M8 Mosaic Rerun

[Rex]

Hi everyone, this is my second attempt at doing this mosaic. I was actually really happy with my first except I had some focuser tilt issues that made for really weird shaped stars. The original thread for that attempt is here if anyone is interested.
Anyway, after much adjusting etc etc, I re-shot the data and here is my second attempt (stars are not perfect but much better). I also noticed after the fact that I over stretched my first attempt so I went a little easier this time around.
Technical data:
Imaging telescope: Skywatcher CFP2008 Carbon Fibre 8" f4
Imaging cameras: Canon 1100D Astro modded
Mounts: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro
Guiding telescopes: 4" f5 Newtonian
Guiding cameras: QHY5
Locations: Townsville NQld Australia
Frames: 124x300" 62 for each panel @ ISO800.
Integration: approx 5 hrs per panel
Software:Astro Photography Tool, Pixinsight 1.8, PHD guiding
Filters: Astronomik CLS-CCD Clip
Accessories: Baader MPCC coma corrector

Even though this is my first post in this forum, I post my images to learn how to make them better, so constructive critique would be very much appreciated. Thanks for looking.

[RickS (Rick)]

Nice work, Rex!

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

I think that's a great result Rex. As a first post in the Deep Space forum i reckon you've "hit it out of the park" as they say. Very smooth - what ISO setting and noise reduction (if any) did you use?

[Rex]

Originally Posted by RickS

Nice work, Rex!

Thanks Rick, I like the stars in this one a lot better, but can't reproduce the depth of the nebula I achieved last time without blowing out the core of the brighter stars. Never the less I am reasonably happy with it.

Originally Posted by rmuhlack

I think that's a great result Rex. As a first post in the Deep Space forum i reckon you've "hit it out of the park" as they say. Very smooth - what ISO setting and noise reduction (if any) did you use?

Thanks Richard, glad you like it. I'm not sure why but I actually really struggled this time getting the panels to match in illumination so that when I integrated them you couldn't see the join. Practice makes perfect, or so they say. Sorry I forgot to list the ISO, this is ISO800, I'll add that detail to the first post. Noise reduction I used my usual routine which consists of making a synthetic luminance channel, and also extracting the RGB channels. I use a luminance mask on each channel, and then then run a very subdued ATWT on all four channels. Normally only the first 2 wavelets, sometimes three. The actual settings for each change depending on the noise that's in each channel. Like I said I go very very easy on it because otherwise you end up with a blob at the end. After that I do an LRGB recombine. That's the only noise reduction I do throughout the whole processing, if I get to the end and I am not happy I come back change the settings and redo everything after that. I am still experimenting with the TVG denoise that you pointed me towards, but I haven't found the optimum settings as yet.

[Ross G]

A great looking photo Rex.

Excellent detail with nice colours.

I love the composition.

Ross.

[nebulosity. (Jo)]

Superb image Rex, well done.

Jo

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Very nice work Rex! I always admire the enormous effort required to gather data and process mosaics. Well done!

In the spirit of constructive critique I'd mention a couple of things. The colour is a bit on the salmon side - it needs more red / magenta / blue IMO. Hope you don't mind - I briefly messed around with the colour balance of one of your frames in Photoshop by way of illustration - see below. Opinions will differ of course as colour & saturation is mostly a matter of personal preference . Also wondering whether you can process some colour back into the stars?

Cheers, Marcus

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Much to like about this image Rex and well done on the mozaicing

Along the same lines as Marcus has detailed, the image might be helped with some more blue..?

Great stuff

Mike

[Rex]

Originally Posted by Ross G

A great looking photo Rex.

Excellent detail with nice colours.

I love the composition.

Ross.

Thanks Ross. I feel like I'm getting better with each image, I really struggle with processing and knowing when to stop. One day no doubt I will just know, in the mean time I will rely on you guys to tell me what is wrong so I can fix it.

Originally Posted by nebulosity.

Superb image Rex, well done.

Jo

Thanks Jo.

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Very nice work Rex! I always admire the enormous effort required to gather data and process mosaics. Well done!

In the spirit of constructive critique I'd mention a couple of things. The colour is a bit on the salmon side - it needs more red / magenta / blue IMO. Hope you don't mind - I briefly messed around with the colour balance of one of your frames in Photoshop by way of illustration - see below. Opinions will differ of course as colour & saturation is mostly a matter of personal preference . Also wondering whether you can process some colour back into the stars?

Cheers, Marcus

Thanks very much Marcus. I wanted to image both these objects in the same frame, and I thought I might have been able to fit them in my FOV to be honest. When I realised that wasn't possible I had a light bulb moment.... why don't I make it a mosaic..... next thing I know I just dove in the deep end without thinking to hard, but all in all it's been a great experience and I thouroughly enjoyed the challenge.

Ah....the dreaded blue or lack of, seems to be a problem I have with my processing. I will have a go at adjusting it and try to get some more colour into the stars. Thanks for the feed back, I really appreciate it. I like your adjustments better than my original, so thanks for the example of what you were meaning. As long as people keep telling me what they think is wrong with my images I can work on getting better. It's really hard to get better if you don't know that something isn't quite right.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Much to like about this image Rex and well done on the mozaicing

Along the same lines as Marcus has detailed, the image might be helped with some more blue..?

Great stuff

Mike

Thanks Mike, same comments as I made to Marcus above, thanks for the honest feed back. With time and more processing under my belt and you guys telling where I need to make some adjustments I will have images to be proud of before I know it.