A Late Season Swan

This is an Ha enhanced RGB image in that the Ha data was used to construct the luminance channel in an LRGB image. I did bias slightly toward the red over my normal color calibration.

Also, based on past comments, I did this without noise reduction. (Of course this object is fairly bright and has good signal to noise.)

Full size image and exposure / processing details are here:

http://jthommes.com/Astro/M17.htm

An older imade from two years ago - made without Ha data is here:

http://jthommes.com/MiscAstro/Archives/M17.htm

Jim,

That is an impressive shot. Thanks for sharing!

Keith

Jim ,really nice shot ! I like the fine detail you pulled out of this and you images have there own color signature to them .

Jim Thommes said:
...... I did this without noise reduction. (Of course this object is fairly bright and has good signal to noise.)

I think you're right, Jim. This one didn't need noise reduction. As Gendler has written, "A little grain isn't a bad thing", but I don't see any here.
I think that you could increase your red balance even further if you wanted to, but be advised that I'm partial to 'electric' red for Ha.
My regards,

dan

That is a great looking image.Very sharp details compared to your older version.

Thanks guys for the comments...

Louie, Yeah, I think my "color signature" comes from my use of my old Edmund Optics Dichroic RGB's - maybe one day I will get a more professional set. I'm not unhappy with them, I'm just curious to see what I would get from a different set.

Dan, Yeah, so this one really didn't need noise reduction. My real challenge will come on that next "noisier" image - It will be hard for me to hold off on the NR.

Excellent shot Jim! 8)