Astronomik 12 nm Ha filter, TEC140 (no flattener), Moravian G2-8300 CCD
PMX, Focusmax
168 min total (8 min subframes) Feb.19, March 6,7, 2012
The "full size" here is 65% of original. The original just looks too noisy. I didn't push anything too much (I hope). Some decon in CCDStack, then stretched in CS5, and selective hipass filter and selective cold light in the more interesting areas + Noise Ninja.
Your opinions are always welcome. Thanks for looking!
Looks good, you've picked up a lot of the faint horsehead blanket, thought you might have got more detail out of NGC 2023?
I'm by far no means an expert, its way better than what i've done thats for sure. Is the speckledness in the image noise or from sharpening a tad too far? Probably wouldn't notice on a smaller version, its a massive image!
Thanks for your comments! You are right about NGC2023. I might give it another go. I partly didn't want to pull the eye down below the head. The more interesting light seems just above the head and then to the left....
To be honest, I don't know why my images get that speckled look. I think I just need more time because they certainly get better with more time! But, the weather gods dictate otherwise for this image and after getting only 3 hours over 3 days I decided to quit knowing more bad weather is coming. I barely pushed this image at all so I hope it isn't over processing and I used masks to protect the stars from everything. The star background was only processed using Noise Ninja which helped quite a lot. I could try adding blurred noise but I'd rather figure out why this is happening and try to avoid it rather than fixing it.
I think your black point is too low and hiding some of the detail in the horse head itself. Try raising that with some curves work. May add a little noise but could be worth it.
I think your black point is too low and hiding some of the detail in the horse head itself. Try raising that with some curves work. May add a little noise but could be worth it.
Hi Chris, Thanks. I've been trying to move the black point but I see nothing positive in doing this other than noise. I fear there just isn't enough data. To me the image just looks flat with no gain in detail; the current version at least has a little drama. I probably need 2-3X the # photos, but am leaving on a three week trip shortly. This will have to do for now.
Thanks,
Peter
EDIT: I just looked at this image on a friends MAC and I'm shocked to see solid dark black. I'm think I'm in trouble trying to process on my laptop which has a very bright screen. On that screen I see all sorts of shading and the black point looks OK. I guess I've got to reduce the brightness on my laptop screen and start over....
The repro's better. Your data is really very good. Last bit to check is your stars. Most are (white) clipped on the other end of the histogram. If you rework your stretch you'll have one for the pool-room because everything else is perfect.
Marc, I will try this again and try to take more care with the stars. I'm a lttle confused though...when I look at the histogram in CS5 of this ver2 image I see a very gradual slope towards bottom right corner of the histogram. It perhaps doesn't go completely to zero but doesn't look chopped off either. And, the other misunderstanding I'm probably operating under is that in such an image, wouldn't the stars be "white." or are they actually supposed to be various shades of gray? I would think that with 8 min subs the brighter stars would be oversatuated and no amount of photoshopping would rectify that. So when you say the stars are white clipped, what am I looking for in terms of how the image actually looks vs what the histogram looks like?
Marc, I will try this again and try to take more care with the stars. I'm a lttle confused though...when I look at the histogram in CS5 of this ver2 image I see a very gradual slope towards bottom right corner of the histogram. It perhaps doesn't go completely to zero but doesn't look chopped off either. And, the other misunderstanding I'm probably operating under is that in such an image, wouldn't the stars be "white." or are they actually supposed to be various shades of gray? I would think that with 8 min subs the brighter stars would be oversatuated and no amount of photoshopping would rectify that. So when you say the stars are white clipped, what am I looking for in terms of how the image actually looks vs what the histogram looks like?
I highlighted the stars of interest and the corresponding area of your histogram. You need to back it off just a tad.
Here is my last try on this. I'm off to Tucson tomorrow....
I think it's slowly getting there. Hopefully stars are better. I just wasn't able to get the clouds on the left to look quite as dramatic as I hoped for.
