Rho Ophiucus Complex in HDR at -10C

[avandonk]

Had a full clear night and managed to get some decent data with the fridge at -10C.

Canon5DH, Canon 300mm F2.8L at F2.8. Six sets of exposure from15s at an ISO of 200 sequentially doubled to 4min at an ISO of 400 ICNR on. Converted from raw to tiff and corrected for flats with ImagesPlus. Stacked and aligned with Registar. EasyHDR used to generate and LDR image from this data.

I have pushed everything to see what is there right down to the noise. I am sure it will get better with moe data as this region rises higher earlier.

Large Image 1.6MB
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~avandonk1/rho.jpg

As you can see this region has the lot.

Bert

[leon]

Minus ten Bert, gee I cant wait for those cold frosty nights again, your image looks quite spectacular with the different hues or red and blue, very impressive.

leon

[EzyStyles (Eric)]

lovely shot bert, spectacular. yes same as leon, i like the blue/red hues around this image.

[jase (Jason)]

Nice Bert. Really like the composition. The FOV covers the area exceptionally well. The colour balance you present needs more work (see first attachment). The image is heavily weighted in the red and blue channels which are suppressing the renowned delicate hues in this area of the sky. To circumvent this, simply push the green channel using curves (see second attachment). Once corrected, you'll bring out the magnificent hues you've captured. I’d be pleased with such a result. I suspect the full res image would be rather grand. Well done.

[avandonk]

Thanks Jase good advice as usual. Here is a version following your recommendations I hope.

Large Image 1.9MB
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~avandonk1/rho.jpg

I hope to get more data at longer exposures when this region at at the zenith.

Bert

[iceman (Mike)]

Now that's brilliant. I can't wait to capture this area of sky.

Looks fantastic, Bert.

[h0ughy (David)]

Awesome Bert that’s absolutely awesome!!! Its a kaleidoscope of colours

[theodog (Jeff)]

That is one very nice image Bert.
Well done.

[jase (Jason)]

Looking good Bert. A marked improvement. Clusters have taken a more natural appearance. As you suggest, more data will assist. Perhaps some masked noise reduction to clean the dim areas would see this mission complete. Worthy of a AS&T publication IMHO.

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

that's a great shot..for some reason I have always felt that film did greater justice to the colour in this region than silicon-purely subjective opinion of course--but your fine shot has dispelled that illusion

[Tamtarn]

Bert the reprocessed version looks great, colours perfect and a lovely image overall.

[tornado33]

Yes such wonderful colours there, a big dynamic range covered.
Scott

[Garyh]

Excellent result Bert!
I agree that the reprocessed image looks fantastic!
Look forwards to the next one with even more data!
cheers Gary

[avandonk]

Originally Posted by tornado33

Yes such wonderful colours there, a big dynamic range covered.
Scott

Yes thanks Scott I reckon it is close to 18 bits or 18 stops dynamic range! Bit better than 'standard' 16 hey?

Bert

[Alchemy (Clive)]

lovely colors bert , a very nice image.

[multiweb (Marc)]

WOW! Awesome shot bert. Love the colours and composition. Well done indeed.

[Phil]

Love this part of the sky. Very nice photo.
Phil

[Ric]

A very lovely image Bert and congrats on having it up as image of the week.

Well done.

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Bert

I had a close look at your image. I added some dark material to make the image square and resized it to 1024 x1024. Both these adjustments are required to display it in Stellarium. I then overlaid it onto Stellarium. It fits beautifully, accurately overlaying the stars with a 390 arc minute square texture.

Simply brilliant.

Barry

[avandonk]

Sounds good Barry to see it in context. Is it possible to show some screenshots? I am going to do a mosaic of the region starting with a two by two and then a two by three or more. It all depends on the weather!

Bert