M8 Combined Stack

[bluescope]

Hi All

I combined data from last night and previous posting to give this result.

This is 1 hour and 56 mins total with the WO FLT110 Apo.

I hour being 10x360sec and 56 minutes being 7x480sec images.

The framing on the 2 nights was very different hence the visible line across left hand corner of this image.

[peeb61 (Paul)]

Just love the detail Steve, crisp and stunning.
Keep em coming.
Paul

[batema (Mark)]

Steve,
My Flt110 arrives in 2 weeks. Can't wait. Great shot and definately keep them coming.
Mark

[AlexN]

Its a wonder more people dont do combined stacking from a few different nights worth of data..

This has come up really nicely Steve... well done.

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by peeb61

Just love the detail Steve, crisp and stunning.
Keep em coming.
Paul

Cheers Paul !

Originally Posted by batema

Steve,
My Flt110 arrives in 2 weeks. Can't wait. Great shot and definately keep them coming.
Mark

I'm sure you will love your flt110 Mark ! The waiting is the hard part ay !

Originally Posted by AlexN

Its a wonder more people dont do combined stacking from a few different nights worth of data..

This has come up really nicely Steve... well done.

Thanks Alex

It's logical to collect data over a period of time because most of the objects we image don't really change ( not in our lifetime anyway ) only the seeing conditions change. As long as you compose your images similarly it works well. I didn't set out to do a combined stack and have a nasty line as I said in the post because the framing of M8 was quite different over the two nights. Other guys on IIS combine data and get great results. There are ofcourse other well known astrophotographers who collect many hours of data for their images e.g. Robert Gendler, Russell Croman and the like. Anyway that's enough of me raving.

[Gama]

Good capture, but a little anemik for me. I like the red to show a little more.

Theo.

[leon]

Yep, that is pretty cool, as stated before shape and in good colour, well done indeed.

Leon

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by Gama

Good capture, but a little anemik for me. I like the red to show a little more.

Theo.

Cheers Theo, here's a special one just for you with red up just a touch.

Originally Posted by leon

Yep, that is pretty cool, as stated before shape and in good colour, well done indeed.

Leon

Thanks Leon, glad you like it !

[Gama]

Looks much nicer with deeper colors.

Theo.

[RB (Andrew)]

A very nice capture Steve and I agree boosting the colour has improved the shot.

Well done mate.

[h0ughy (David)]

GReat result from the effort put into it. Processng images is an art, something I really need to learn as well

[Garyh]

Looks good Steve, nice and smooth.
Have you tried giving the red channel a bit of a stretch? Should improve the neb colors a bit more?
cheers

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by Gama

Looks much nicer with deeper colors.

Theo.

Glad you approve Theo, I like it too ! Sometimes you think it's too much other times not enough etc.

Originally Posted by RB

A very nice capture Steve and I agree boosting the colour has improved the shot.

Well done mate.

Thanks Rob, all I did was raise the red mid-range input levels from 1.00 - 1.13 glad you like it !

Originally Posted by h0ughy

GReat result from the effort put into it. Processng images is an art, something I really need to learn as well

Thanks Dave, the processing just takes time and practice, the more you do it the more you get out of it hopefuly !

Originally Posted by Garyh

Looks good Steve, nice and smooth.
Have you tried giving the red channel a bit of a stretch? Should improve the neb colors a bit more?
cheers

I never quite know what people mean by "stretching" ? Perhaps you could elaborate on it for me Gary !

[Garyh]

Originally Posted by bluescope

I never quite know what people mean by "stretching" ? Perhaps you could elaborate on it for me Gary !

Steve, Just had a quick play in PS, I have attached your image after some tweaks. Also have attached a screen print of what I did with curves on the red channel. This is just a light stretch of the red channel while trying not to change the background color balance too much..I also adjusted the gamma on the Blue level up a few and the black point on the red channel up a few as well to get a more neutral background then added about 16% saturation to liven it up some..I hope you don`t mind and that it gives you some ideas..
cheers Gary

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by Garyh

Steve, Just had a quick play in PS, I have attached your image after some tweaks. Also have attached a screen print of what I did with curves on the red channel. This is just a light stretch of the red channel while trying not to change the background color balance too much..I also adjusted the gamma on the Blue level up a few and the black point on the red channel up a few as well to get a more neutral background then added about 16% saturation to liven it up some..I hope you don`t mind and that it gives you some ideas..
cheers Gary

So by stretching you mean editing curves ?

Looks fine to me.

[Jen]

nice pic

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by Jen

nice pic

Thanks Jen !

[winensky]

A really nice shot with plenty of depth and detail. Especial thanks to garyh for showing how a few gentle tweeks can enhance both colour and contrast,

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by winensky

A really nice shot with plenty of depth and detail. Especial thanks to garyh for showing how a few gentle tweeks can enhance both colour and contrast,

Cheers Matt, glad you like the image.

[Ric]

A great image Steve, There is some lovely detail that you have captured.