Opinions Please

[Alchemy (Clive)]

the last of the good images from last night, the flame in Orion 12 inch newt and 360 sec subs. processing was not easy as i had hoped due to the obvious bright star, had several goes at processing it. Couldnt decide how to finish it , ideally i would have liked the star to stay as a point with the flame brought out, the blue wash over most of the image was .... well difficult.

of the 5 which do you prefer and why, if you would process more what would you do to improve?

ive ticked the poll box so hopefully it works...

On a final note glad i took time off to image last night as the clouds are rolling in (that weather man promised good weather).....now raining

[h0ughy (David)]

they all look ok but no 2 appealed to me with a tighter star

[vash (Ashley)]

I prefer number one, the nebula's colour looks better as 2 seems to be a little dark and flat.

[jase (Jason)]

Difficult call to make. Such a large flare detracts from the flame nebula. I think I would have processed this somewhat differently. Perhaps experimented with a clipping mask to gain greater control over the star intensity. If I had to make a choice I'd go with Houghy - no.2.

[Lee]

I like no 1 - nicer, richer colour in the nebula.

[NQLD_Newby]

I like number 1. The colours look deeper and richer. I obviously know nothing about astro photography as I even prefer the large bright star. It looks to me like the burning mass of gas that it is. Number two looks a little too un-natural to me. Just my opinion mind you.

[h0ughy (David)]

well I am glad we dont agree - that way we can confuse him

[Ric]

No.2 for me Alchemy, the star isn't as overpowering to me and the flame nebula comes out more.

Cheers

[Alchemy (Clive)]

doh .... well at least i know its either 1 or 2.
if only that star wasnt there. i will store all the data and one day when ive got a bit more xperience in the processing dept i will have a try to redo this one. still it was the first time ive done this object so im happy for now.

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

I like #5 then #2

[Garyh]

No 1 does it for me, flame stands out nice and you have stopped some of that bright diffraction around the brightest stars!

[JohnH]

Number 2 - I prefer the tighter star - the neb stands out well. Jusy one observation the N-S diffraction spike separates into two distinct diverging lines - what causes that I wonder?

[RB (Andrew)]

I like the colours of the Flame in #1 but in the end I voted for #5 because I loved the blue hue that Alnitak cast over the image.
It kinda gives the image that "2001 - A Space Odyssey" look, clean and sharp.

Great work on those Alchemy.

[Dr Nick (Nick)]

I prefer number 5 because of the colour i think

[Alchemy (Clive)]

so many ideas.... ive redone to try to bring out colour in nebula and used a masking process suggested by jase, had to knock out blue cast somewhat though...

thankyou for everyones ideas and suggestions, another opinion often shows you what you can miss.

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

I like #6 with a bit more depth in the image. Beautiful image by the way.

[Tamtarn]

Like the reprocessed image #6 looks sharper and this gives the feeling of more depth. - Great image you should be proud of.

[robin]

Number 2 is my 2 cents