Orion in hydrogen alpha

[multiweb (Marc)]

Here's an old hyperstar shot I've never processed ... until today. See what the rain makes you do?

I've been experimenting a lot lately with different techniques to separate stars from nebulosity so I can tweak the contrast and details on one or the other independently. Actually that's my excuse. It's mainly because of the weather...

For this one I got rid of all the stars with multiple passes of dust and scratches filter in PS. Then used a difference layer with the original to create a star mask and copied the stars from the original into another layer. Then I started playing with curves,levels, highpass filters with various masks and intensities then a bit of Topaz Lab micro-contrast. So there's a bit of everything in it. It's much better than the original anyway so I was pretty happy with the result and thought I'd post it, because there's always room for another M42 right?

[desler]

Top quality work Marc, I really enjoyed the view, great structure details.

Darren

[astroron (Ron)]

Nice work Marc, very eye catching

[TrevorW]

Cloudy here too so guess what I've been doing

Good work Marc

[David Fitz-Henr]

Yes, very nice work Marc! So you enhance the stars and nebulosity as separate layers and recombine them? Have you tried this for standard RGB images as well?

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Ooooh Aaaaah!!
Nice.

[Peter Ward]

Nice. The core looks a little artificial, but I really like the (hard to capture well) flowing strands. Great work

[batema (Mark)]

The strands look amazing. I am always amazed that no matter how many times you look at an image you always see new stuff in the picture. Beautiful image.

Mark

[MrB (Simon)]

Agreed, the strands are awesome.
Can't wait for the colour data to be added.

[gregbradley]

A very beautiful and nicely processed image.

Greg.

[richardo (Rich)]

Very nicely done Marc!
Maybe imaged to death but it's still great to see it in all the different fov's.
Especially when the outer dust tendrils are brought out as nicely as this.

Gotta love the wet weather (well.... live with at least ) for simply making one sit down and try new techniques... gets you prepared for that one recalcitrant object that needs that little extra touch.

Cheers
Rich

[Octane (Humayun)]

Like an oil painting.

You're really churning them out, Marc.

Excellent effort.

H

[allan gould]

That's really beautiful Mark. Nicely processed and framed. It takes talent to take something that everyone has seen before and give it a new aspect. Really, really nice.
Allan

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Nicely done Marc. Quite surreal

[Hagar (Doug)]

Very nice Marc, The hyperstar is definitly delivering the goods. Lovely detail in the faint swirls and would look great with some colour added but I guess that will have to wait now.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by desler

Top quality work Marc, I really enjoyed the view, great structure details.
Darren

Thanks Darren. Came out detailed enough yeah. Original data was fun to play with.

Originally Posted by astroron

Nice work Marc, very eye catching

Thanks Ron - glad you liked it.

Originally Posted by TrevorW

Cloudy here too so guess what I've been doing
Good work Marc

Thanks Trev. Yeah same here. Although we had a couple of clear nights in Sydney but it's touch and go and I've been lazy setting up. Not game either to get out in between rainfall.

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

Yes, very nice work Marc! So you enhance the stars and nebulosity as separate layers and recombine them? Have you tried this for standard RGB images as well?

Thanks David. Yes. Remember I've been playing with the 3D Stereo thing from astro-anarchy and there is a technique to remove the stars in there. So I used some of his work flow and techniques to make an accurate star mask so I can focus on processing the nebula detail and contrast, then drop the stars back in as 'lighten' mode. I can definitely see that working for RGB although it would be best to do it per channel. I tried to process some old Ha data on NGC2264 that I never managed to salvage and it worked really well. I'll post it in processing tips with a before and after shot.

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Ooooh Aaaaah!!
Nice.

Thanks nettie.

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Nice. The core looks a little artificial, but I really like the (hard to capture well) flowing strands. Great work

Thanks Peter. Yes the core is dodgy. Was burnt to start with. I have a bit of dilemna. With the hyperstar I'll cook the trap, the keyhole or even the tarantula cores at 30s. Problem is that my camera read noise is too great for this exposure time or any shorter. So I'm thinking next time to do a separate shot at F/10 at prime focus, let's say 1-2min then scale it, register and blend it back in. As a result I should be able to capture some details in the center as the whole dynamic range has gone out of the window on this one. It's white, bright and whiter in there...

Originally Posted by batema

The strands look amazing. I am always amazed that no matter how many times you look at an image you always see new stuff in the picture. Beautiful image.
Mark

Thanks Mark. Yes the outside turned out very well. I used a highpass layer at 60px blended back in at 40% to enhance the big arches then another pass at 5.5px blended in at 50% for all the small details.

Originally Posted by MrB

Agreed, the strands are awesome.
Can't wait for the colour data to be added.

Thanks Simon. Colour? I actually have color data on this one from the hyperstar so I might try a Ha blend. Good idea.

Originally Posted by gregbradley

A very beautiful and nicely processed image.
Greg.

Thanks for the kind comments Greg. Much appreciated.

Originally Posted by richardo

Very nicely done Marc!
Maybe imaged to death but it's still great to see it in all the different fov's.
Especially when the outer dust tendrils are brought out as nicely as this.

Gotta love the wet weather (well.... live with at least ) for simply making one sit down and try new techniques... gets you prepared for that one recalcitrant object that needs that little extra touch.

Cheers
Rich

Thanks Rich. Glad you liked it. Yes not much more to do at the moment than repros. Gotta be quick with M42 though. I have it from good sources that it's been imaged so much it's running out of photons. Get in there while you can.

Originally Posted by Octane

Like an oil painting.

You're really churning them out, Marc.

Excellent effort.

H

Thanks H. Repros on old stuff trying new things. Glad you liked it though.

Originally Posted by allan gould

That's really beautiful Mark. Nicely processed and framed. It takes talent to take something that everyone has seen before and give it a new aspect. Really, really nice.
Allan

Thanks a lot Allan. Glad you liked the repro.

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Nicely done Marc. Quite surreal

Thanks Paul.

Originally Posted by Hagar

Very nice Marc, The hyperstar is definitly delivering the goods. Lovely detail in the faint swirls and would look great with some colour added but I guess that will have to wait now.

Thanks Doug. Yes, love my hyperstar. It turned the C11 in a viable widefield rig. Don't get me wrong, I'll still go at F/10 when I get my AO unit and the thing is collimated 200% but this is so quick and so much fun.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

WOW, top work there Marc, deep indeed. Nice to see you found the Astroanarchy site usefull. His pics with average gear show how powerfull his processing method is.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

WOW, top work there Marc, deep indeed. Nice to see you found the Astroanarchy site usefull. His pics with average gear show how powerfull his processing method is.

Thanks Fred. And thanks for posting the link to his processing methods.

[JD2439975 (Justin)]

WOW Marc the detail in those filaments is pretty special, very nice.

Another link to processing technique...Aww my heads going to explode.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by JD2439975

WOW Marc the detail in those filaments is pretty special, very nice.

Another link to processing technique...Aww my heads going to explode.

Thanks mate. I'll put something together with the various steps so you can try on your pics.