Asterix's or Thor's helmet....?

[alistairsam]

Astoundingly beautiful Mike. Love the natural colours and detail.
so how do you get true colour from NB data. do tell..

Cheers
Alistair

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

I really like your image Mike, nice colours, good detail and nice framing. Hoping to have a go at it one night...

[alpal]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

True image scale can be comparable with the right pixel size and f ratio, but good seeing is still needed for a long focal length scope too. In poor seeing a long focal length scope still produces poor results. There are certainly a lot of advantages to both system types, yours without doubt is the imaging speed and the adaptability for wide or narrow field, though the lever arm of a big Newtonian and the price of an f3.8 scope has got to be considered in the equation. I have thought several times about going along this route and each time the price, lever arm and the sheer size of a Newtonian prevents me from buying one.

Hi Paul,
What about a 24" f3 Newtonian?
That's plenty of focal length = 1829mm
& heaps of light collecting power.

Mind you - you'd need a huge mount to carry a beast like that.

cheers
Allan

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Nice image Mike, oddly imaging the same target around the same time. I agree with Marcus that you could open up the other structures a bit. You have quite a lot of depth in the data that could be revealed.



Yes the stretch noise can be seen (I tried and saw it) but not too bad really, especially given the low noise sensor you are using. As you say you wanted something you were happy with. I suppose it could also be the large halo you have on the right hand side too, which is revealed by stretching.



True image scale can be comparable with the right pixel size and f ratio, but good seeing is still needed for a long focal length scope too. In poor seeing a long focal length scope still produces poor results. There are certainly a lot of advantages to both system types, yours without doubt is the imaging speed and the adaptability for wide or narrow field, though the lever arm of a big Newtonian and the price of an f3.8 scope has got to be considered in the equation. I have thought several times about going along this route and each time the price, lever arm and the sheer size of a Newtonian prevents me from buying one.

Thanks for the insightful analysis Paul, I'm flattered that you were compelled to download my image and have a close look before filling me in with your thoughts

Mike

Originally Posted by alistairsam

Astoundingly beautiful Mike. Love the natural colours and detail.
so how do you get true colour from NB data. do tell..

Cheers
Alistair

Cheers heaps Alistair Although not complicated, it's not a straightforward process either but essentially I make a traditional SIIHaOIII version, an RGB version with Ha blended into Red and OIII blended into Green and Blue (in varying proportions) and also a straight RGB version...and than the real alchemy starts, which is basically a bit of blending and star colour layering until I get what I am after

Originally Posted by Slawomir

I really like your image Mike, nice colours, good detail and nice framing. Hoping to have a go at it one night...

Cheers Suavi, it is a geat little object and I have only ever imaged it once before over 10 years ago with a couple of quick fire mono subs through the 6" Stafire with the little SX MX716 camera, so glad to have a full colour Asterix under my belt now

Mike

[RickS (Rick)]

I haven't had a go at this object yet either but this looks like an excellent result, Mike.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by RickS

I haven't had a go at this object yet either but this looks like an excellent result, Mike.

Cheers Rick, I last shot this back in 05/06 with the Starfire, only a couple of short mono test subs with a much smaller camera.

Mike

[atalas]

Quite awesome with very nice detail through the main structure of the helmet
Mike...lovely colour too

[suma126 (Shane)]

Great work mike as allways love the detail in the image.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by atalas

Quite awesome with very nice detail through the main structure of the helmet
Mike...lovely colour too

Originally Posted by suma126

Great work mike as allways love the detail in the image.

Cheers Louie and Shane. I was quite happy with the detail in the helmet and that was with no ProTrack, no PEC, no AO and at just 1120mm FL too...rustic imaging

Mike

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Well, I like it Mike just the way it is, very smooth and balanced. If deeper means more noise and less defined and messy looking neb extension then this better.

[Shiraz (Ray)]

looks great to me as well. The background is there, but doesn't look forced in any way and the colour is sweet - like it

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Well, I like it Mike just the way it is, very smooth and balanced. If deeper means more noise and less defined and messy looking neb extension then this better.

Cheers Fred, I agree, it is easy to push to reveal the faint stuff and just end up sugar coating and then blurring the large scale colour noise

Originally Posted by Shiraz

looks great to me as well. The background is there, but doesn't look forced in any way and the colour is sweet - like it

Thanks Ray, good to hear

Mike

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Paul discovered it in his analysis, a dust donnut in the blue channel . Seems I had used an old set of blue flats in the original process which resulted in a large dust bunny (all be it hard to notice without the stretch-a-matron) left in the blue channel of the original version . I had to go back and redo the B of the RGB with the correct flats, then layer back in and I have updated the image now. I did a coupl'a minor tweaks but essential it is the same image....I was drinking during processing ....so perhaps I control that next time?


Mike

[mountainjoo (Jerome)]

Love the detail there, Mike.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by mountainjoo

Love the detail there, Mike.

Cheers Jerome, yes probably just have to move to better seeing to improve significantly there..?

Mike