Eta Carinae - Final Repro

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Hi Guys,

Well I finally got around to processing this image.
The aim was to reduce if not eliminate the blue halos around my stars from the Ha blend and I think I have achieved that without sacrificing detail.

My process was to first blend the Ha and Red data. I did this various times with at 10-15% opacity. I then used this composite as my main RED channel in creating the RGB.
In PS I then used the new (HaR) composite and blended it with the combined (HaR)GB image. Again multiple times until I got the desired effect.
Finally I blended the processed Ha data as the Luminance layer multiple times at 10-15% opacity.
With some additional minor tweaks to levels and curves I was able to come up with this final image.

Eta Carinae Final

Thanks for Looking!

Mark

[jase (Jason)]

A fine repro Mark. Looks like you've got the Ha blend right and managed the stars colours well. The blend looks subtly 'electrified' ie not a typical Ha deep red, but I quite like it. You can manipulate the red channel saturation and highlights using curves to control this if desired, alternatively change the blend again. Good work, you're on the right path. Well done.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Hello Mark, some nice detail there and a great wideish field view too! Still a trace of the cyan halos around the stars in the nebula, but it's really tough to get rid of them when blending in Ha. I've had a couple of goes at Eta myself, and will take one last repro of it as well before trying something new!

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Thanks Jase, David

Your not wrong with Ha being hard to bled. I think the key is to get an unserastanding of what is actually happening behind the scenes when blending, how it effects colours and saturation. The rest is experimentation and getting it to look good as per your own taste.

I certainly still have my L plates on when it comes to CCD Mono imaging and processing, but its these sort of challenges that makes all of us who have taken up this hobby appreciate its rewards.

Mark

[TrevorW]

One fine image just a few subtle adjustments as suggested by IMO well done

[Hagar (Doug)]

Come up very well Mark, Stars look good considering the blend. Stars are my hate in life when adding Ha.

Well done.