Help with processing

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

Hey guys, just after a bit of advice with processing. I cant seem to get much more out of this image. Its 5 hours of 15 minute subs, all calibrated. I was expecting a bit more out of it, but the more I try the worse it looks. My processing skills are not great. I want to lighten the fuzzy outer edge of the galaxy a bit, but without over brightening the bright parts, bring some more colour into it, while still keeping the background dark and not introducing loads of noise? Or is this pretty much as good as it can get with the data I have? I'm using PS CS5.

Taken with a QHY10 OSC and RC10.
Erik

[Poita (Peter)]

You may want to try pixinsight or startools to get the extra data out of it.
If you have just a straight stacked image then pop it up somewhere and others can have a go at your data.
I reckon there is a lot more in there to be had.

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

Thanks, I'll have a go at some different software. I have a stacked image, but is't 33MB, not sure where to upload it to if anyone was keen to have a go?
Erik

[Poita (Peter)]

You can use dropbox, or I can PM you and you can ftp it to my site.

[alistairsam]

I've been playing around with startools and I'm really liking the features in the beta.

[Oscar in Bin (John)]

Have you tried applying the High Pass filter in PS 5?

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

I set up a dropbox account and have uploaded the stacked image. How can people access it?
Erik

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

I downloaded Startools also. Been having a play and it is actually staring to look pretty good. Still need to learn what all the functions do. Cant save it though because it is only the trial version, but here is a screenshot.

[Poita (Peter)]

You can just share a link to the dropbox file.

instructions are hrere :
https://www.dropbox.com/help/167/en

I look forward to seeing it!

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

Think this is it...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j93tvofu7m...hr%20Stack.TIF

[DavidNg (David)]

Originally Posted by E_ri_k

I downloaded Startools also. Been having a play and it is actually staring to look pretty good. Still need to learn what all the functions do. Cant save it though because it is only the trial version, but here is a screenshot.

What ever you did Erik, it looks much better already.

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

Thanks David. I'm actually not sure what I did haha ! Just messed around with colour balance and gradients.
Erik

[Poita (Peter)]

When you click on the link for Erik's file (https://www.dropbox.com/s/j93tvofu7m...hr%20Stack.TIF) you get what looks like an empty page. But click on the download button at the top right of that screen and then choose direct download and the file will come down.

Who wants to have a go at it first?

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

I just had a quick play with the dropbox file in PixInsight.

Workflow:
Crop
DBE
Background Neutralisation
Colour Correction (using NGC253 itself as the white reference, with structure detection unchecked)
a quick Histogram stretch
HDR Multiscale Transform (4 layers, deringing enabled, no lightness mask)
Denoise - SCNR followed by ACDNR
Curve adjustment - saturation and luminance

I'm sure others can do better - i'm still learning the ropes with PixInsight myself.

btw I noticed after i finished all that there are some hot pixels in the image. running a cosmetic correction didn't seem to work for me to get rid of them, so you probably needed to do that back during the calibration and stacking step.

[Poita (Peter)]

Great job pulling the colour detail out, pixinsight is worth the steep learning curve eh?

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

That's pretty awesome for a quickie Well done. I had a go at Pixinsight, but I don't understand it all yet...
Erik

[mill (Martin)]

A quick play in CS5.

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

That's pretty good Martin. I think I have a lot to learn in regards to processing. Nice result!

Erik

[whzzz28 (Nathan)]

You've got some good data there.
The stars are really odd though. Some sort of line going through them? I thought the QHY10 had anti-blooming... maybe not.

You're also going to need darks. Those bad pixels stick out

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

That's awesome Nathan! Way better than my attempt It confirms that my processing skills need ALOT of work. There were only about 8 darks or so in that stack, probably not enough? Those purple lines around the stars bugged me also for a while. It turns out there is a setting in the QHY called "Clamp" depending if that is on or off, it is supposed to reduce that effect, but it doesn't seem to remove them 100%, which is a bit annoying. What did you process the file in?

Looks really good, I'm happy the data is good and that it's possible to get something out of it!

Erik