Eta Carina in Ha

Tinker · #1 02-01-2009, 01:04 PM

Hi All,

This is my very first Ha Image with a Baader 7nm. I'm very impressed so far with it's performance from my light polluted backyard.

Image details:
Scope - William Optics ZS80II ED with Flattener 3
Camera - Canon 400D Modded
Filter - Baader 7nm Ha
Mount - EQ6 Pro
Guiding - Orion ST80 and Meade DSI with PHD
Exposure - 10x7min, 10x2min, ISO 800, 10 darks and flats.
Processing - Images Plus and Photoshop CS3

Happy New Year too to everyone!!

Kind regards

Joe

AlexN · #2 02-01-2009, 01:08 PM

looks to be a good start! I think the black might be a little clipped, I havent checked, but it does seem that way... and its a little low on the contrast side of things...

but the focus/details/tracking look great!

Alex.

renormalised (Carl) · #3 02-01-2009, 01:14 PM

Good start...nice definition, just need a bit more contrast.

bluescope · #4 02-01-2009, 01:24 PM

Hi Joe

I like the wide fov of your image ... just did a little tweak ... hope you like it !

Peter Ward · #5 02-01-2009, 01:27 PM

Eta being nearly as commonly imaged as M42, is a tough target to make a really stand out effort.

Looks flat (low dynamic range) and stretched too much (ie noise at sky level) to me.

Spot on guiding and focus. Just needs a few tweaks in PS.

Stick with it.

Tinker · #6 02-01-2009, 06:50 PM

Thanks for your comments, I've had some time to play around a bit with the image today and I reckon this is an improvement.

I think I'm understanding how to avoid the black clipping. It's never an easy job processing, but I think it's at least 50% of the whole process.

I'll keep on to it, and maybe try adding some colour data sometime, oh the joy!

Thanks again

Joe

bluescope · #7 03-01-2009, 06:18 PM

That's a much better version Joe .... nice to have the original data to work with ay !

multiweb (Marc) · #8 03-01-2009, 09:24 PM

Cool shot. Looks good. Nice tracking.

AlexN · #9 03-01-2009, 10:21 PM

Oooh... im really really starting to like this data of yours!

Looks very impressive indeed..

Just need some color data to mix in and you'll be set!

anthony.tony · #10 03-01-2009, 11:50 PM

It's like your in there too.

atalas · #11 04-01-2009, 10:06 PM

Hi Joe and congrats on your first Ha image !

The last repro is looking very nice !

The thing to remember when stretching an image is that there is only so many photons and you need to give the right amount of brightening to the right areas....If not you run out of photons...like Peter mentioned the image will start to look flat and also washed out...great effort.

gregbradley · #12 05-01-2009, 10:35 PM

Spectacular start to Ha!

The repro seemed to nail it.

Greg.