M8 - Lagoon Nebula

[rocco57au (Rocky)]

Here's my latest attempt at AP of the Lagoon Nebula color and B&W.
Taken with my Canon EOS7D and Orion ED80T with lots of light pollution in my surroundings. Only managed 14x30 sec subs, no darks or flats before it clouded over.
My post processing still needs a lot of work but hey, I'm still a work in progress

Thanks for looking
Rocky

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

I think they are coming along nicely. Just need more subs with clearer weather, so well done.

[alistairsam]

That's looking good Rocky,

I'd say your focus was slightly off. Do you use a Bahtinov Mask? they're the best for focusing.

To make your own mask, you can generate a mask online, print it on a normal laser printer on white paper, laminate and cut out the clear areas.

Else just print it on transparency sheets for laser printers although this would be a bit flimsy, maybe glue a few sheets together.

Cheers
Alistair

[raymo]

Your shot shows little detail or colour for 7 mins. Were you using a low ISO Rocky?
raymo

[multiweb (Marc)]

Very nice field. You need to flat field your subs and watch out for your histogram when processing. It's black clipped. But the data is excellent.

[rocco57au (Rocky)]

Thanks for the feedback guys, comments are always appreciated

@ cometcatcher, took me a little while to set up and didn't see the clouds coming over (have limited view/visibilty because of trees and adjoining buildings at the back of my place) so better luck next time, I hope..

@ alistairsam, yes, I realised they were slightly out of focus (my vision is not as good as it used to be... comes with age lol) but I have read about the Bahtinov Mask and planning to make use of one next time

@ raymo, had started with 800 ISO and saw too much noise on camera view so went back to ISO 200 hoping to get better results. Ran out of time before I could use various settings due to cloud cover...

@ multiweb, I still have a lot to learn and post processing has never really been one of my strongest points but with a lot of research and wealth of info found here, time permitting, I SHALL improve

Thanks again!!!
Rocky