With all the lousy weather that we've been having in Sydney I haven't been able to take the RGB data for some images that I have been working on, so I decided to use some of the time to re-process an image of NGC 2997 from a year ago. Upon looking at the original image, the colour looked poor and the processing looked a bit harsh, so I thought I'd have another go and see if I could hopefully do better with another year of experience under my belt
Note that I have also rotated, cropped and upscaled the new image.
Thanks for the feedback Justin and Allan. I wasn't happy with the red saturation (esp. the lanes) in the original so I prefer the reprocessed colour; however after re-scrutinising it I see what you mean Allan - I've left it a bit soft and lacking in some contrast. I usually leave it till the next day to post after I finish so I can view it with fresh eyes so I shouldn't have broken my own rule here
Anyway, I've re-tweaked the colour and contrast and think it is much better now (tks for the feedback Allan) - I've posted the update at the same link.
That's better David,
I still prefer the red/yellow/brown colour at the center of the galaxy on the original.
The new one has a slightly green/yellow colour at the center.
If you could swap centers over with a mask & brush + feathering it would be perfect.
Then again it's only my opinion & I could be wrong.
Latest is a bit smoother and less harsh I guess... but I like the look and visibility of the HII regions in the first also I think some more brightness needs to be brought to the galaxy to make it look less flat
But sheesh, it's a great image regardless and has great details
Thanks Allan, Rick, Greg and Mike for the feedback. I've taken it all on board and have had a final tweak to a) Up the red balance slightly to better highlight the Ha regions and b) Added some brightness to the high end of the histogram to make the galaxy pop a bit more. It's been a useful exercise to hone some processing skill.
A very beautiful swirling galaxy and a top image of it with plenty of detail. I like the many background galaxies too, and there seem to be some distant galaxy clusters in the bottom of the image. There are even galaxies visible through that arms of NGC2997, cool Nice work David!
That's a gorgeous image David, really velvety smooth black background and sparkling sharp details and colour. It was an image of this galaxy in a coffee-table astronomy book I saw as a kid that made a big impression on me getting into astronomy, and this is one of the best I've seen, so thanks for the view!
That's a nice improvement David looks much better, nice work and sorry but I have to say, shows quite clearly that super mega data at all costs in itself simply is not absolutely necessary to produce a quality image
also I think some more brightness needs to be brought to the galaxy to make it look less flat 
