Hi All
You must be getting fed up with my reprocesses but I have to keep myself sane when the weather is bad. Following tips and comments from various people from different forums, I decided to go back to the drawing board on the processing of my M 82 image, this time I did the following
Combined using Sigma Clip with a Sigma factor of 3.0 in Maxim DL
Stretched each master frame using log, maximum pixel value and 16 bit
Saved to 16 bit tiff
Blended 100% Ha to Red channel using normal stretch mode
Blended 20% Ha to Blue channel using normal stretch mode
Nothing done to Green channel
Manually combined RGB channels in Photoshop CS2 using default settings
Levels and curves
Contrast enhancement
Unsharp mask
Shadow highlight adjustments to bring down the core a bit
Mild gradient removal with Gradient Xterminator
Mild noise reduction using Noel's tools
The result is that the background is less black so the comment about clipping the black point seems to be resolved. There is more detail in the red jets than the previous reprocess. I think I have gone as far as I can with the data that I have, unless .........
I think I will try this again when seeing conditions are better as I had to deal with the moon, neighbours lights and a hazy sky, also longer Ha subframes will be beneficial
I have enclosed the final reprocess as well as the previous one for comparison, the first "cigar.jpg" is the final reprocess as described above, the earlier ones can be found on my website
http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk to see how this image has progressed. Ain't learning fun!!!
Thanks for your patience
Best wishes
Gordon
