Here is a new version of my M42 data that I collected back on 20 December 2011 using an 8" Newtonian and a QHY8L sensor. Consisting of 8 three minute subs I removed noise before processing using GraXpert. I followed up with a combination of Siril, Startools and Snapseed.
Yes, it's possible that I've pushed the processing too far but, hey, I quite like the gothic look and feel of this image.
Cool Mario...does remind me of the famous unsharp masked version/s by David Malin from the 70'/80's and that graces the front cover of his venerable "Colours of the Stars" book (which I have a signed copy of )
Mike, I never thought I'd see the day when my name would be mentioned in the same breath as David Malin! Thanks for the image of the cover of his book, it makes me feel better about what I was seeing in my version.
Peter, I must admit I did push this data as far as I thought produced a believable image. It is dramatic but then that leads to the question of are these nebulae benign gas clouds or areas of dynamisym? I'd like to think the later and try to get my images to have a sense of movement. Does that make sense?
As for the old data, I had a protracted break from astrophotography while I concentrated on my PhD. Having completed that, I have started playing with my scope as well as seeing what new software was out there. I was amazed at just how far the software has come and am excited by the new packages like Siril and GraXpert. I especially like the AI noise removal in GraXpert which has allowed me to really push my data to the max.
I do hope to get out and collect some new data, but am heading into the wrong time of the year here in Brisbane. I also want to make some changes/upgrade to my system - adding an OAG for instance - so probably will not have any new data for about 6 months. This may be longer as I look at turning my thesis into a book. In the meantime I plan to revisit all my images, especially those that I have struggled with in the past due to noise issues.
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