Some nights ago before my Observatory ran off the rails I had a go at The Horse Head Neb, IC434.
The image here is Aligned and Stacked in Image Plus, and in the Digital Development the Auto button clicked, nothing else, other than saved in Jpeg, etc, the image is not cropped.
I think I could have gone a little more on exposure time but it was really my first attempt at this creature.
It went like this.
10 images at 3 mins and 20 sec's each, @ 500 ISO, through Tak 106, and Canon 5D, on G11, Guided with WO 80mm FD, and Philips Toucam, with PHD.
Please comment, and suggest any thing more that i could have done, or any thing to much that i may have done.
I wasn't going to post this image, but had second thoughts, we have to learn, don't we.
Thanks Guys, Houghy It could be a little washed out, the light pollution here is not of a low standard.
Before i started guiding, my images consisted of 30 to 40 second subs, the LP didn't have time to do it's job.
Now i go for 3 to 4 mins and i thing it may be just to long in this location.
Bloody terrible Leon I dont know why you bothered posting it...
Mate that is fantastic... you should be very very proud of that effort...
bettering your effort here may not be easy ... send it off to a mag, frame it and hang it in pride of place.keep a copy in your wallet ... that is my honest opinion....I know what I like and I love it.
Thanks Alex, and all you good folk, I really had reservations on posting this as i have had so much trouble with processing, so it seems to me that the least i do to it the better it may be.
Yep Alex, it is printed and will take it's place with some of the others.
Leon..my mother always told me she only expected of me to do my best...and if one does their best what shame is there in that...there will always be greater and lesser persons that ones self..but what relevence is that really... you did good and should be proud of that fact.
I doubt if in the game we play there is an upper limit ..one could find fault I imagine even with the work from Hubble.
Perfection is fine but not to enjoy the latest work is not.
I look for the good points and am always happy to disregard the small issues some will seize upon to take away from all the good that has been done.
I did a single run of 1170 seconds on the Horse Head..not perfect but my joy was the fact that I managed a good hand guide for such a long time.
The photo is far from perfect but I took satisfaction from being able to mangage better than I had even done previously.
Looks great Leon, don't under-estimate this subject, it is tough.
More exposure is obvious. Only other comment is in the same light as a few of your other images. Centre if you can the subject. Otherwise be happy. Look at most first up Horsehead shots and you will find they are nowhere as good as yours.
from what i see sharp as a tack, the compositions not a huge issue as there seems to be some faint nebulosity above the featured subject. if the camera is not moddded youve done eeptionally well to get the reds, the obvious lacking thing to me is the yellpw, i would expect a sprinkling of yellow stars to balance it up then it would look much better, given your light pollution problem however that makes it hard to do, did you use a light pollution filter?
can you just bump up the yellow a bit?
i think processing of images is a bit of a learned art, the only trouble is it takes too long to learn.
good post, i like reading the critique others post to as one can learn from others experience too.
Thank You all for your comments, and in answer to some, from my end it has no green/yellow cast across the whole image, that is probably due to my monitor, and it obviously looks different on other peoples monitor.
However your comments have been taken on board.
Mike, and a couple of other people talked about centering the object, well, i actually put it off center on purpose, i personally think it looks better that way, rather than every object dead, center.
I feel that a lonely little object such as Helix floating smack in the middle would look a bit out of place, so i moved it to give some appeal to the shot.
It is good that we all have different preferences to images, other wise it would all be so boring.
Thanks for all your remarks, and i nearly forgot to add, yes Mike i put some line over the front of the scope.
I personally am not really a fan of Spiking, however with images with such large bright stars, i think it is warranted, other wise they would just end up as bright blobs.
The only other Star Cluster that i would do this to is The Pleadies.
Leon
Last edited by leon; 21-10-2007 at 12:43 PM.
Reason: added some text
Sory Leon but the spikes in the star between the horsehead and the nebula is very distracting to me.
It is just a bit overpowering the picture because it is in an awkward spot.
For the rest what can i say.
That image is just excellent. Top marks from me
Don't be sorry Mill, that is exactly what i want to hear, opinions from both sides good, bad, otherwise, that way i can pick up good ideas and skills, to help me along the way.
I had a go at The Horse Head Neb, IC434.
...
.keep a copy in your wallet ... that is my honest opinion....I know what I like and I love it.
