[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by Andy01

Well done Marc
Some VERY nice detail there - maybe add in some RGB stars as well?
Cheers

Thanks a lot Andy. Yup, stay tuned - just need to gather some RGB!

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Colour?!! DID YOU SAY COLOUR? now look here Davies.. about the colour, well I don't know if I like it , it looks drab , it looks over the top it looks insipid and bloody garish aaand your stars are..?..all red..?......sorry

Nah, nah, seriously, some good details inside her feathers there mate aaaand welcome to the dark side...aaaalways knew you'd arrive...eventually

Mike

Hehe ... thanks Mike! Glad you thought it was drab, garish, insipid and over the top all at the same time. The average of all that must be pretty darn good then, eh?? I'm not really joining the dark side by the way - just infiltrating it!

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

...
Indeed... processing NB is a doddle....that said...some delightful details in this one.

A very nice take on a perennial favorite

Thanks very much Peter. Yes, not having to obsess over questions of "correct" colour (as in LRGB) takes much of the pain out of processing.

Originally Posted by Atmos

A lot of lovely details coming up there, this is still on my todo list, you're giving me more of an incentive to get to it

Nicely done Marcus.

Cheers Colin! So get on with it then! It is Swan season right now!

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Nice one Marcus.

A very good first time narrowband image. I don't know about it being a doddle. The last few I have done were rather complex. Adding in rgb stars can be easy or hard and with so many layers keeping things nicely aligned can at times go off.

If anyone knows a great way to select all the stars in an image I'd like to hear it. Selecting most is easy but all, I have yet to see.

Greg.

Thanks Greg. Selecting stars in a complex / detailed / contrasty nebula field is a challenge. I use my PS action to do it and the Astronomy Tools actions also have a star selection action. You invariably have to make a mask and then, sometimes painstakingly, erase bits of the nebula out of the mask that the action included.

Originally Posted by RickS

Nice work, Marcus. Good detail and contrast. There's more latitude to play with colour in narrowband but I'm not convinced that makes it any easier.

Cheers,
Rick.

Cheers Rick! Processing is never easy, that's not really what I meant to imply. But you have to admit that not having to worry about accurate colour rendering takes a difficult element out of the workflow.

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Top work Marcus, yes NB is easier to process than RGB, and anyway RGB is always more boring than NB, you have the colour balance nailed, and the stars look OK, thats usually hard.

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Presentation is clunky though. The IIS thumb nail is too small, and the original link is too big with tedious scrolling straight up (even on 4k). clicking on medium is too small and then clicking on that gets back to the nebula catalog. It would be nice to click on a link and get a full screen pic 1st up.

Thanks a lot Fred!

Hmm yes, I used a thumbnail that was too small but - c'est la vie! Besides, no true aficionado of astrophotography should be satisfied viewing the tease image anyway. As for the full res - srcoll to see the detail and/or <cntrl> minus to zoom out in your browser. A piece of pi .....e, and I don't have to post different sized images. And no, SmugMug is rubbish

Originally Posted by DavidU

Impressive image there Marcus.

Glad you liked it David!