Do you think their over done...I am bored so I have nothing else to do..either talk to the wife or play with some images...I made the right choice....lol
After some feedback as I have enhanced the images with some new techniques more then what I normaly would.
Tony they look great to me - perhaps a little over staturated for my taste - like a postcard - but the clarity is lovely. Can you post before and afters plus explain the difference in the processing steps? Would be good learning for me (and perhpas others). BTW also need tips on processing her in doors wrt time and $$$ spent on astro realted activities....
Nice Tony. If pushed I would say the Orion and Trifid shots look too cooked to me, but the Eagle is about right. I have seen a few Malin renditions of M42 that look like that or more processed, so you are not alone in trying to extract every last drop. It is a subjective and personal decision anyway.
Great stuff Tony, but I have to agree with Gary, M42 and M20 look to me overprocessed. M42 has dark rings around the stars and M20 has a flat appearance, though it might just be from this laptop.
The Eagle though is a cracker. Maybe just a tad too much masking, but otherwise
I too feel the same way..I prefer less masking and less saturation and less processing....but I do like the high pass filtering method just a little less done.
Doug put me onto this disk giving me about 5 hours of Photoshop tutorials. http://www.waid-observatory.com/DVD-Tutorials.html
I can't explain what I did as it will take me hours trying to explain the process but the main difference was applied Selective sharpening using a high pass filter mask and applied the gradient xterminator with a different technique.
John I will add the original images for comparison to the top of the thread.
Sorry I cant explain what I did because its not just a simple click and it's done..it involves different layer's applied in PS.
They are rather striking images now but to me I think the originals are actually nicer and more natural looking. You have improved the local contrast and sharpness but the images have become flat, lack depth and subtlety and have noticable processing artifacts now.
I agree that at a standing distance, they have that 1980's Malin AAO look to them though
Great images there. I do like the top Triffid image ans it shows the blue reflection nebulosity very well running right round the red nebulosity. Thanks for the link to the high pass masking too.
Scott