Starry Knight (M17, M20, M8, M23 and M21)

[alexch]

Hi All,

I experimented with my dusty EQ5 and 180mm lens at LMDSS Heathcote site. Greg Walton helped with polar alignment and in one of the shots M17, M20 and M8 conveniently fit the FoV.

I think it looks like a horse head and M8 is a rider (with some stretched imagination).

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26867757/iis/starry%20knight_2.jpg

44x1min subs, Nikon D700, ISO 3200
Stacking in Registax and further processing in Photoshop CS5.

I've spent some time tweaking the colours and I am not sure I've got it right. It looks quite natural in Photoshop on a calibrated monitor, but when viewed in the web browser (no colour management) it shows too much red.

Please comment on the colours, processing and the look of the image as it is my first object of that type and it is hard to judge your own work.

Thanks,
Alex

[Paul Haese]

Great colours and huge field. I like the juxtapositioning of the golden star field at the dust lanes in your framing.

I think maybe though that contrast is a bit too harsh. I do like strong contrast but I think this might be a little too strong.

You have given me an idea though of an image that I need to undertake.

[Ross G]

Great widefield Alex.

You have captured so many objects.

Ross.

[niko]

it looks great Alex - I agree with Paul - maybe a bit too contrasty, but only a tad

What method did you use to polar align given you just had the camera on the mount - I've been trying to get my head around a good method?

Cheers

Niko

[alexch]

Thanks for the comments, guys - much appreciated. I'll tone down the contrast a little.

Niko: the mount has a polar scope so we used that for alignment.

[gregbradley]

Great shot and nicely composed Alex.

You've got a lot of chromatic aberration coming through with way too much magenta in the stars. This is common with camera lenses.

Best solution is to tone down magentas in Photoshop using selective colour tool and select magenta and play with the sliders. Perhaps do the same with blue in selective colour.

That tool works well to reduce the magenta.

Once you've got it right you could do it again knowing the positions of the sliders and record it as an action so next time you use that lens you simply run the action and viola! Its all corrected.

Greg.

[multiweb]

Great shot Alex. Real nice colors and beautiful field. :thumbsup:

[alexch]

Thanks, Greg.

I knew something did not look right with the star colours. Wide-angle lenses have way less false colour than telephoto and I am not used to it.
Cheers,
Alex