Reprocessed M16

[leon]

High Guys, well it is nice to have friends around to lend a hand when it comes to processing images.

Recently I posted an Image of The Eagle Neb M16, and although I was reasonably pleased with it, (John G) took it in hand and squeezed it a bit more, and came up with this.

It was of M16, 10 @ 2.5 Mins @ 400 ISO, through the Tak, and Modded 20D, on the G11, auto guided.

See the difference, the first is with Johns help and second is my attempt at processing

Leon

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

I like how the reprocessing has brought out the extended nebulosity, however the sharpness of features within that nebulosity have been lost to a degree. The "pillars" in your first attempt are more sharply defined IMHO.
Very nice image nonetheless.
Doug

[Alchemy (Clive)]

probably have to agree with duggie on this one, i prefer yours for the inner detail , but the other has lifted the outer areas a bit too. hmm repro the repro?

[jase (Jason)]

Both are visually pleasing images Leon. Data has been stretched a little harder to bring out more stars, but at the expense of detail.

Why not bring out the best in both images – stars and nebulosity. Register the two images so they are the same scale. Load both into PS. Make the crop-retry.jpg the background layer. Load crop-retry-filtered.jpg and paste onto the crop-retry to create the new layer. Make the new layer blend lighten mode and stretch it a little more. Duplicate the base layer and make it multiply blend mode to restore some details lost it the previous lighten mode stretch. Finally duplicate the base layer again and place at the top of the layer stack. Boost the saturation and modify the red channel curve (rather heavily), then change the blend mode to soft light. Tweak opacities to taste. You could re-layer again to focus on star colours if required. My rendition is hindered by jpeg artifacts, but gets the point across in a crude way.

[leon]

Hmmm. Thank you guys for your honest opinions, I guess this is how we all learn, by doing and seeing.

Jase, I have read your explanation of the process over and over again, I can see how you have done this, and will definitly give it a try. thank you.

Leon

[jase (Jason)]

Leon, please don't take my instructions as written law. There are no rules in this image processing game. All I was trying to do is raise awareness that there are many ways to handle the same task. Its just that sometimes you need to think outside the square. When you start to experiment, opportunities arise that can make a mediocre image into something special. What ever you do, make sure you remember how you did it!

[iceman (Mike)]

Some good advice Jase gave me (also given by Clive at different times) - understand the "blending modes" in Photoshop and what they do.

I still don't, but i'm starting to

[leon]

Ok guys, advice taken, thank you. Jase, you say remember what I have done Ill try

Leon