Probably My Best Eta To Date

leon · #1 11-12-2007, 04:55 PM

Hi Guys, yep i was at it again last night, cant help myself when it is clear.

Some of you may not agree, so please comment on its merit, but to me i think it the best one of Eta Cariena that i have captured, to date.

It consisted of 12 exposures at 3 minutes each at 500 ISO, through the Takahashi 106 and 5D, all on top of the G11, and guided.

Flats/Darks, and processed in Image Plus, with some Digital Development, and some Brightness and Contrast enhanced.

First is the actual wide field, un-cropped, and then followed with a cropped version of the center of this beautiful object.

Please give me heaps if you can see where i can improve, i need all the help i can get,

Leon

Tamtarn · #2 11-12-2007, 05:06 PM

In our opinion Leon that would have to be your best ever

Nothing more needs to be said

iceman (Mike) · #3 11-12-2007, 05:21 PM

Great shot Leon, I really love the widefield. I'm not as much of a fan of the cropped version - the stars look crunchy and perhaps over-sharpened.

However with the widefield, again I'd look at your composition. How do you compose your shots? Do you take shorter test exposures to get composition right, or do you look through the viewfinder?

In my opinion, composition plays a very important part of the final result, and it's worth spending an extra 5 minutes to get it right.

leon · #4 11-12-2007, 05:44 PM

Thanks Barb and Dave, and Mike.

Mike i have to admit i should spend some more time on composition, I realise that this can make a difference to the final result.

I do take single shots first and check that for focus, and exposure, values, but obviously over look the composition.

Thanks for the comments in that regard, it will be something i will concentrate on in the future.

Leon

browndog (Ian) · #5 11-12-2007, 05:53 PM

I agree with the others... this is great shot Leon. Well Done.

Wow, so many stars in that wide-field image.

As a personal opinion - I think that the colour of the nebula is a bit too deep-red for my liking

, but that is only my personal preference, or it may be my monitor here at work is not ideally calibrated.

Great image though - keep 'em coming.

leon · #6 11-12-2007, 07:30 PM

Thanks Ian, but that redness in the image was not processed into the pic, i did not add saturation to the final result, that is how the camera picked it up.

I did actually look at that and thought the same thing, thank you for your comments.

Leon

dugnsuz (Doug) · #7 11-12-2007, 08:46 PM

Very nice image leon,
I like the colours from the camera.
Sharp, excellent tracking - I would be happy with that and the potential your setup shows.
Stars look a little 'crunchy' - perhaps due to saving for the web in PS??
Great widefield mate - makes me want to go back to the lenses!
Cheers
Doug

leon · #8 11-12-2007, 09:03 PM

Thanks Doug, yea i agree, squashing a 3.5 mb image to 200 kb can have some abnormal results, the high res image dose look better than the one posted, but there is still room for improvement that's for sure.

Cheers leon

EzyStyles (Eric) · #9 11-12-2007, 10:53 PM

beautiful shot leon! you have captured heaps of nebs. can't really comment on any negative besides around the keyhole, try not to stretch the data too much as it is slightly bloated. you will loose details that way. what i normally do is use layer mask technique and keep an eye on the histogram when you are stretching it.

Ric · #10 12-12-2007, 12:22 AM

Hi Leon, I'm a novice in processing so I won't even attempt a comment in that dept.

But to my untrained eyes it's a ripper and very enjoyable to view on my screen. you've definitely raised the bar for yourself with this one.

Cheers

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #11 12-12-2007, 12:34 AM

Great stuff Leon!!!

Can't help but get terrific images with the great skies we've been having!!! 8 in a row now, and 4 more to come before Saturdays rain.

Your image shows you are really getting on top of your gear

Garyh · #12 12-12-2007, 08:11 AM

Yeap....excellent result Leon!
You are starting to master all the gear and mainly the processing side of it all...
Absolutley a beauty!
cheers

leon · #13 12-12-2007, 08:52 AM

Thank You guys your comments, are much appreciated,

I have learn't heaps from all you good people,

I just wish my skies were darker.

I have tried to convince Alice to move to the country, but she is not that interested, like the town life a bit better, but for me the bush is the way to go.

Leon