No Pussyfooting...

[Andy01 (Andy)]

NGC 6334 in NB

Waaaay back in early April I started this project, but in my eagerness I was overly ambitious and tried shooting while the moon was up. Actually the moon was so close to the object it was crazy - as were the resulting gradients from hell! Yikes

Then I had my little camera problem, so it was too late to reshoot after the QSI came back from the USA.

Seriously a nightmare to process, along with some minor tracking issues that meant I also had to repair the stars in Startools - so anyway, suffice to say that this is no Malin, but having gathered all the data and inspired by Slawomir's and Rat156's stunning versions here I thought I might as well process/attempt to rescue it anyway and get some practice using some newly learned Startools techniques...

Approx 15hrs data. 5hrs ea of HA, O3 & S2 in 15min subs.

Lesson learned, don't get cocky and try to shoot DSO's next to the moon, esp with O3 filter in place!

Thanks for looking and comments welcome (be kind) but don't pixel peep, you'll probably be disappointed!

Slightly dodgy high res here - http://www.astrobin.com/full/218760/0/

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Excellent work Andy, I was also inspired by Slawomir's and Rat156's versions, it seems this colour pallete is pretty much the only one that works as you have found. What about posting the bluer version too?

[Atmos (Colin)]

Nice burning space foot!!

[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Yes! Excellent work, Andy!

You've got a lot of very fine detail there. Very nice blending of the OIII, which is an extreme challenge on this patch of sky. I really like this one.

Very best,
Mike

[RickS (Rick)]

Looks like you rescued the data fairly well, Andy

BTW, I don't mind a bit of No Pussyfooting when I'm in the mood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyf4l2tLL5g

Cheers,
Rick.

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Hi Andy,

To my eye your interpretation of this nebula is excellent And thank you for your kind feedback

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

This colour palette seems quite popular now for this neb. I do like the composition and the main bright bits of the paw print look ok I guess (with no paint by numbers look in those areas yay! ) but...if I am honest, the rest is a bit harsh and messy looking.

Sounds like the data you had to work with Andy wasn't ideal though so I am sure it was good processing practice at least

Mike

[topheart]

Good one Andy!

I think you did well considering the challenges!

Cheers,
Tim

[gregbradley]

Nice shot Andy. I have data at 2 image scales for this one and I am finding processing challenging. How did you get those nice colours?

The bright areas are great and the tendrilled sphere is nice and sharp. The dim areas though look posterised and the data is too thin to get a solid image there.

Greg.

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Excellent work Andy, I was also inspired by Slawomir's and Rat156's versions, it seems this colour pallete is pretty much the only one that works as you have found. What about posting the bluer version too?

Thanks Fred, much appreciated! Here you go - the moody, midnight blue version (see below).

Originally Posted by Atmos

Nice burning space foot!!

LOL, cheers

Originally Posted by Placidus

Yes! Excellent work, Andy!

You've got a lot of very fine detail there. Very nice blending of the OIII, which is an extreme challenge on this patch of sky. I really like this one.

Very best,
Mike

Thanks Mike, yes nine million versions later I'm please you like it too

Originally Posted by RickS

Looks like you rescued the data fairly well, Andy

BTW, I don't mind a bit of No Pussyfooting when I'm in the mood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyf4l2tLL5g

Cheers,
Rick.

Thanks Rick, wasn't easy but looks ok-ish. Will be a candidate for a revisit next season.

Well done to you too, I was wondering if anyone else would pick up on the Fripp/Eno reference. I'm a huge Eno fan, have been since his first album. FYI, my favourite Eno albums are Discreet Music, Apollo and Before and After Science.

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Originally Posted by Slawomir

Hi Andy,

To my eye your interpretation of this nebula is excellent And thank you for your kind feedback

Thanks Slawomir, but you really set the bar high with yours, easily the benchmark for this DSO.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

This colour palette seems quite popular now for this neb. I do like the composition and the main bright bits of the paw print look ok I guess (with no paint by numbers look in those areas yay! ) but...if I am honest, the rest is a bit harsh and messy looking.

Sounds like the data you had to work with Andy wasn't ideal though so I am sure it was good processing practice at least

Mike

Yes thank you Mike - I think that sums up the experience well. Startools is working pretty well for me now - I was amazed to get this image up to this level with the data I used, but you can't make a silk purse etc...

Originally Posted by topheart

Good one Andy!

I think you did well considering the challenges!

Cheers,
Tim

Thanks Tim - perseverence it its own reward, or I'm just too darn stubborn to give up sometimes

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Nice shot Andy. I have data at 2 image scales for this one and I am finding processing challenging. How did you get those nice colours?

The bright areas are great and the tendrilled sphere is nice and sharp. The dim areas though look posterised and the data is too thin to get a solid image there.

Greg.

Hi Greg, Thankyou for that, yes not enough decent data that's for sure.
As to the colours? For what it's worth, here's my secret recipe, (shhh don't tell anyone!)

In PS, use hue/saturation layers with clipping masks assigned to each filterered image set.
Red - S2, colourize Hue 0, Saturation 100, lightness -11,
Green - Ha, colourize Hue 123, Saturation 100, lightness -50,
Blue - O3, colourize Hue 240, Saturation 100, lightness -13

Then stir in selective colour and a touch of colour balance to taste.
See screenshots below.

I should mention that this varies from subject to subject, as the amount and strength of Ha etc. have a huge impact on the colour formula.

A starting point for that is here - http://bf-astro.com/hubblep.htm

Cheers

Andy