Eagle Nebula new and improved

[strongmanmike]

I wasn't 100% happy with my RGB version so I went back and completely reprocessed (you knew I would :P).

This was composed from 70min SII, 105min Ha and 80 min OIII with just 6min each for RG&B

The new version has (I hope)

1) Better more natural colour balance
2) Tightened and improved star quality
3) Better star colour
3) Reduced harshness around the pillars with more clarity while maintaing respect for the light :D
4) Reduced noise

This last outcome (4) was a tough ask with only 3 X 2min each of RGB but never the less very minimal noise reduction was used, instead I used the smoothness of the good NB signal to maximum advantage through special blend techniques.

The Eagle Nebula full frame (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/144236488/original) @ 50%

Main Nebula Crop (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/144236490/original) @ 70%

And although the seeing was very ordinary....here are The Pillars of Creation (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/144236489/original) @ 100%

MIke

[marco]

Nice repro Mike!, I missed the original one, however it seems the latter an improvement. I like in particular you reduced a bit the blue/magenta dominance that was quite evident in old version.

Overall a stunning M16 :thumbsup::thumbsup:
I have also the data to process mine but I will never get closer yours in terms of resolution :)

Clear skies
Marco

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Marco, glad you liked it

The blue magenta is real...the intensity might be debatable (how to determine that, I don't know) but it is certainly there :thumbsup:

I am sure your M16 will be a corker, look forward to it :)

Mike

[alpal]

That's a top photo now - it's much better.
It seems that all your work has paid off.
Its' always worth another go at reprocessing.
Every pic is different & it's almost as though
you have to learn how to process each picture.

[strongmanmike]

Totally agree, over the years I have failed to get it right first go on quite a few occasions (impatient? :P), my Deep Centaurus A (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/97061387/original) is a perfect example, this took many repro's over a few months to finally nail and the final result has now been featured all over the World and been looked at many thousands of times at my web site since....perseverance pays off, never give up I say and don't be so proud as to not let us see the progress along the way :P, makes this forum fun :thumbsup:

Mike

[Leonardo70]

Mike, i prefer the second version ... great image ...

All the best,
Leo

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Leo, more RGB (much more) would have helped :rolleyes: :)

Mike

[TheDecepticon]

Very nice, Mike, I'd be happy with any of them!:thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Yeah you got that just right.

That's the best version. Remarkable for such short hours in RGB.

Greg.

[atalas]

Excellent big Mike!I still can't get over the awesome composition.....and the contrast....wunderbar!

[peter_4059]

Beautiful. The fine details around the pillars are amazing.

[marc4darkskies]

No doubt about it, definitely an improvement Mike. But as you say suffering from a lack of RGB data.

Cheers, Marcus

[alexandre]

Hello mike
thank you , for the very nice image !
It's very good job !!

alex. ;)

[Lester]

Very nice view Mike, thanks. All the best.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks for looking men and nice to here I did actually manage to improve it and it's not just me going batty :nerd: :thumbsup:

Working wiith just a few minutes of RGB was certainly a challenge, lucky it was with a 12" at F3.8.

Mike

[h0ughy]

wow mike you are certainly full of surprises excellent result with the data you have. are you going to get some more rgb in the future to reduce the noise?

[strongmanmike]

Hey thanks Dave :thumbsup: more RGB..?...hmmm, ya know, if I had an observatory then probably yes but without I will most likely just want to move on to something new next session :sadeyes:

Mike

[Ross G]

A great photo Mike.

The detail is amazing.

Nice colours and composition too.

Thanks.

Ross.

[strongmanmike]

Thanks Ross, not 100% ideal data but I was happy with the overall result in the end (after several tries :lol:)

Mike

[tornado33]

Yep great effort, no data has gone to waste its all there from the faintest to the brightest.

I still love how those stars are so sharp and round right to the edges. It would be devastating under a very dark sky with many hours of exposure. Think of all those extreemly low surface brightness tidal streams around galaxies waiting to be captured :)
Scott
Scott

[stevous67]

Nice work Mike, exceptional detail, especially the darker cloud regions. I'm with you, it can take a number of renditions, through varied processing steps to get an image right. It's all worth the effort for certain.

Steve :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Scott and Steve

Scott, yes I am hoping when we move back to Canberra I will be able to really let the throttle out on this scope. To date going for faint galactic cirrus and the like has not been considered worthwhile given my heavy light pollution, not to mention garbage seeing, it would probably still show some up but the processing required to make it look half decent would undoutedly introduce a less than pristene look to the final image - nothing beats dark skies :thumbsup: Hence my current almost exclusive use of emission line filters.

Mike

[Paul Haese]

Nice work Mike. The saturation looks better and colour better than last time. Any chance of blending some OIII and SII with that HaRGB data?

[strongmanmike]

I did, that was the only reason I got it to look any good...rushing through your view again huh? :whistle: :thumbsup:

Mike

[Paul Haese]

Hey sorry, I did not read that bit. It did not look like a full NB image. Just the Ha. My NB data the other night came out differently. Hence why I incorrectly assumed this image lacked NB data.

[strongmanmike]

I'll forgive you

I like RGB looking images but being in such light polluted and poor seeing skies I have had to become proficient at creating RGB looking images from SIIHaOIII data :lol:

Good Example (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/140217701/original)

Mike

[Fabiomax]

That detail, awesome Mike!
Cheers,
Fabiomax

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Fabio, would have been better with even 1/2 decent seeing :rolleyes:

Mike

[Stevec35]

I like this version very much Mike. It seems a lot more subtle than the last one but still preserves the same detail.

Cheers

Steve

[strongmanmike]

Cheers Steve, yes I am happy with it now I think...even with hardly any RGB :doh:

Mike