LMC from Coonabarrabran

Deeno · #1 12-01-2008, 09:54 PM

Focus focus focus!!!

Spent a couple of days in Coonabarrabran this week and thought I'd have another go at some astro photography with my D200 and 80-200 ED 2.8 lens on the non-descript eq mount with RA drive under some VERY dark skies.

Armed with a little more knowledge on focusing a DSLR thanks to a recent article in Australian Sky and Telescope I spent what seemed an eternity focusing and attempting to drift align with info obtained within the pages of IceInSpace.

So, here we are. Focal length-80mm
5, 30 second shots at iso 3200 + dark
5, 30 second shots at iso 1600 + dark
5, 30 second shots at iso 800 + dark
5, 30 second shots at iso 200 + dark
1, 60 second shot at iso 3200

Taken with cameras onboard long exposure and high iso filters.
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and no after processing.

Please criticise and offer tips

Cheers
Deeno

Lester · #2 12-01-2008, 10:09 PM

Hi Deeno,

thats a nice image. Its a bit purple in colour. I had a play around with it and found by reducing the saturation and then increasing the contrast and finally adjusting the colours to get it to a natural tone.

There is heaps of detail there and the tracking is very good.

Well done.

Deeno · #3 12-01-2008, 10:57 PM

Oops... Accidently posted it in the wrong place..........

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lester

Hi Deeno,

thats a nice image. Its a bit purple in colour. I had a play around with it and found by reducing the saturation and then increasing the contrast and finally adjusting the colours to get it to a natural tone.

There is heaps of detail there and the tracking is very good.

Well done.

Thanks Lester

Feel free to post your result.
Had a little play with it and am unsure on how it possibly should look.

Alchemy (Clive) · #4 13-01-2008, 02:33 AM

All you need to do is go longer, and get more detail, still its a good effort

iceman (Mike) · #5 13-01-2008, 07:05 AM

Well done Dean, great result. The skies are certainly dark up there - you can see that in your results!

Keep at it!

theodog (Jeff) · #6 13-01-2008, 07:15 AM

Ahh the astronomy god's own country.

Lovely image too.

Garyh · #7 13-01-2008, 08:40 AM

A nice result there but like mentioned a bit too purple/red in the LMC.
But nice a sharp and loads of detail!
cheers

Lester · #8 13-01-2008, 08:56 AM

Hi Deeno,

here is a quick adjustment to your image. I only used astra image, because its easy to copy and paste into that program.

All I did was reduce saturation and then add some contrast and alter the colour until, I thought the colour looked correct.

A program like Photoshop would have done a far better job, but it gives you an idea of what you have got in your image. Heaps of nebulosity in there.

Well done and look forward to seeing more of your images.

netwolf · #9 13-01-2008, 09:10 AM

Deeno, looks like you have now caught the imaging bug. Well done you got some nice detail there.

RB (Andrew) · #10 14-01-2008, 01:07 AM

You've done well Deeno, good focus, good tracking, nicely stacked.
Just need to work on the final steps adjusting the colour balance.

Do you shoot RAW or jpg?
If only in jpg then check your white balance settings.
In RAW it won't matter.

I had a little go too.
Adjusted the levels, shifted the hues and saturation in PS CS2.
Working on the original file would obviously bring up a better result.

You're doing well buddy, looking forward to catching up soon.

Deeno · #11 14-01-2008, 01:56 AM

Thanks for the coments.
Will work on some longer exposures.
Shooting in RAW RB, thats how it came out of DeepSkyStacker.
Have had a bit of a play in photoshop and think I've overdone it a little.

Looking forward to the next new moon

Thanks
Deeno

And part 4