Well finally got back to the imaging side of things. This image is 10.6 hours of data. The guiding, pointing and stability of the equipment is great. Very happy overall with this image. It needs maybe some more data to deal with the dark dust lane and the noise in that area.
For those interested I would like to point out that you can pull a PME apart and put it back together properly without sending it back to Software Bisque. The images I obtained this weekend are proof of that fact. I think I put it back together correctly.
Take a good look around the image. Try to find the face on barred spiral galaxy.
Feel free to provide critique of the image. I would like to know how to get rid of the two blue reflections near the left center of the image. I have tried a few techniques without success. The reflections are caused from the star just out of the field of view on the center right.
Really lovely image Paul. Thought you may have taken it with the 12" but that is a lovely scope and to get the globular with it is just great composition. I like this area a lot and you have done it justice.
Allan
I would like to know how to get rid of the two blue reflections near the left center of the image. I have tried a few techniques without success.
Here's one way [from Jase a while ago]:
Quote:
Here is my preferred method to detailing with such background colour flares from pesky stars off the edge of the frame. It can also be used to repair other issues. For example, in the recent Rho image I posted, the star halo reflections were are bright green. I simply used this technique to address them. Its a little more involved, but the result is very accurate. Click on the lasso tool and set the feathering to approx 20 pixels Using the lasso tool, select an area that is of same size and is relatively close to the colour flare area you wish to remove. The purpose of this exercise is to match the background hue of the surrounding area so the proximity to the area you're trying to fix is fairly important. At this point, don't worry if the selected area contains stars. Copy and paste the lasso area so you now have a new layer that contains the small patch of the sky in which you've just copied. Hold down the control key and move the mouse to shift the small patch over the colour flare area you wish to remove. Now go to the Filters | Noise | Median Increase the radius until you see no more stars in the small patch of sky that you've copied. If you don't like the median tool, dust and scratches, or the minimum filters can do a similar job. Median I've found works well in general. With the patch layer selected, change its blend mode from normal to colour You'll now notice that your colour flare has disappeared i.e. has been blending into the surrounding background hues. If it hasn't you may need to increase your selection size or reduce the feather. ...but don't stop there...look what you've done to the stars in the area that's been repaired...they've inherited the same background tone you copied. Easily fixed... Select the original layer and use the colour range tool to highlight the stars. Alter the fuzziness slider until you get a good match. Expand the selection by 2 or 3 pixels (or to your taste) Feather by 2 pixels (or to your taste) Then select the patch layer (important, make sure its selected!!) Hit the delete key POW! You've now brought the star colours back in the repaired area...as you've deleted the selections from the patch layer so the colours come back through from the original layer. If you find that the colour range tool selection wasn't ideal, you can always use the eraser tool to do a similar task, but I would recommend going back a few steps until you get the right selection i.e. manipulate fuzziness. Give it a try! Should probably have posted this in the photoshop tips section. May put a cross reference to it somehow.
Wow great image scale Paul and I love seeing things in full res with the equipment we have these days.. why not I say, especially when the guiding is as good as this!
Well done with the mount, total satisfaction doing things yourself.
I pull my mount right down so every bit is sitting on the bench. I have done this twice in the past ten years. I've replaced all the tapered bearings, replaced the worm bearings with ceramic high precision ones.. when I bought it second hand I removed all the spur gears(yuk) replacing the motors and using timing belts, both stepper and servos. Without PEC I now get around 3.2 peak to peak error.. with PEC it is almost a straight line (too bad about my flexure)
For me living so far away from anywhere, plus most of us from a service centre (if any), it is mandatory to have self serviceable equipment..
certainly can't beat the satisfaction when it all comes together and is better than ever!
Yes those bright stars just outside the fov are a pain with reflections... I have battled similar with mute success. I guess you could mask and feather the area, adjust the colour balance back to some where around the general area. I'm sure you've tried this.
Still it takes nothing away from the image at all.
Nicely done!
Once again, congrats with the mount.
PS.. Am looking forward to your up and coming images from your new 12"RC and ccd setup.
Really lovely image Paul. Thought you may have taken it with the 12" but that is a lovely scope and to get the globular with it is just great composition. I like this area a lot and you have done it justice.
Allan
Thanks Allan. Saving the 12 for next month so I can do NGC253 with it and the STL11K I recently bought. So just hang in there.
Thanks Marc and Jase for the tips. Going to copy and put that one into practice.
Thanks Rich, yes the satisfaction is fairly nice being able to fix this issue myself. Funnily enough these mounts are pretty simple when you pull them apart. The design is of simplicity and that makes servicing easy. I'll get that RC going soon. Promise.
Very well done picture Paul
Here is the easy way of getting rid of the reflections.
In Photoshop click the clone stamp tool and set it to 12 pixels with the hardness set to zero.
Then enlarge the picture to 200% and alt click on a neutral spot close to the object, then clone that over the halo.
I think you might already know about the clone tool or just didn't use it?
Thanks Fred, it sort of lends the idea to a mosaic down the track, perhaps. There seems to be some fainter dust worth imaging.
Hi Martin, yeah I tried the clone tool, but was not entire happy with the results. The hardness was not at that setting though. Also you can change the star field a little by doing this, and that just sort of eats at me personally. Generally a good tip Martin.
Very nice Paul. I had to search hard for the second blue area you spoke of. You are a bit too critical of your own work, which by the way is excelent. Working with our equipment and an atmosphere above it is not out of the question to accept small aberations which are caused by equipment limitations.
One very quick and easy way to make the blue presentable is just select it with the round marque tool. Select it bigger than you really need, feather by something like 20 pixels, hide the selection edges (Makes it easier to see), open hue and saturation, select the collour you wish to remove with the eye dropper. (In this case I would select blue first then the eyedropper select), Using the saturation slider just desaturate the blue and maybe cyan till the aberation disappears. This will usually leave the base colours pretty right and with the 20 pixel feather it should all blend in nicely.
Thats a lovely image Paul. You really captured the dust well and its a nice colour shade (well of dust). What I mean is dust can sometimes look magenta-ish.
Great star colours and a wide enough FOV to capture the area nicely.
Another few approaches to the good tips on the reflections:
1. Healing tool set to color blend mode instead of normal. This then corrects for unusual colours and leaves details alone. Same with clone tool.
2. Sponge set to desaturate and set it to 5% and rub it on the offending areas.
3. Marquee lassoo tool , hold down shift key and drag it to the right size.
Drag it over the area affected, feather it, then use selective colour to reduce the blue and balance the resulting change or you can use saturation tool and select blues and reduce the saturation or shift the hue. A few ways of approaching this.
Sponge tool or healing tool set to colour is what I would normally use, fast and easy.
The images I obtained this weekend are proof of that fact. I think I put it back together correctly.
, especially when the guiding is as good as this!
)
