Very nice Chris, You have a bit of amp glow visible on the right hand side but this is easily fixed with darks and if this doesn't quite do it you can always frame your shot a little more to the left and just trim off the right hand side.
You haven't given any info about the capture or process used so it is a bit hard to advise what may help you.
I am jealous that you can get this wonderful galaxy from your site as it is way to low for me to capture from here.
Keep at it mate. You are well on the way with an image like this.
Well done.
Looks good to me, stars look tight so your tracking and focus was fine and you have some nice structure showing in M31.
I am not yet experienced in digital DSO photography but to me this result looks promising.
Chris I think IIS is for everyone into astronomy and although I enjoy looking at the work of the many very experienced imagers on these forums I also enjoy following the progress of the inexperienced as they improve. There are many here willing to share their knowledge and help others to improve.
its nice to get some feed back on one of my deep sky objects,i have submitted some before,and never had much feed back,which i found
dissappointing,with all the time spent,
The pic was taken with 300D on 4 inch ED vixen refractor,on GP mount
ungiuded, 3 and a half minutes,no stacking
its nice to get some feed back on one of my deep sky objects,i have submitted some before,and never had much feed back,which i found
dissappointing,with all the time spent,
The pic was taken with 300D on 4 inch ED vixen refractor,on GP mount
ungiuded, 3 and a half minutes,no stacking
Great result for 3.5 minutes of direct exposure particularly unguided. With a cheap guide scope, even a webcam and scope, some active guiding and lots more exposure as in more sub frames and even longer exposures an image like this will jump off the page.
Very nice result.
Keep them coming.
Good to see a "foreign" object every so often. Nice one Chris.
If you're looking for guidance or critique, it helps to blatantly state so when posting the image. I don't know many that would post an image and expect no comments to be made. Kind of defeats the purpose. As Doug points out, put as much information as possible in the initial post to help others understand what you've done to acquire the data and process it.
I, along with many others are all for helping people take their imaging to the next level. That's one of the reasons why people post their work here. As you mention, its disappointing when you don't obtain feedback etc. From the respondents perspective, it is equally disappointing when you put in effort to provide guidance and constructive feedback, when over time you see no considerable improvement in their output. Still, if the person that produced the image is happy with the result, I have no qualms about it. To use a cliché from the Matrix "I can only show you the door, you are the one that must open it". Only you can improve on previous results.
Doug has provided some good advice already. Guiding and longer subs would improve on your output. I would suggest honing your data acquisition skills to get strong data, then shift the focus to the processing side. Keep at it. There is nothing more valuable than getting a few hours experience under dark skies with your gear.
Hi Chris - I don't think there are many professionals on this site - most people here are dedicated enthusiasts - in astrophotography everybody starts at the bottom - how far you progess is up to you. Each time just try to improve someting about your image or imaging technique - you will be amazed how fast things progess.
From the respondents perspective, it is equally disappointing when you put in effort to provide guidance and constructive feedback, when over time you see no considerable improvement in their output.
Jase, just to quantify this statement, I think we have to be patient with each other Jase, as a lot of people want to improve, but they get limited opportunity to practice due to lack of funds for editing programs, lack of time due to family and work commitments, and lack of sky due to locality frequency of cloud cover.
It's hard to improve when you have all these limitations on practice. Some of us even have learning disabilities or have started with a lesser education, making it hard to grasp some concepts as we are starting from scratch. You just never know what is going on at the telescope on the other end of the internet.
My first ones (yes I have kept them) are garbage and I am still not ready for an APOD yet (The pinnacle of success?) Thanks to the guidance of blokes like yourself Jase , us slowpokes are getting there......
I am so glad for your's and other's C&C on those early attempts and even now as I would not be achieving my current results without your correction. I appreciate it so much IIS!
this is for gerald sagents,i dont expect anyone else to look at it
or leave a comment,as i am not a professional astro-imager,or
professional astronomer,as appears to be the case before you are
accepted on this site
eh?
I am starting to take images, and i suck, and i mean i REALLY suck, this image is way better than anything i have ever taken !!
Although i wouldnt think twice about posting something on here, even if it was total garbage, because the feedback i get here, although sometimes hard to hear (read) its always constructive, and never personal, and my pictures have improved for it.
That said its a lovely pic, whoever took it. Thanks for posting and sharing with us. good work !!
I fully concur Baz. I should have articulated it better and would like to be clear in that I'm not having a shot at anyone, but a more generalised address. I do acknowledge that everyone's approach and goals are different. Instinctively, we're all looking to improve our output. I'm no different and still have much to learn. There is of course budding imagers on this forum that have embraced the information presented to them and are continually achieving new heights with their work. I could easily ring out a list of imagers names as long as my arm detailing their work which has made me stop and think wow that's cool. This undoubtedly provides a catalyst for myself and others to aid them along, to see their progress and accolades. Posting images is about sharing ones journey...good can only come of it as the our imaging community knowledge grows as does the overall quality of output.
So to that end, Chris, keep posting your work and don't feel threatened by the so called "professionalism" - its just a façade anyway!
I was initially a little dismayed at the first post.
Good to see that others have taken up the gauntlet and provided some advice. I have a tendency not to post things like "nice image" as I think that this is a given. Every image posted in this forum is (unless otherwise noted) the best an imager has produced, hence it's always a nice image.
Where I will post is when I can see an obvious improvement that can be achieved with the current equipment, usually that is just in the processing of an image. I too know the excitement of taking a night's images to the computer and processing them to produce an image that I'm proud of, sometime you should not post it on the first night, but have another crack at it later down the track, but still you post it anyway.
I have no problem with beginners posting here, we all had to start out somewhere. As far as this particular image is concerned, it's a great first go, Doug has mentioned the improvements I'd make, so I won't reiterate them. I'm envious as I can't even see M31 from my observatory, it's really low in the North and other people's houses block the view, as well as the obligatory street lights etc.
So, Chris, keep at it, if you don't get a response really screw with the processing (see my green M20 for an example) then you'll get a response!
As for the professionalism bit, that was the part of the post that dismayed me, is anyone on the forum a "Professional"? There are a few advanced amateurs with some top kit, but I don't know of anyone who sells their pics to make a living. Few actually sell their pics at all, most like myself give them away. Most of the advanced imagers on the forum will give you advice freely, sort of like having Tiger Woods giving you golf advice for free.
Honest constructive feedback which is in no way personal is always welcome.
I'm guilty of not posting a response to an image that I don't like but there again I hate seeing someone post and get little or no response.
I'm no expert but I know what I like in an image, and if IMO I see something that may lead to improvement I will often suggest a tweak here or there.
For a single exposure this isn't a bad image and a good start
Tracking appears relatively good for unguided but hard too tell with a smaller image
I would suggest posting either a 800x732 or 1200x800 image around 200kb as gives a better idea of how the tracking was and whether you have extracted enough detail from the data in processing.
Read as much as you can experiment,and most of all have fun doing it.
My only tip (as I dont do deep sky stuff) is to post a bit more of an interesting title, which might encourage more people to click on it and take a look in the first place.
I have found that quirky or interesting titles tend to stand out in the new or today's post lists and therefore I seem to gravitate to those posts. I suppose its a bit like advertising your product too.
That said, it is a nice image and one to be proud of. Yes, it does get disappointing when you see 4 pages of posts discussing other's pics and no replies to your own even when there has been a lot of views, but I think sometimes, the poster's personality, humour and a bit of humility when it comes to critiques or other's comments may be the difference here.
Sometimes, I even gravitate to newbie's posts on DSO and Solar system as it helps me understand the path I may be taking soon and almost ALWAYS shows an improvement which I can follow and even reproduce with the assistance of the constructive comments posted by others.
Certainly posts from Duncan (Toryglen-Boy), who by his own admission is relatively a newbie, are improving out of sight very quickly and by following his progress, I can gauge his improvements and techniques he follows, which in turn helps me, and ultimately brings me enjoyment too, as I feel more impressed each time he posts a better image.
So, bottom line, be open to criticism, tips, help offered and also take as much notice of the observations of others, no matter what background or bankroll they have. If you get no comments, this too, speaks volumes on some level, so maybe, try a different tack next time.
Sorry, waffled on a bit after all, but I tend to do that a lot.
.... well done old boy , jolly good stuff.
