Ah de ja vu
Thanks for the feedback and comments guys
I decided to work on the wider field shot too by incorporating data taken through an 80mm APO and the little SXVH9 back in 2005, this allowed me to create the Hubble colours in the new data and bring a more natural colour to the stars. Becasue I was effectively directly averagring out the data taken from the two scopes (rather than doing an LRGB combine where the Lum provides the resolution) the effective resolution has dropped a tiny bit but I think it still looks nice and crisp..? I weighted the AP data more highly to assist in holding most of the fine details
1550 X 1050 (1.9meg)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...47261/original
Full resolution 2039 X 1380 (3.5meg)
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...46672/original
Enjoy
Doug - I played with the contrast and colour saturation just as you have done actually but I ended up settling on a less saturated colour and lower contrast, it just felt better at the time..? When the saturation is ramped up as you have done the red/magenta stars become too obvious and the nebula takes on a slightly unrealistic edge..? It's pretty touch and go but I prefered the more subtle presentation I guess? Having said that I think I have upped the colour and contrast just a tad more in the new wider field Sidonio he he
Mike