M31 - 2013 Leyburn Campaign + Repro effort

[sjastro]

Very nice image.

From my site (-38 degrees latitude) M31 is a grossly seeing effected blob.

Regards

Steven

[RobF (Rob)]

Many thanks everyone.
Glad to hear Andromeda "blows the mind" of other people too, just trying to come to grips with what that faint naked eye smudge really represents. I'll have to find time to try a Sidonio re colour balance and processing, but going by how short time has been this year I'm not holding my breath.

Rob

[Shiraz (Ray)]

really good image Rob - hard target but you did it proud.

[RobF (Rob)]

Thanks for checking it out Ray.
I've been trying a repro last few nights, but the gradients are winning so far. I've really got to shoot up near the meridian next fine new moon

[RobF (Rob)]

I've been playing with this on an off for the last couple of weeks, going back to basics, DBE'ing gradients out before stretching, extracting artificial lum from RGB again and knitting that back into the original lum data, kinder colour calibration, then new stretches and contrast work. In and out of PI and PS. Tried to contain the stars better by more aggressive integration methods, but please put your hand over the bottom right corner still! I'm happier with this rendition though.

Comments welcome (if you haven't had enough already ), but no eggs or rotten tomatos please

Larger jpg version here

[Spookyer (Brett)]

Rob, second version is better I think, great work!

Brett

[spearo (Frank)]

well done,
Repro seems punchier, better contrast and colors i think
lovely
frank

[Paul Haese]

I like that last rendition Rob. Nicely framed. Colour still needs a tweek I reckon to the blue end. Good to print. The higher res is pretty nice to view. Maybe some tilt that needs addressing for future images.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Way, way, way better.

You're inspiring me to revisit my data!

H

[RobF (Rob)]

Originally Posted by Spookyer

Rob, second version is better I think, great work!

Brett

Thanks Brett - wouldn't be the first repro that went backwards, but its always good when you're still happy the next day that it looks ok.

Originally Posted by spearo

well done,
Repro seems punchier, better contrast and colors i think
lovely
frank

Thanks Frank!

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

I like that last rendition Rob. Nicely framed. Colour still needs a tweek I reckon to the blue end. Good to print. The higher res is pretty nice to view. Maybe some tilt that needs addressing for future images.

I'm really thinking some monitor calibrating gear is next on the list Paul. For the first time I got quite frustrated not sure which one to trust. Rarely print my work but think this one might be worthwhile. I'm hoping the tilt was some unscrewing of the all screw-together image train, but might be from the "captain's wheel" focuser rotation assembly which some people have trouble with on FSQ106EDs I've read (fingers crossed that's not the case with my basic camera arrangement).
Hmmm blue. I'm always a bit heavy on blue with stars/sky - must try some variations.

Originally Posted by Octane

Way, way, way better.

You're inspiring me to revisit my data!

H

Nah - your's was already awesome!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

This looks great and better than the first version, so well reproed Rob

Mike

[RobF (Rob)]

Thanks Mike - I'm a happy camper now for the effort put into getting the data. Was getting a bit despondent initially, but saved it "from the rough" in the end.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by RobF

Thanks Mike - I'm a happy camper now for the effort put into getting the data. Was getting a bit despondent initially, but saved it "from the rough" in the end.

Funny how that can happen sometimes huh? I've done it on a few images myself in the past most infamously notable my deep Centaurus A ...couldn't get it right and did several repros over a few months and then finally nailed it rest is history

Again well done

MIke