Imaging in LP - M42 (60Da) 3:16hrs

[AstroTanja (Tanja)]

Hi all,

Wanted to share this M42 I photographed in Johannesburg suburbs, amidst a lot of light pollution.
It's a wonderful target for novice to experienced imagers as there's always more data and detail to find. It's easy to capture - but difficult to master.

I used 2 exposure settings to capture more feint outer detail with a longer exposure, and shorter exposures to maintain the inner core, using the HDRcomposition function in PixInsight. I wish I shot even more data / longer subs to get more detail in the surrounding feint nebulosity.

Image details: (for bigger image click here)
Total: 196min (3:16hrs)
40x 240sec ISO400
36x 60sec ISO400
20 darks
100 bias
30 flats
Canon 60Da
Officina Stellare HiperAPO
Celestron Advance VX
Guiding: SSAG & PHD
Acquisition: Nebulosity
Processing: PixInsight and PhotoShop

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Nice work from a light polluted area. loads of data there for sure.

[RB (Andrew)]

Very nice.

[prokyon (Werner Probst)]

Very nice, looks aesthetic!

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Nice result Tanja!

You've retained nice colour in the core, for some reason I lose colour in the core when using the HRD comp tool. There's a fair amount of faint detail for ISO 400 too.

Well done

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

A quick question Tanja. Did you process the short and long exposures separately and then combine the two images at the end using HDRcomposition or, alternatively, throw all of the data into the same bucket and then process it through to a single final image?

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Originally Posted by Ryderscope

A quick question Tanja. Did you process the short and long exposures separately and then combine the two images at the end using HDRcomposition or, alternatively, throw all of the data into the same bucket and then process it through to a single final image?

Calibrate and integrate both sets separate
Dynamic crop to same both sets if needed (same size)
DBE to remove Gradients - both sets
Register both images together with the star alignment tool.
Then combine using the HDR comp tool.

Harry's HDR comp tool tutorial

[AstroTanja (Tanja)]

Originally Posted by Rod771

Calibrate and integrate both sets separate
Dynamic crop to same both sets if needed (same size)
DBE to remove Gradients - both sets
Register both images together with the star alignment tool.
Then combine using the HRD comp tool.

Harry's HDR comp tool tutorial

Yes, I calibrated both sets separately to have 2 masters to integrate. (Star aligned all together). And then did HDRcomp. Although I did DBE after they were combined.
Here's another tutorial from the PI forum:
http://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=2320.0

[AstroTanja (Tanja)]

Originally Posted by Rod771

Nice result Tanja!

You've retained nice colour in the core, for some reason I lose colour in the core when using the HRD comp tool. There's a fair amount of faint detail for ISO 400 too.

Well done

Thanks...
I wonder what it would be like if I got twice the amount of data... Hmm. But I'll try this target again with a CCD (if the clouds ever clear)

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

Thanks for the response on the HDR processing. I have a bunch of data taken with my 60Da on M42 which I am processing with PI for the first time. Quite a challenge with this object given the high dynamic range.

[AstroTanja (Tanja)]

Did you shoot a variation of exposures? Applying the HDRmultiscale will help, but ultimately the HDRcomposition of various exposures yield better results.

[desler]

Obviously the 60da is performing nicely. Great result!

Darren

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Wow Tanja, that's a really nice M42, loving the strong red and blue colours...have you posted a similar M42 image here before..?

Mike

[gregbradley]

That is a very good M42. The 60Da seems to be a good camera for this type of shot.

Greg.

[atalas]

Nice work.

[AstroTanja (Tanja)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Wow Tanja, that's a really nice M42, loving the strong red and blue colours...have you posted a similar M42 image here before..?

Mike

Thanks! Nope, you probably saw this on Flickr maybe? It's not a new image, it's from end 2013, I did however do a re-edit recently.