Tarantula Nebula

jcimera (Josh) · #1 19-02-2016, 06:30 PM

A little hesitant to post my effort on this forum. Some of the images I have seen here are mind blowing

. But I have to start somewhere.
I only managed to get a camera attached to my scope a week ago so I am pleased with the result i got last night. I can see this is going to turn into a very expensive hobby... it can only improve

jcimera (Josh) · #2 19-02-2016, 06:36 PM

Well converting to jpeg killed that image... something else to learn!

RB (Andrew) · #3 19-02-2016, 07:00 PM

Welcome Josh.
If you resize the image to around 1024 x 693 px this will gain you a better looking quality image and allow you to stay under 200kb.
It will also make it easier for us to view since different people use different devices to view the forum.
The extra space saved goes into the Detail for the image to look better.

RB

jcimera (Josh) · #4 19-02-2016, 07:05 PM

Thanks Andrew. Let me try that again

RB (Andrew) · #5 19-02-2016, 07:10 PM

That's better !
Off to a good start.
The next suggestion is to play with the levels because it's a little heavy on the blue.

Nice work Josh.

Camelopardalis (Dunk) · #6 19-02-2016, 08:58 PM

Looks like a great start to me Josh

nicely exposed too, albeit processed a little blue heavy as RB mentioned. Aim for more of a teal colour if you're using a DSLR.

Gvarouha (George) · #7 19-02-2016, 09:06 PM

Really nice shot mate. It's definitely an addictive and possibly expensive hobby. Although I'm continuously amazed at what some people can produce with modest equipment.

Do you have any detail. Gear used, length of exposures.

jcimera (Josh) · #8 19-02-2016, 09:56 PM

Thanks George and Dunk. I am using a 12" GoTo Dob. Exposure lengths were 30 sec, ISO 1600 using a Nikon 3100 DSLR. No idea if these are suitable but seemed to work ok but open to suggestions.

I was happy just getting it (semi) in focus! For a week or so I was trying to focus the camera on a tripod looking through the eyepiece. Needless to say the results weren't great. I have never even used the manual settings before so lot of trial and error over the past week. I am on a steep learning curve but enjoying every second (except when the wind picks up and clouds come over)!

Camelopardalis (Dunk) · #9 19-02-2016, 10:17 PM

All the more remarkable IMO

Atmos (Colin) · #10 20-02-2016, 01:45 AM

For a GoTo dob image, it's brilliant! Very blue but that is something to play with processing

One of the difficulties in your set up is deciding between shorter (15 second) or longer (30 second) images. You'll get nicer looking stars with shorter exposures as there is going to be less of a build of up tracking errors and field rotation BUT you'll get more noise and lose some of the deeper parts of the image.

Very nice for a beginning

Zane (Zane) · #11 20-02-2016, 06:19 AM

That looks great I can only hope my first attempt will look like that, if it does I'll be over the moon

Gvarouha (George) · #12 20-02-2016, 11:04 AM

Wow great effort with a dob.

Are you using backyard Nikon? Well worth the $50 or $60 bucks super easy to focus with.

Look forward to seeing your progress.

jcimera (Josh) · #13 25-02-2016, 11:42 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I have had a bit of a play around and this is my latest attempt.

rustigsmed (Russell) · #14 26-02-2016, 12:00 AM

hi josh,

great first image to post!

yes - i also agree - there are sometime so many amazing photos in the beginner section! there really should be an intermediate section - because there really is a difference in a square 1 or 2 beginner to someone in the main deep sky section - who often win international awards.

it would be useful for us to provide feedback on you image if you gave some detail on how you processed it. did you use photoshop? etc. we can point you in the direction to some online photoshop tutorials which help sooo much. i wish i did them earlier but - it is a steep learning curve.

here is one i did of the tarantula on a goto 12" dob as well. if i was to redo it now after these years i would do a so many different things to improve it.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/803366...5994/lightbox/

but you are well on your way - my advice is to go to 20 second exposures and to up the ISO to 3200 ... not shoot with too much moon around and take heaps and heaps of shots. Learning to take flats will increase the quality 50 fold (I wish i learnt to take them soooooooooooo much earlier - they make a HUGE difference - i can't emphasize this enough - you just get so much more out of your hard earned captures. the good news is that it is easy to aquire with a dslr).
feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

Cheers

Russ

raymo · #15 26-02-2016, 12:59 PM

Can I suggest that you get a Bahtinov mask to make your focusing quick
and easy. About $35-40 last time I looked.
raymo

jcimera (Josh) · #16 27-02-2016, 03:02 PM

Thanks for the tips Russell,
I have been using Deep Sky Stacker and GIMP. I have attempted to use photoshop with very little success, if you do have some handy tutorials that would be greatly appreciated. As you said, it is a steep learning curve. All i have really done so far is adjust the levels and the curves.

I did take your advice last night and changed the ISO to 3200 and exposure to 20sec which seemed to make a lot of difference, unfortunately the moon played a bit of havok when reviewing the images (which I knew it would). I have got myself a timer remote for the DSLR which makes life a lot easier than trying to press the shutter after each shot without bumping anything!

I keep reading about flats and how important they are. Is the method to cover end of scope with a white cloth, keep the same focus as shots were taken, and take them with the same camera settings? I have also read somewhere that this can be done during the day, which would be handy as I don't know if I have a large enough light source to evenly light the white cloth.

Raymo,

I will have to look into getting (or making) a Bahtinov mask as focusing is a nightmare at the moment.