2nd attempt - Horsehead and Flame (much improved)

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi all

I had an imaging plan for Saturday night, where I was planning to go to our local dark sky location and do some deep-space imaging. Unfortunately the weather ruined those plans again, but luckily Friday night was clear and although very tired, I didn't want to miss this opportunity to grab some photons.

I wanted to have another go at the horse and flame, because I wasn't at all happy with my first attempt.

Conditions were much better than those from the first attempt. No clouds, no wind to speak of, seeing wasn't good but transparency was just above average.

This image consists of:
- 10x 3 minutes and 5x 5 minutes (55 minutes total) at ISO800, converted to TIF, then adaptive add combined in ImagesPlus.
- Dark subtraction was done using ICNR (no dark frames).
- Images Calibrated with Flats (Yes! First time ever!), 9x flats (ICNR dark subtracted, 2sec exposures @ ISO100) median combined using ImagesPlus.
- Processed using DDP and Saturation in ImagesPlus, followed by Photoshop for Noise Reduction, Levels and Curves.

Taken with the unmodded 350D through a Saxon ED80 (with WO 0.8x reducer) on an EQ6, auto-guided with a 80mm refractor and DMK21AF04 using PHD Guiding.

As much as the ICNR wastes a lot of time (time that could be spent capturing more light frames), the result is a significant improvement over my previous attempts using dark frames. More likely, I need to get better at taking and using dark frames, but for now - i'm very happy with the ICNR.
Taking flats also made a big difference, there's no vignetting! And they only add 10 minutes or so to the end of an imaging session by the time you set it all up and take the frames.

Anyway i'm very happy with this image, especially when compared to my first attempt. Improvements for next time:
- More exposures
- Darker sky
- Modded camera (unlikely )
- Better processing. I'm still doing processing on the image as a whole. I need to learn how and when to do selective image processing on deep-space images - especially to enhance the nebula without ruining the stars or star colours.

Thanks for looking.

[sheeny (Al)]

Looks good to me Mike! Especially for only your second attempt. I'll have to have a better look when I get home though... my work monitor needs .

Al.

[Garyh]

Very nicely done Mike!
Is a very pleasing image to view.
Certainly don`t notice any noise and spots now!
You are taking to the dark side like Darth Vader!! lol
cheers

[danny (Daniel)]

Beautiful, you guys are so hard on yourselfs, the images produced on this web site are world class Fantasitc work Mike.

[h0ughy (David)]

looks good mike!! BTW congrats on the 17000 posts

[browndog (Ian)]

I think that is an excellent image - one to be proud of.
Nicely framed, good colours and processing.
From my point of view it is a pleasing image to view - well done.

[EzyStyles (Eric)]

much improved there mike esp from a non-modded cam. Horsehead really stands out. Can i ask why 3 mins then 5 mins? you want to perserve the star?

[rogerg (Roger)]

I see the significant improvement in detail in this shot on the horse head It looks like your limiting issue now is light pollution & exposure time, to allow you to bring it out from the slightly gray background. 10 min exposures maybe Modded camera - sure, wouldn't we all love one of them

How'd you take your flats?

Roger.

[ving (David)]

good stuff mike

[Glenhuon (Bill)]

Great image Mike.

[RB (Andrew)]

A great improvement, well done Mike.
Getting better with each image.

Was this one from your place?

[netwolf]

Nice image Mike.

[avandonk]

Honestly Mike for really dim stuff ICNR will beat ANYTHING! Nice image.

Do you really want 10 noisy images or 5 better ones?

Bert

[bluescope]

Looks good to me Mike !

[jase (Jason)]

A significant improvement over your original attempt Mike. Indeed you need to get more familiar with PS layers and masks to you can extract the most from the data collected. There are plenty of books on this, but I find experimenting yourself is the quickest way to learn. Hope to see more from you soon.

[dcalleja]

Hooley Dooley - Really nice Mike. Lost more detail in the horsey.

[Alchemy (Clive)]

good effort mike, im suprised the 350 gave you such contrast and detail with the horse, i tried with my 350 and gave up on it til i got a modded camera..... well done.

[davidpretorius]

love it!

well done mike

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks all for your comments. 6 months ago I never would've dreamed I'd be captured images of the horsehead. The learning curve flattens out considerably when you've got knowledgeable people willing to share their skills and techniques.

Originally Posted by h0ughy

looks good mike!! BTW congrats on the 17000 posts

Thanks Dave, I didn't even realise!

Originally Posted by EzyStyles

much improved there mike esp from a non-modded cam. Horsehead really stands out. Can i ask why 3 mins then 5 mins? you want to perserve the star?

I started with the 5-min shots, and the sky glow looked too bad so I thought that decreasing it to 3 minutes would be better. I didn't do any masking of the shorter and long exposures, I simply added them all when stacking.

Originally Posted by rogerg

I see the significant improvement in detail in this shot on the horse head It looks like your limiting issue now is light pollution & exposure time, to allow you to bring it out from the slightly gray background. 10 min exposures maybe Modded camera - sure, wouldn't we all love one of them

How'd you take your flats?

Roger.

Thanks Roger. I used a lightbox, generously supplied by Gary Beal. It's very easy to take flats now and I'll definitely do it every session.

Originally Posted by RB

A great improvement, well done Mike.
Getting better with each image.

Was this one from your place?

Yeh RB, frmo my backyard on Friday night. I would've loved to take some longer exposures from Mangrove Mountain, but we've been beaten by clouds so frequently lately I don't think i'll get another chance before mid-Jan.

Originally Posted by avandonk

Honestly Mike for really dim stuff ICNR will beat ANYTHING! Nice image.

Do you really want 10 noisy images or 5 better ones?

Bert

Very true Bert. I wish there was a better way though.. to only get 5 exposures (of 5 minutes) in an hour is frustrating. When the temperatures are more stable i'll try dark frames again and just take them throughout the lights rather than all at the end when there's a significant difference in temperature.

Originally Posted by jase

A significant improvement over your original attempt Mike. Indeed you need to get more familiar with PS layers and masks to you can extract the most from the data collected. There are plenty of books on this, but I find experimenting yourself is the quickest way to learn. Hope to see more from you soon.

Thanks Jase. I know most of the techniques in PS with layering and masking, but I need to understand (and get experience of) when and where the right place to use them is. My main issue with processing is trying to get deep star colours, and preserving them, while enhancing the nebula/galaxy etc.

Originally Posted by Alchemy

good effort mike, im suprised the 350 gave you such contrast and detail with the horse, i tried with my 350 and gave up on it til i got a modded camera..... well done.

Thanks Alchemy. I was surprised too, it's very faint in the raw's but it's still there and came up nicely when stretched. There's not a lot of data in the histogram though, it really need some long exposures under dark skies to get more depth.

Thanks again to everyone for your comments.

[Ric]

A lovely image Mike, you have definitely brought more out of the area this time around.

Well done.