Laughing Lioness (aka Dark Tower Scorpius)

[topheart]

OK....another one.

Usually this is presented in a different rotation to show the "Tower" as a tower. I see a laughing lioness like this with steely blue eyes.

So many stars to keep control of, which I couldn't.
Suggestions thanks!

Telescope: Takahashi BRC 250. Mount: ParamountME. Camera: FLI PL16803 with FLI research grade filters. HaLHaRGB image acquired utilising CCDAutoPilot5 remotely. 10 minute subframes calibrated and stacked in CCDStack then processed in Photoshop and PixInsight.

Cheers,
Tim

[jase (Jason)]

Tim, I'm not sure I like the Ha blend on this one. Red channel could do with less cyan and more yellow to lessen the magenta feel. Other aspects of the image look pretty good though. Stars are a challenge to manage in such a rich area of the sky. I do find the composition interesting. I can't see the lioness though! You sure are pumping out the images of late, I think this one would be worth a repro.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Although I am a supporter of a more magenta hue to hydrogen emission nebulae (cause that's the general colour most of them should actually be) I probably agree with Jase in this instance.

...and I saw the laughing (roaring?) lioness immediately, it stands out very clearly to me too

Mike

[Rex]

Another gorgeous image Tim. Interesting composition, I can totally see the lioness, although for drama sake I would say she was roaring instead of laughing, hahaha. Interpretation is a very personal thing. I find this image very pleasing to the eye, and to have a very interesting composition. A different take on a reasonably well known object.0


Edit: OOps, I just read Mikes comment above, he said the same thing about the lion. Sorry to repeat what has already been mentioned.

[gregbradley]

BRC250/Proline 16803, that takes me back. That was one of my imaging setups in the past. The BRC250 is a great scope.

The linked image is a bit small to see properly. It looks very good but as mentioned the colour is a bit magenta. HaL + HaR GB is adventurous as a mix.

Generally speaking Ha as a Luminance blend gives detail but also salmon colours and wrecks the stars. HaR I haven't really experimented with but its probably putting the red back in the HaL is taking out.

Its always been a difficulty of Ha blends to get the colour without wrecking the stars, making an all red image or getting salmon colours. Therein is the processing challenge to get a workable formula for Ha blends.

Its like coffee!

Greg.

[topheart]

The linked image is a bit small to see properly. It looks very good but as mentioned the colour is a bit magenta. HaL + HaR GB is adventurous as a mix.

Generally speaking Ha as a Luminance blend gives detail but also salmon colours and wrecks the stars. HaR I haven't really experimented with but its probably putting the red back in the HaL is taking out.

Its always been a difficulty of Ha blends to get the colour without wrecking the stars, making an all red image or getting salmon colours. Therein is the processing challenge to get a workable formula for Ha blends.

Its like coffee!

Greg.[/QUOTE]

Thanks to you all. I agree about the blending difficulty....I like coffee and also go for the stronger blends, but I don't like a bitter after taste! Greg and Jase and Mike, you are correct....I will go back and repro this a bit more gently with the Ha blending and see if I can re colour balance the stars. Once again, thank you very much for your hints and suggestions!!

Large tif file here: https://www.sendspace.com/file/qgef3v

Regards,
Tim

[topheart]

Originally Posted by topheart

The linked image is a bit small to see properly. It looks very good but as mentioned the colour is a bit magenta. HaL + HaR GB is adventurous as a mix.

Generally speaking Ha as a Luminance blend gives detail but also salmon colours and wrecks the stars. HaR I haven't really experimented with but its probably putting the red back in the HaL is taking out.

Its always been a difficulty of Ha blends to get the colour without wrecking the stars, making an all red image or getting salmon colours. Therein is the processing challenge to get a workable formula for Ha blends.

Its like coffee!

Greg.

Thanks to you all. I agree about the blending difficulty....I like coffee and always go for the stronger blends, but I don't like a bitter after taste! Greg and Jase and Mike, you are correct....I will go back and repro this a bit more gently with the Ha blending and see if I can re colour balance the stars. Once again, thank you very much for your hints and suggestions!!

Large tif file here: https://www.sendspace.com/file/qgef3v

Regards,
Tim

[/QUOTE]

[multiweb (Marc)]

Good stuff Tim. I can see the head now. Never thought about this orientation.

[topheart]

Thanks Marc!!
Regards,
Tim

[Paul Haese]

Tim the image looks ok in the image posted on the site but could do with less magenta in my opinion. I can't make any other comments as the image is too small.

However, could I suggest that the images you link to be about 2-3mb instead of 50-70mb? And; you could use a programme like Irfan View to resample and save as a jpeg. I typically resample to around 2600 pixels wide which gives a pretty reasonable view of the image. You will commonly find that people will balk at a 50mb download and that sort of negates the idea in my opinion.

If you are looking around for an image web hosting site there are a few that would suit. There is Smugmug and Pbase to name just two. The annual costs are very low.

I look forward to more of your images.

[topheart]

Hi Paul,

Thanks very much . As you have noticed, I have been struggling with shrinking to files to the required size here. I was hoping to get the images up on the website soon, so I haven't opened a Pbase or similar, but I will consider that if the web guy I use is too slow. I really appreciate your advice about all this and I will look into Irfan View immediately!!

Once again ---many thanks!!
Tim

[gregbradley]

I usually resize to 2000 pixels x 2000 jpeg with highest quality in Photoshop. That gives about a 4-6mb file size and plenty of swim around room in the image yet not too bad to check out. I use PBase. I have noticed its getting harder to get an upload to them recently. I find they were failing a lot.

Greg.

[topheart]

Thanks Greg.....good to know what works for you. I will try that.

Cheers,
Tim