Hi All,
I havent done these before, they dont leave the impression that Carina or the Lagoon leaves on you, but they do have a reasonable magnitude for imaging, The BUG Nebula (ngc6302) is only 0.8 Arc. Min. so it would have been much better imaged with the LX200-10" (next time) The Cats Paw (ngc6334), and IC-4628 are fine imaged with the 80mm F-8 Scope, ngc6334 is some 40 Arc Min. and ngc4628 is 90 x 60 Arc Min. in size, Its always nice to get some new objects, and theres millions of them out there.
cheers.........Jim
ngc 6334= 5 x 6 Min. at ISO800, DF removed, guided
IC 4628= 4 x 6 Min. at ISO800 DF removed, guided
ngc 6302= 4 x 6 Min. at ISO800 DF removed, guided
Last edited by FOOTPRINT; 15-06-2007 at 09:30 AM.
Reason: error
I like them Jim. Well composed. Two comments; Your sky background are very dark. This is typically a good thing, but are you certain you're not black clipping (losing nebulosity)? Everyone has their own processing routines, but here's a tip I go by - set levels before curves, but leave the black point alone until very close to the end of your routine. The reasoning behind this is as a you make minor tweaks to curves, saturation etc you may end up black clipping without knowing it. You can easily tell when you clip the white point, but black point is a little different.
If you're using PS, in the histogram palette, select "all channels view" to see all R, G, B to get a better understanding.
Second comment; Your nebula colours are good, but most of your stars are white/grey appearance. Again if you're using PS, use the colour range tool to select the stars only and boost their saturation to bring out more of their colours. You may need to drop the levels white output before boosting so you don't white clip them.
I would like to be clear that I'm not scrutinising you or your methods. I'm simply offering constructive feedback and advise.
Last edited by jase; 14-06-2007 at 09:15 AM.
Reason: fat fingers
Hi Jase,
Thanks for that, I use Images Plus for processing, and its all a matter of how much time one spends processing as regards results, Photoshop is great as a final processing program, but I havent found it too good for DF subtraction, Combining Etc., although nebula backgrounds can be very good, when I get time I will reprocess these Pix. and see what I come up with.
Hi Jim, I like your images. The Cats paw and Bug nebs have been added to my target list for the 12".
It's good to see images of these Nebulas as now I know what to look for. Without seeing them sometimes I'm not sure if I have the right one or not.
Hi Ric,
Glad you liked the Pix., my first go at them, you should do well with the 12" on the BUG Nebula, I look forward to seeing your results, however the Cats Paw Nebula is quite large as is the other nebula, and unless you use a Focal Reducer on the 12" you wont get enough FOV for these, I havent found a Focal Reducer that will work on the SCTs with a DSLR Camera (large chip) but maybe you are using another type of Camera.
Hi Jim, I'll be using a DSI II Pro coupled with the f/3.3 focal reducer. I dont think I'll be doing much at the moment though with all this cloud cover.
I think these two might be my first targets for the Ha filter when it arrives, I'll be keen to see the results of a new learning curve.
