Helix in Narrowband

[Ric]

Hi all, here is my latest image in narrowband, the Helix Nebula. Taken with the LX200R 12", DSI II using a f/3.3 FR with 13nm Ha, OIII and SII filters.

This image consists of 60 x 30 second subs in each of Ha, OIII and SII.

They were individually combined with DSS and then a final combination in MaximDL. There was also a bit of tweaking in Paint Shop Pro to bring it out a bit more.

Cheers and all comments welcome.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

good looking helix Ric. The narrow band has brought out some great details for the relatively short exposures.

Peter

[jase (Jason)]

Good work Ric. You may want to check out your histogram. Perhaps raise the black points for both green and blue channels to neutralise the background. You've acquired some good detail as some of the cometary knots are coming through. Well done.

[Dennis]

Hi Ric

You’ve got a great image there – well done.

Cheers

Dennis

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Yes the Helix is a great object to image and you have captured it nicely with some of those inner globules showing.Try the suggestions made by Jase as the whole frame is looking rather green and perhaps darken it a tad..? Incidentally what sort of monitor are you using for the processing?

Mike

[Matty P (Matt)]

A great result Ric considering the very short exposures.

You have captured some really nice detail.

Very well done.

When did you take these images?

[Ric]

Originally Posted by peter_4059

good looking helix Ric. The narrow band has brought out some great details for the relatively short exposures.

Peter

Thanks Peter, narrowband is certainly one area that I enjoy imaging in.

Originally Posted by jase

Good work Ric. You may want to check out your histogram. Perhaps raise the black points for both green and blue channels to neutralise the background. You've acquired some good detail as some of the cometary knots are coming through. Well done.

Thanks Jase I appreciate your tips and comments and shall have a look at the black points in the blue and green channels.

Originally Posted by Dennis

Hi Ric

You’ve got a great image there – well done.

Cheers

Dennis

Thanks Dennis, I'm glad you liked it.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yes the Helix is a great object to image and you have captured it nicely with some of those inner globules showing.Try the suggestions made by Jase as the whole frame is looking rather green and perhaps darken it a tad..? Incidentally what sort of monitor are you using for the processing?

Mike

Thanks Mike, I appreciate your coments. this one was processed on the laptop with an LCD monitor but I usually use the tower computer which has a CRT monitor.

Originally Posted by Matty P

A great result Ric considering the very short exposures.

You have captured some really nice detail.

Very well done.

When did you take these images?

thanks Matt, I glad you enjoyed it. I took this one in late July. I was just starting to appear at the end of a imaging run. I thought seeing as I was already setup I might as well have a go.


Once again thanks to everyone, sometimes I'm very critical of my images as to there worthiness to post. I think that maybe I should post them more often and let the members of this forum be the judges.

Cheers all

[Kevnool (Kev)]

I like it Ric ,nice one mate.....no critisism here buddy.....cheers Kev.

[Jeffkop (Jeff)]

Hmmm ... narrowband eh .. uh-oh looks like something else to spend some bux on ... I like it Ric ... and Im positive that any image is worthy of posting here if thats what one wants to do.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Nice work Ric, its all there apart from the colour balance. Hope you dont mind, all I did was tweak the levels, nothing else.

[Ric]

Originally Posted by Kevnool

I like it Ric ,nice one mate.....no critisism here buddy.....cheers Kev.

Thanks Kev

Originally Posted by Jeffkop

Hmmm ... narrowband eh .. uh-oh looks like something else to spend some bux on ... I like it Ric ... and Im positive that any image is worthy of posting here if thats what one wants to do.

Thanks Jeff, it's definitely not cheap for even the the entry level filters but I do consider it money well spent. thanks for the support.

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Nice work Ric, its all there apart from the colour balance. Hope you dont mind, all I did was tweak the levels, nothing else.

Thanks Fred, I dont mind at all, if fact I find it very helpful as it will give me an idea of where I should be aiming. Your tweaks and Jase's tips will be very helpful.

Many thanks all

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Ric

I have to be brutal now, levels is a no brainer, levels and curves are so basic, I dont know, does paint shop pro have them?. If not, these are basic tools, it makes me weep ( and Jase I bet) that these basic one click tools arnt used after soooo much effort in set up and capture (let alone all the other available tools in PS). Some times you have to bite the bullit and buy/scam the right tools

[Ric]

Hi Fred, brutal is good and point taken.

PSP does have levels and curves and I have probably not given them the full level of attention that they should have. I think it would also be a good move or me to refresh the old grey matter with the basics again as well.

Cheers

[Bassnut (Fred)]

This is how they look in PS curves, the original is all over the place on each colour. Looks like you didnt even look at it .

[Garyh]

Lovely detail Ric! Plenty in this image to look at!
Yes great advice from Fred to bring all the colors into balance again...
cheers

[Ric]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

This is how they look in PS curves, the original is all over the place on each colour. Looks like you didnt even look at it .

Ta Fred, the images of the curves are very helpful.

Originally Posted by Garyh

Lovely detail Ric! Plenty in this image to look at!
Yes great advice from Fred to bring all the colors into balance again...
cheers

Thanks Gary, glad you liked it.

[Kal (Andrew)]

Very nice capture Ric, and, aaaah, very nice post processing Fred!