Horsehead IC 434

[spearo (Frank)]

Hello All,
here's my Horsehead.
6X10 min ISO 800
Canon EOS 20Da
Celestron C14 with 6.3 focal reducer so i think F/7 or thereabouts...
G11 autoguided

not as bright as I'd like it but i think the focus was good (Bahtinov mask!)
cheers
frank

[Hagar (Doug)]

Nice image Frank. Weren't you able to lighten it up a bit?
Looks like you need some more exposure.
Nice and clear.

[iceman (Mike)]

Lovely result, Frank. Can you mask out the stars and lighten the nebula that way?

[Ric]

Nice capture Frank, the focus does look quite tight. What are your thought on using the Bahtinov mask?

[Jen]

Well done Frank

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks everyone,
i agree it needs to be brightened. I've been cautious with the processing. I know what I want for Xmas....processing skills!
I love the "Bat mask" !
I'll have another go at it see if I can brighten it up without wrecking it. I just tried by masking the stars but didnt turn out too good, I'll keep trying and repost.
frank

[spearo (Frank)]

is this better?
still not 100% but possibly a bit better?
frank

[spearo (Frank)]

a bit better?
call this version 3...
frank

[Lester]

That is a very nice close up of the Horse Head, well done Frank.

[RB (Andrew)]

Frank it's a lovely image but all you need to do is adjust the levels in PS.
There's some vignetting but the rest is great.

Here's what I did:

In Photoshop goto: Image | Adjustments | Levels

Adjust the midpoint box (Input Levels) from 1.00 to 2.34

That's it.

From there you can muck around to suit.
Good shooting.

[Hagar (Doug)]

Hi Frank, I too could not resist the urge to have a go at playing with your image. I created a star mask and just lifted the background in curves. moved the colour balance a little and reduced the stars a touch.
I hope you don't mind.

[Matty P (Matt)]

A great image Frank. Some nice detail showing.

The horsehead is one object I'd like to really go deep on but I wouldn't like my chances with an unmodded DSLR.

Excellent work.

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Matty

Even with an unmodded DSLR you can still capture it reasonably well.
This is my effort from last year with my unmodded 350D and ED80.

[peeb61 (Paul)]

Great image Frank, I too have the same problems in processing and we might get the same gift for Christmas.

Amazing how much more detail can be brought out with the know how.

Paul

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Very nice work Frank!

Whats with all this reprocessing though? sheesh! I dunno??...wouldn't see me doing anything like that

I think your first version, although darker, is the most natural looking to me. Dougs reprocess is pretty good too but like others on here you need good flats to be able to push your images or the vignetting shows and detracts from the overall scene a bit.

Nice job, always love looking at the horsehaed

Mike

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks everyone!
I never mind people spending time trying to improve my images, i love it! especially as you guys also list what you've done so I can learn from it.
much appreciated.
That first one was wayyyy to dark. Version 3 was getting closer to Doug's but i was getting nervous about pushing it too much.

The vignetting was driving me nuts too, and when i try to get rid of it through "apply image" or other techniques i end up losin g too much of the IC434 nebulosity....
I really need to start using flats and bias etc which i never got around to mastering.
Ill keep at it
many thanks
frank