Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward
I normally would not have commented…but as you did ask:
The star profiles and colour variation is good. But I really dislike the palette. What physical process are you revealing/highlighting with this choice?
Localised sharpening at the bright nebula core is at odds with soft data elsewhere. Stray blue and red pixels (I’m guessing noise) are speckled in the shadows,
which themselves are often a muddy colour. Framing and field of view is also good, but sadly doesn’t salvage the muted pastel look of this rendition.
Hey, but if this look floats ‘yer boat…then absolutely ignore my astro-world view and be happy.  |
Hi Peter, Thank you for taking the time to not only look at the image, but provide such a thoughtful and critical response. (I did ask, after all
)
Without trying to deflect from your points or come across as defensive; I'm still trying to define my style with regards to preferred palette and processing techniques.
As for the physical process I'm trying to show with my palette choice... The OIII is the star of the show I suppose. I do not see a lot of people sinking 20+ hours into these bright winter targets, and I think the subtlety of the OIII channel is lost/ignored/not captured. It's not as apparent in this particular image, so I'll use a better example to explain myself:
Take my
Lagoon Mosaic, The OIII signal is incredibly strong and the depth of my integration shows the OIII gas "flowing out" of the nebula and in and around the Ha and SII pillars - like water around rocks. I tried to choose a palette that would accentuate this aspect of the subject, and even then i had to tone it down somewhat or it became overpowering and looked wildly unbalanced. I haven't found another palette that does the OIII channel as much justice as this pastel SHO palette does.
I'm very open to suggestion though.
A lot of these bright "open nebula" type targets that I've imaged so far (M16, M17, M8) display this particular characteristic in the OIII Channel. And it's absolutely fascinating to me.
I have not applied any selective sharpening to the image, the only sharpening/deconvolution is a mild run of BlurXterminator before removing the stars, then another mild run right at the end before exporting the final image. However at your prompting, I've had another look and I can see what you mean. The sharpness levels seem to vary wildly, with some parts looking over sharp, and other places looking really soft.
I have noticed the Blue and red pixels in a few images, and it might be time for a new set of Dark and Bias Frames; I have put a lot of imaging hours on the camera this year.
Either way, Like I said at the top, I appreciate the time you took to have a look and craft your response. Thank you, and Clear Skies!
