Beginners Tarantula Nebula

COSMOPARADISE (Nick) · #1 01-03-2012, 12:56 AM

I took this image from my with my Skywatcher Black Diamond 150 Mak-Cas @ f12 and an Orion Parsec 8300M with Astrodon Gen 2 LRGB atop a HEQ5PRO. Guiding thanks to DSI II PRO through Orion ST80 and PHD. MaximDL for image acquisition flats, darks, bias's and all processing. Just got CS4 so i bit of a playaround to be had.
L 25x40sec, RGB 12x40secs, all 2x2 @ -14c
Taken at Chevron Island, next to Surfers, so quite a lot of light pollution, during a rare break from weeks of overcast weather.
First real test of the Don's filters and as soon as my Meade 102 comes back from collimation i'll be on to it with that scope.
However I'm itching for a TSA-102S

and predict I may take the plunge and invest in one of these fine instruments quite soon.

Thanks for looking...

bartman (Bart) · #2 01-03-2012, 01:49 AM

Nice one Nick,
I tried the Tarantula tonight too......but just couldnt get proper focus or alignment happ'ning. Then just got frustrated and gave up.
Cheers
Bartman

telecasterguru (Frank) · #3 01-03-2012, 07:20 AM

Nick,

Good start but you may need to tone the colour down a little.

Frank

multiweb (Marc) · #4 01-03-2012, 08:10 AM

Your data is very good. You just need to brush up on the processing side of things and watch your histogram clipping. A repro is on order as it's a nice shot and worth working on it.

gregbradley · #5 01-03-2012, 08:35 AM

You got a lot of things right there so that was good.

The processing side is the other side of things that can take a while to know. Ron Wodaski's Zone System book is very good as are the processing DVD tutorials by Adam Block.

Greg.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #6 01-03-2012, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bartman

......but just couldnt get proper focus or alignment happ'ning. Then just got frustrated and gave up.
Cheers
Bartman

Want me to confuzzle you about this too Barto

Nice result Nick (how you going BTW?

) as Marc said it's a bit dark/clipped but only practise and trying things will improve things...incredible insight that huh?

Mike

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #7 01-03-2012, 06:03 PM

You've done well by not burning the core out

So far so good

Ross G · #8 01-03-2012, 07:01 PM

Nice photo Nick.

Ross.

COSMOPARADISE (Nick) · #9 01-03-2012, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

You got a lot of things right there so that was good.

The processing side is the other side of things that can take a while to know. Ron Wodaski's Zone System book is very good as are the processing DVD tutorials by Adam Block.

Greg.

Thanks Greg, New CCD Aastro has helped a lot and Zone System is on my wish list as well as Adams videos.

COSMOPARADISE (Nick) · #10 01-03-2012, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Want me to confuzzle you about this too Barto

Nice result Nick (how you going BTW?

) as Marc said it's a bit dark/clipped but only practise and trying things will improve things...incredible insight that huh?

Mike

Cheers S/Man, not too bad mate, yes dark clipped, I see that now and thats why its up here for this wonderful avenue of constructive criticism by experienced eyes

Ive much to learn in post proc and its taken me 2 years to get this far and Im loving every challenge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ballaratdragons

You've done well by not burning the core out

So far so good

Cheers B/Drags, that did take a bit of work, and keeping the sub length below 50 helped. A few previous attempts ended up blown out hence this my first image post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross G

Nice photo Nick.

Ross.

Ross

COSMOPARADISE (Nick) · #11 02-03-2012, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

Your data is very good. You just need to brush up on the processing side of things and watch your histogram clipping. A repro is on order as it's a nice shot and worth working on it.

Cool, thanks Multi. I could get a lot more out of it if I didnt rush it much and I'll incorporate the tips from here to bring some more detail out

.
Not the right setup for this work but goes to show what my config can produce.

Quote:

Originally Posted by telecasterguru

Nick,

Good start but you may need to tone the colour down a little.

Frank

Thanks for the tip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bartman

Nice one Nick,
I tried the Tarantula tonight too......but just couldnt get proper focus or alignment happ'ning. Then just got frustrated and gave up.
Cheers
Bartman

Thaks Bart, CCD cameras and computers help a lot with those 2 pieces of the pie. Dont give up, the result is worth the trials