour balance of the whole image. I used the Ha for luminence in this image and that is part of the problem with the colour balance in this image.

I will try to refine the balance a little more, any suggestions to control the green without having a green caste?

[atalas]

Good flats....

Normalization of brightness levels between channels number one Paul...It's easier pulling down than what It is going back up.

RGB weights....If you know you'll be too strong in green why not allow for It in pre processing.

Evaluate where the problem is coming from....I often see the green cast after Ha boost because the red and the blue(If added to blue)levels increase and so you left with a strong green in the low to mid range...a color bias adjustment is needed.

Too much green? (Could be as easy as lowing saturation and brightness in green)or a slight curves adjustment in the green channel(slight means slight)...followed by a bias adjustment...did you leave enough room in the shadows?

After a balanced bias It's much easier to get a pleasing color balance(always leave your self enough room in the shadows)

Paul,always look back at your color filter wheel to see where your color is going and you'll get a much better idea of how to correct It,or at least a much more pleasing result.

Adjustment layers is a good way for non destructive edits while working through your image.

Paul,too much blue stops the yellows...to much green stops the reds.

Hope that helps.

[Paul Haese]

Louie that all makes sense. I don't generally add Ha to either red or blue, but can see that would require a bias adjustment.

My flats are always pretty good, but every now and then I strike an object that proves harder than others. This might be such an object.

Thanks for the suggestions. :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

O.K. I'll be blunt: real stars don't have dark or coloured rings around them.

(O.K Eta carina has... sort of... a cloud :) )

I really like the dynamics of the way you've captured the nebula...but the stars just look weird to me.

Data looks great... just a little more needed in processing :thumbsup:

[Ross G]

A striking photo Paul...looks great.

Ross.

[RickC]

Hi Paul, I like this image, you have brought out a lot of detail to look at thanks

[marc4darkskies]

Not sure you'll do the Ha signal justice if you don't apportion some of the signal to the red channel at least. That would mean much of your Ha signal will appear grey if you use it as lum as the red filter signal alone has no hope of showing the Ha.

Don't get me wrong mate - the new version is quite striking!

[Paul Haese]

Absolutely. I started from scratch last night but did not save the final image and just hibernated over night to discover that idiot windows has done a restart over night and now I am back to square one. Why does windows always try to over ride the parameters set for it? Only software I know of that needs constant updates. Windows team; if it aint broke dont fix it! Try that for an idea.:mad2:

Marcus I tried adding to the blue and the red. Adding to the red was ok but adding to the blue resulted in strong violet at at modest levels of 20%. I was quite pleased with the image I got last night and as Peter pointed out it is good data.

So back to it. I'll report back in once I have the image sorted.

Thanks for the interest guys.

[Paul Haese]

Ok reprocessed. Still some halos etc and dark rings (but I tried to rid the image of these), but I think this looks more natural now. Just to remind everyone I have attached a small image of the former image.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/NGC2070andLMC.html)for the new image.

Please feel free to tell me what you like about the new image or if you prefer the former image. Maybe there is something you like in one but something in the other image at the same time.

[Bassnut]

Well, I liked the original. Now your back to yawn usual. OK the latest is more "correct", but it's been done soo many times......

[atalas]

Paul,starting to look great(a much pleasing color)I still think the blue look too strong? at least go to Hue/Saturation and raise the lightness up 20% on the blue.

The shadows still look a touch clipped but the contrast is real nice....how are you feeling about It Paul?

I understand that we need to follow some basics,but at the same time we need to reflect our own self through our work or other wise we all end up clones....yes?

[Bassnut]

Exactly

[Paul Haese]

Hmmm, I will need to investigate your thinking more Fred. What was it you liked most out of the first image?




I will give that a go Louie. I like this look, but was to achieve a more 3D look. Personally there was some aspects to the previous image that I really liked and of course there are things about this image that I also like. Funnily enough I had trouble with the Lagoon and the Cats paw. The blending I have found is a bit tricky in all cases. This current image has once again been instructive.

[SkyViking]

I preferred the original image I must say, though it's not there anymore so I can't say if it was clipped or had other issues as some have mentioned. I just know I loved the colours of that one.

BTW, in your post above, the image you link to is looking significantly different from the attached image, although I assume they are one and the same? The attachment looks much more blue, at least on my monitor.

[Paul Haese]

Rolf, attached is the original image for your comparison.

I am still not satisfied with the image and might just get more data when the opportunity arises. I guess the colouring is a matter of taste really.

[SkyViking]

Yeah those colours are beautiful Paul, I like the kind of soft 'peach' look there. At least that's what it looks like on my monitor.

[marc4darkskies]

Muuuch better Paul! I nice rendition!

I could quibble ... but I won't because I'd say you're struggling primarily from a lack of data.

Agree with others also that you need to be unique in your efforts so your work is distinctively yours. But not at the expense of too much "reality".

Cheers, Marcus

[cventer]

Just catching up with all images. I like it a lot. Hard to get color right in this region and you have done a nice job.

Its a big field of view with that scope and camera combo. Is that native or are you using a FR ?

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys.

Marcus, agreed. I aim for my own distinctiveness whilst trying to stay within the "norm" More data would make for a better image.

Chris, the field of view is the result of a FR.

Rolf, yes some of those colours I like too. Perhaps once I get some more data I can find a happy medium of colours.

[TrevorW]

Latest is much better than the first one I saw

Cheers