Bunyip 12.5 - NGC6744 Repro

[David Fitz-Henr]

OK, here is the promised repro of my inaugural image of NGC6744:

Large: http://upload.pbase.com/image/146177653
Small: http://upload.pbase.com/david_fitz_h...46177653/large

I have also collected some outstanding data for NGC6726 (R Corona Australis region) with CCDInspector showing an FWHM of 1.96px for the Luminance; unfortunately I didn't realise this was a variable star / nebula and I collected the green data on a later date when the nebula had obviously brightened, so will need to either collect the green again when it has faded to the same level, or possibly take all the RGB again
One question I have though - given that the whole region is bathed in nebulosity, does anyone know how to correct for any gradients?

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

The clarity and depth of that image is ridiculous David! You must be very happy!!! This version is much better than your original IMO. Can even see some emission neb starting to show.

Cheers, Marcus

[Ross G]

Great galaxy photo David.

So much sharp detail.

Nice colours too.

Ross.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Originally Posted by Ross G

Great galaxy photo David.

So much sharp detail.

Nice colours too.

Ross.

Thanks Ross - I'm trying my hardest to ensure my image processing doesn't detract from the great data that the new scope is producing!

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

The clarity and depth of that image is ridiculous David! You must be very happy!!! This version is much better than your original IMO. Can even see some emission neb starting to show.

Cheers, Marcus

Thanks Marcus, I think I have improved on my previous effort and so is a better showcase for the new scope!

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

That's beautiful David!

So much going on in this image and you have balanced it well.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Satchmo]

Congrats David- your dedication to building a premium imaging scope and methodical imaging technique is certainly paying dividends.
Amazing detail in the galaxy . Perhaps worth posting a crop of the galaxy from the full frame given most of it is foreground stars?

[gregbradley]

A great inaugral image.

The stars show a heavy magenta coloured bias which at first looks like Chromatic Aberration.

I would get the colour balance more sorted. Galaxies are more of a blue not magenta so selective colour tool in Photoshop would be a good place to start pulling down the magentas and increasing the cyans probably.

Greg.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Originally Posted by tilbrook@rbe.ne

That's beautiful David!

So much going on in this image and you have balanced it well.

Cheers,

Justin.

Thanks Justin!

Originally Posted by Satchmo

Congrats David- your dedication to building a premium imaging scope and methodical imaging technique is certainly paying dividends.
Amazing detail in the galaxy . Perhaps worth posting a crop of the galaxy from the full frame given most of it is foreground stars?

Thanks Mark - I have attached a crop of just the galaxy as well (with some added colour processing as per Greg's comments below).

Originally Posted by gregbradley

A great inaugral image.

The stars show a heavy magenta coloured bias which at first looks like Chromatic Aberration.

I would get the colour balance more sorted. Galaxies are more of a blue not magenta so selective colour tool in Photoshop would be a good place to start pulling down the magentas and increasing the cyans probably.

Greg.

Yes I believe you're right now that I look at it again. Sheez, I've reprocessed this several times now - it's almost as hard as building the scope itself I had turned the red up too much I think in order to highlight the emission nebulae in the galaxy, which has resulted in too much magenta. I've turned it down (using Colour Balance tool) and also used the Selective Colour tool (hadn't tried this before) as you suggested. The cropped image that I have just attached (as per Mark's suggestion) has these changes. Let me know what you think and I'll replace the main image on my pbase site.

[gregbradley]

Still a bit too much magenta for my taste. But then thats my taste so.

Some of those stars have a magenta halo. Perhaps Carboni action remove blue halos would help there as well.

Getting the right blue colour in some galaxy shots isn't easy and unfortunately you picked a hard target 6744 - its not an easy process.
Its dim and faint.

You can play with the blues in selective colour. Some of those sliders are like magic and those elusive nice blue galaxy colours that Rob Gendler get are suddenly achievable.

Greg.

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Getting there David - keep it up! There are a lot of tricks to this trade!

Cheers, Marcus

[David Fitz-Henr]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Getting there David - keep it up! There are a lot of tricks to this trade!

Cheers, Marcus

Thanks Marcus!

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Still a bit too much magenta for my taste. But then thats my taste so.

Some of those stars have a magenta halo. Perhaps Carboni action remove blue halos would help there as well.

Getting the right blue colour in some galaxy shots isn't easy and unfortunately you picked a hard target 6744 - its not an easy process.
Its dim and faint.

You can play with the blues in selective colour. Some of those sliders are like magic and those elusive nice blue galaxy colours that Rob Gendler get are suddenly achievable.

Greg.

Thanks for the advice Greg. I decided to reprocess the colour again rather than try to patch it up after the fact (and making use of the Selective Colour as you have suggested).
Here are the links to the newly processed image as well as the old one to compare. I think that I have the colours looking much better now - anyway, let me know what you think. I hadn't used the selective colour tool prior to this; it made things much easier - I just couldn't get the right balance using the Colour Balance adjustments alone.

New Image: http://www.pbase.com/image/146319166
Old Image: http://www.pbase.com/image/146177653