Sorry everyone. This is the Rosette I recently posted redone to try and impart a bit more star colour and a little better nebula colour.
After several attempts I felt this was by far the best. This is a HAR,G,B composite. I left out the Ha luminance as all I seemed to end up with was a watered down, somewhat pink image.
The stars I am afraid suffer from some over exposure which at this stage I will have to look into my exposure times and try to come up with a reasonable method to avoid this oversaturation of the stars.
never heard Mike being discussed as a rose before but there are always exceptions. I like the shot in terms of the framing and most of the development of the image, the stars do look a little overdone but as you say there might be a fix for that, though how you can trade off neb exposure for the stars - might be some shorter shots for masking the stars back in?
Much better colors Doug! The Rosette fits nicely into this FOV.
Gary
I am much happier with the nebula colour on this one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by h0ughy
never heard Mike being discussed as a rose before but there are always exceptions. I like the shot in terms of the framing and most of the development of the image, the stars do look a little overdone but as you say there might be a fix for that, though how you can trade off neb exposure for the stars - might be some shorter shots for masking the stars back in?
David, It would be a brave man that called Mike a pretty rose. His arms are as big as my thighs and I.m not a little bloke. Thank God he has a great temprament.
The Sidonio bit refers to all the repros he did on CentaurusA. Now a nickname for a repro.
Nice image.
I think that with such bright stars it is nearly impossible to stop them saturating without taking very short exposures and somehow combining those images with the neb images.
My system will saturate a mag 4 star in under 1 sec and you need to have non saturated stars to keep the colour info.
Nice image.
I think that with such bright stars it is nearly impossible to stop them saturating without taking very short exposures and somehow combining those images with the neb images.
My system will saturate a mag 4 star in under 1 sec and you need to have non saturated stars to keep the colour info.
Thanks Terry. This might be the process I have to follow although I am surprised with an image which is nearing completion of the Cone Nebula where the stars have kept their colour well with 15 minute exposures. Perhaps it is something to do with the Ha blend.
I am shooting some Ha tonight for the cone image so this should tell the story.
Yes, the nebula looks great, but the stars are causing you some trouble.
Try selecting the bright stars in PS using the colour range tool (on your Luminance sub). Once you have the really bright ones selected, expand the selection (3-5 pixels, depends on the resolution of the shot, I used 3 for the Rosette I took with the ED80, but usually use 5 for the stuff with the RC), then feather the selection by 1-3 pixels (depends on the amount you expanded). The go to the filters->minimum, select 1 or two pixels, I have a tendency to use two, it looks bad, but don't worry, go to edit -> fade minimum and adjust the slider to taste. Be aware that the ability to fade a filter is only available until you perform another operation.
Yes, the nebula looks great, but the stars are causing you some trouble.
Try selecting the bright stars in PS using the colour range tool (on your Luminance sub). Once you have the really bright ones selected, expand the selection (3-5 pixels, depends on the resolution of the shot, I used 3 for the Rosette I took with the ED80, but usually use 5 for the stuff with the RC), then feather the selection by 1-3 pixels (depends on the amount you expanded). The go to the filters->minimum, select 1 or two pixels, I have a tendency to use two, it looks bad, but don't worry, go to edit -> fade minimum and adjust the slider to taste. Be aware that the ability to fade a filter is only available until you perform another operation.
That should fix those pesky bloated stars.
Cheers
Stuart
Thanks Stuart. The bloat is a problem and I have fixed them in the past using this method but me real concern is the lack of star colour. For some reason the stars in this image have oversaturated to the point of turning pure white. With most images I can get away with 10 min exposures without this problem.
My next big adventure after I finish the Christmas tree is to get my 8" RC out of the box and try it out. I have finally got the robofocus, Tak flattener and the FT focuser should be here this week so I look forward to having a bit more focal length again. I have an 8" dew shield already so everything should be right to go.
but there are always exceptions. I like the shot in terms of the framing and most of the development of the image, the stars do look a little overdone but as you say there might be a fix for that, though how you can trade off neb exposure for the stars - might be some shorter shots for masking the stars back in?
