Dark Doodad Neighbourhood...not so dark

[Ross G]

Hello,

Finally got to a dark site last new moon....first time since March!

I was able to give the Nikon 100mmF2.8 lens a "colour" trial.

I attached it to my QHY8L OSC ccd and did a series of 5 minute and 10 minute exposures with the lens at F4.
Total exposure was 120 minutes

The camera was on a HEQ5Pro mount and guided with PHD through a finderscope

I imaged the area between the Dark Doodad and Acrux.

Processing was with DSS and Photoshop CS2.
I haven't processed a colour photo for a while and I found this one very difficult. I did many versions ranging from nearly monochrome to almost fluoro and I was not completely happy with any of them.
This one posted seemed the best compomise but it was difficult to find what best represents this region.

What do you think?

Thanks for looking.

Ross.
http://rossg.smugmug.com/WideField/Astro/i-m6jx798/0/X3/DarkDoodad-19fr-120min-DSS-PS8-X3.png

[alpal]

Thats' come out really nice.
I think you need to do a mosaic.

[atalas]

A beautiful field Ross!well done.

[gregbradley]

There seems to be 2 versions Ross. One with the link and one if you click the thumbnail with a black surround. The latter is quite a bit better than the linked one. The background is smooth and even. The linked one has a splotchy uneven background like from the Minimum filter (a fairly useless Photoshop filter).

So the thumbnail linked image I like and the linked one not so much because of the uneven colour background.

Greg.

[Ross G]

Hi Allan.

I wasn't sure of the colours so I'm glad that you like it.

A mosaic is a great idea as it is such a rich area, however my brain is already astro- overloaded so maybe down the track.

Thank you.

[Ross G]

Hi Louie.

Very happy that you like it.

Thanks for the advice and direction.

Ross.

[Ross G]

Hi Greg,

I am not sure what I have done.

I was worried that the 200kb size limit in IIS would ruin all the stars in the shot so I looked into SmugMug and AstroBin to host larger versions of my photos.
It's something I've been wanting to do for a while.
I tried to do it all late last night and I think I have linked to the wrong photo as I had a few versions in SmugMug.
The thumbnail was supposed to be the low quality reference shot.
I'll see if I can fix it, otherwise I will just delete the link.

Thanks for the advice and I'm glad you liked at least one version. It means I'm on the right track.

Ross.

[naskies]

Looks good, Ross. I love that region.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Hi Ross,
Very nice!
The colour balance looks good to me, it's certainly to my taste but this is always a can of worms.

Cheers,

Justin.

[RickS]

Very nice image, Ross! I vote for a mosaic too :D

[Stevec35]

I'm generally pretty bad at judging colour balance Ross but I think you have done a great job with this. Very nice shot indeed.

Cheers

Steve

[John Hothersall]

Its a mosaic and thats final! Very rich area and the lens looks very good indeed.

John.

[petershah]

a beautiful image

[Ross G]

Thanks Dave.
It is such a rich and interesting region.

[Ross G]

Hi Justin,

Glad you like it. After only having done monochrome Ha for the last 8 months, getting the colour balance correct is becoming my biggest hurdle.

Thanks.

[Ross G]

Hi Rick,

Glad you like it.

Mosaics!........more reading, more tutorials...my brain needs a bit of stretching!

Thanks.

Ross.

[Ross G]

I'm happy you like it Steve, especially the colours.

Thanks.

[Ross G]

Hi John,

The lens is a pleasant surprise. It worked well with Ha monochrome and it seems to be doing ok now with colour.

The "Mosaic" word again!.....Couldn't I just photograph the area with a wider lens?

Thanks.

[Ross G]

Hi Peter,

Glad you like it.

Thanks.

[iceman]

Beautiful image Ross, I love it!

[Paul Haese]

Nice work Ross. Great colour balance and what I would expect from a Lens and CCD combination.

[strongmanmike]

Well you may be rusty but in this case your rusty appears to me as the average brilliant :). I really like this shot and it is yet another prod for me to get out my Nikon D7000 :thumbsup:...when I have dark skies :prey: ;)

Mike

[Ross G]

Thanks very much Mike.

I am getting drawn deeeper and deeper into widefield photos with camera lenses.

My plans to move up to a longer focal length from my 110mm refractor may be shelved for a while!

[Ross G]

Thanks Paul.

I'm glad you like the colour as it was my biggest problem.

I'm really starting to enjoy connecting older SLR lenses to my QHY8L and QHY9 cameras.
Cheap adapters from ebay are making my old Olympus, Nikon and Minolta lenses useful again.

[Ross G]

Hi Mike,

I'm glad you like my photo. Comments like yours help me head in the right direction, especially with my colour problems.

Shooting with SLR lenses has been such an enjoyable revelation.
You should check out ebay for some older, fixed focal length Nikon lenses. Combined with the low noise chip in your Nikon you will get some amazing widefield photos, especially with the cooler Canberra nights you are moving to.
Bolt it onto your existing equipment...an extra kilo wont make any difference.

Thank you.

[RickC]

Beautiful image Ross, love the colour, composition and huge effort
very impressive.

Good to see the hi res image, very smooth!!

cheers
Richard

[Ross G]

Hi Richard,

Sorry for the late reply. I have been in Queensland for 4 days without a computer!

I'm glad you like it, especially the colour.

Thank you.