Trying to get better at post processing

[Eggmoon (Geoff)]

I know it's Orion... and we are all bored with Orion by this time of year... but been trying to improve my stacking a bit, and mainly improve my post processing in photoshop.

Took the images last night... it was VERY warm here in Melbourne, and I got a lot of noise coming through on my Canon 60D.... wish I could afford a good, cooled, camera...

Suggestion for improvements welcome....

Geoff.

[JZ (Ross)]

Hi Geoff, can you give us some exposure details please?
You have not blown out the core, that's a good thing!
But you will need more exposure to get the fainter details like more of the Running Man and further out nebulosity.
Cheers, Ross...

[Eggmoon (Geoff)]

Oops...

Silly of my not to include that. 5 x 1 minute subs ay 3200 ISO. Yes, agree I need more data to get the fainter bits, but this was mainly an experiment in the post processing, mainly getting the core right, which I was pretty happy with the result of.

[Marios (Marios)]

Originally Posted by Eggmoon

Oops...

Silly of my not to include that. 5 x 1 minute subs ay 3200 ISO. Yes, agree I need more data to get the fainter bits, but this was mainly an experiment in the post processing, mainly getting the core right, which I was pretty happy with the result of.

You are using a very high ISO given the warm weather and bright object.
You will get much better results at 800 or 1600 ISO max add some 30 second pauses in between to allow the sensor to cool of a little.

[Eggmoon (Geoff)]

Yes... I did use a high ISO.... combination of the slowness of the scope (it's an F/10 SCT) and that I was in a hurry as my lovely darling sweet wife was telling me I was running out if time..... so the result is a bit grainy and not quite what I wanted.

It was really more of an effort at processing practice.... and auto guiding practice. Two birds with one stone. Finally starting to get the guiding working a bit better.... so some longer exposures at lower ISO's, plus on a cooler day, is what I am aiming for.