I think a lot of people open an image, take a quick look, form a first visual impression and move on, that's it, which is fine of course, t'is a free World...but if you take the time to really look at an image there is often more that comes through. Apart from the pleasing level of details showing as a result of the better than average seeing on hand, what I am most pleased about with this image is that it very clearly shows the varied distribution of the three emission lines. Look around the image for a while and some complex variations become evident, you can see red (SII), Green (Ha) and Blue(OIII) mixing all over the image, there are nuanced OIII blues spread here and there with the Ha and OIII mixing to form a glowing turquoise colour in places, the SII and Ha mix in places to form a lovely mustard green, the Ibex jaw area is completely mixed with the three emissions forming an intricate mosaic of colours. Many other images of this nebula simply don't show this, so while they may look more pleasing to some eyes from an aesthetic stand point, they often don't show the full scene with these three emission lines
Mike
Totally agree with you Mike. For example, my recent interpretation of this region does not show colours nearly as well as yours. As for noticing intricacies, well, it often takes many nights to collect data and then many more hours to process it, but I am afraid majority will spend only a few seconds briefly looking at it thus missing the essence of a message recorded in a space photo.
I think a lot of people open an image, take a quick look, form a first visual impression and move on, that's it, which is fine of course, t'is a free World...but if you take the time to really look at an image there is often more that comes through. Apart from the pleasing level of details showing as a result of the better than average seeing on hand, what I am most pleased about with this image is that it very clearly shows the varied distribution of the three emission lines. Look around the image for a while and some complex variations become evident, you can see red (SII), Green (Ha) and Blue(OIII) mixing all over the image, there are nuanced OIII blues spread here and there with the Ha and OIII mixing to form a glowing turquoise colour in places, the SII and Ha mix in places to form a lovely mustard green, the Ibex jaw area is completely mixed with the three emissions forming an intricate mosaic of colours. Many other images of this nebula simply don't show this, so while they may look more pleasing to some eyes from an aesthetic stand point, they often don't show the full scene with these three emission lines
Mike
Very poetically and aptly put, Mike. Agree totally.
The approach that you'tr advocating and achieving allows one to then go on to think about the physics of what is going on. The greener bits show where the bulk stuff is, the blue bits show where the hardest ultraviolet ionization and sometimes shock energy might be, and the red bits show where, in addition, more processed, old-star stuff is. If we try to make the whole image look a uniform magenta-red, as if it were a 1960's film shot, we miss out on the subtleties you are showing.
I like what you've done Mike - a definite improvement! Especially with respect to the background cast.
My favourite word when looking at images is "nuance". This doesn't mean loud and obnoxious colour, it means relatively subtle colouring and smooth transitions between colour and tone while still making an image "pop". It means rendering all the tonal information in the data. If I don't see nuance, I move on. As you'd know as well, even the most monochromatic images can have great nuance in tone. A nicely nuanced image requires skill and experience.
Well it's certainly not conservative, I'll give you that. At first I thought the highlights were blown, but on closer inspection you've pushed it just shy of saturation point.
Not the sort of palette I'd have chosen... but... I like it, and you're right, it really does accentuate the makeup of the target. My NB images tend to duotone more often than not, so I don't get that kind of depth that you have here. Well done!
Bold interpretation Mike - I love the exquisite detail, havn't seen that object so clearly before, very nice capture and proessing.
The colour palette on the other hand .... well I'm not so much a fan I'm afraid, probably just me but imo it's way to ott and garish and I really don't like seeing magenta stars when they're so easy to remove, but as others have said, anything goes in NB!
That said, it's an amazingly clear image, really lets you know the standard of detail that can be attained by someone who knows what they're doing!
Bold interpretation Mike - I love the exquisite detail, havn't seen that object so clearly before, very nice capture and proessing.
The colour palette on the other hand .... well I'm not so much a fan I'm afraid, probably just me but imo it's way to ott and garish and I really don't like seeing magenta stars when they're so easy to remove, but as others have said, anything goes in NB!
That said, it's an amazingly clear image, really lets you know the standard of detail that can be attained by someone who knows what they're doing!
Cheers Andy, glad you liked....part of it
Well, although I have not always taken this exact approach...truth be known that in this case, this colour palette is in fact close to what using these three filters "should" produce and reveal. It shows the distribution of the three emissions Ha(Green) OIII(Blue) and SII(Red) in relative intensities as and where they should be. It is the purely aesthetic-artistic types (like you ) that have skewed the processing playing field such that tri-colour narrowband wavelength ordered emission line images now tend to have essentially just a bi-colour dimentionality to them which is then usually tweaked further to have all nature of main colour based on the processors whim . This is perfectly fine to do of course and I have done it myself even at times ... but.. such an approach means the image no longer shows where the three emissions are within the nebula any more - thus using the extra filter was basically a waste of time then. The magenta stars are also the natural product of the SIIHaOIII ordered palette and while I remove most of it (and could remove it all), I often leave some magenta in the stars because, well, I actually like the look
Yeah, that really get up my nose!! I know we should probably expect it at some stage as we're posting our pics on various forums/sites but at least these people could credit the photograph/copyright owner!!
I found one of Ricks pics on an Instagram account that claimed all pics were from NASA! I left a comment pointing out who owned the picture.
Yeah, that really get up my nose!! I know we should probably expect it at some stage as we're posting our pics on various forums/sites but at least these people could credit the photograph/copyright owner!!
I found one of Ricks pics on an Instagram account that claimed all pics were from NASA! I left a comment pointing out who owned the picture.
Yeah, be nice if people doing this would include an image credit but oh well, no biggy, as long as they are not profiting form it or claiming or implying it is their work
Outstanding. How long did post processing take for this object?
Hi Adrian, glad you like it Actually the post processing wasn't too bad on this one, the data was pretty good and as is often the case with my setup, especially when the seeing is good, I didn't have to throw a single sub from three nights ...and this always helps. To simplify it, I did a version with DDP and stretch and a deconed version, of each data set and blend them in layers carefully (no wiggly bright worms or dotty detail!!!) and then once I have good SII Ha and OIII stacks, it is basically an RGB combine.
...cheers guys, glad you all had a good look and I enjoyed all your (nuanced 
) replies 
..part of it 
. This is perfectly fine to do of course and I have done it myself even at times 
- thus using the extra filter was basically a waste of time then. The magenta stars are also the natural product of the SIIHaOIII ordered palette and while I remove most of it (and could remove it all), I often leave some magenta in the stars because, well, I actually like the look 
I know we should probably expect it at some stage as we're posting our pics on various forums/sites but at least these people could credit the photograph/copyright owner!!
...and this always helps. To simplify it, I did a version with DDP and stretch and a deconed version, of each data set and blend them in layers carefully (no wiggly bright worms or dotty detail!!!) and then once I have good SII Ha and OIII stacks, it is basically an RGB combine. 
