Astrofest M20

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Another one from the Astrofest bag. This one taken over two nights and comprises 37x5mins L, 15x5mins RGB and 5x10 mins Ha (just over 7.5 hours all up) - not sure what I was thinking.

I'm not happy with my processing at this stage - need to "respect the light" some more.

Here's the full size/res version:
http://astrob.in/18934/

I was going for this look in the processing:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0204/trifid_aao_big.jpg

Comments and advice always welcome.

[h0ughy (David)]

you have a lot of data there but i dont know why you have egg like stars? Perhaps you may need to round up the stars then sharpen the outline of the dustlanes, but i like the overall look

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

The colour is great, just a bit more contrast needed to boost those dust lanes.
Looking forward to the final image.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

you have a lot of data there but i dont know why you have egg like stars? Perhaps you may need to round up the stars then sharpen the outline of the dustlanes, but i like the overall look

Thanks for the fedback Dave. It must be time for an appointment to get an eye checkup. I didn't notice the eggy stars.

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

The colour is great, just a bit more contrast needed to boost those dust lanes.
Looking forward to the final image.

Cheers JJJ. Just trying to work out how to boost the contrast in the neb without blowing out the stars. Any tips?

[allan gould]

I like the balance in this image of the faint detail and the colours. I find it difficult trying to bring out detail sometimes ruins the delicate balance of the image. After all it's dust and NOT an image of a red rose in blue paper.
I like the way it's been presented Peter and the data is there to process it in many different ways.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Not sure if this is what you're looking for.
When stretching using curves, you HAVE to make sure the top end of the curve is flat line to the top right corner, keep the stars from blowing out.
You could select the brighter stars before hand, feather then inverse, so they aren't affected too much.
Using micro adjustment, you should be able to draw more and more out of the neb without affecting the stars too much.
Compare the brighter stars in the APOD pic to yours, you can continue stretching yours a way yet.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Thanks for the feedback Allan. Processing is definately half the battle.

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Not sure if this is what you're looking for.
When stretching using curves, you HAVE to make sure the top end of the curve is flat line to the top right corner, keep the stars from blowing out.
You could select the brighter stars before hand, feather then inverse, so they aren't affected too much.

Thanks JJJ - will give that a try.

[RickS (Rick)]

The nebulosity looks great, Peter. The stars looked odd to me too. Good luck with the repro!

Cheers,
Rick.

[ozstronomer (Geoff)]

Peter,

I'm sure with 7+ hrs of data you will be able to stretch out a little more colour. Maybe it could do with a little saturation boost? Looking good though.

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Had a quick go at tidying up the stars.

Here's the repro


Full res version here:
http://astrob.in/18934/B/

[alan meehan (Alan)]

I really wanted to do some hrs on this myself ,but Pete you have done extremely well in capturing and process m20 well done the colours look great
AL