m27 final rendition

hi,

This is the final processing of my recent image of m27. Taken with a Mewlon250 and ST10XME. LRGB 60:15:15:15 minutes.I had a hard time getting the proper teal color in the middle of the nebula, and it took some processing tricks.

http://starryforge.com/m27/m27LRGBppaFinal.jpg


comments welcomed and appreciated,

Larry Citro

Larry, having problems seeing your image at the link posted. Either they are down or your link is dead... could you post you pic here?


Ivan
8)

Very nice. Good job

Larry,

I think you did a great job on the color and the image acquisition. Let me make a suggestion, however. You are clipping the left side of your histogram. You can see this here, where I am looking at the levels in PS for your whole image:

http://www.pbase.com/jhapeman/image/37254118.jpg

Note that the black curve that defines all of your data is bunched up against the left side, and chopped off.

If I select the just the middle of the nebula, it is fine:

http://www.pbase.com/jhapeman/image/37254120.jpg

A clipped histogram means that you are throwing away data; on the left side, it is the faintest data. In your case, with such a long exposure, you probably lost some faint outer halo of M27 that I bet you captured. It also makes the sky unnaturally jet black.

I hope you take this as a helpful comment; you are doing great here, and it is easy to clip the histogram in processing (especially if you mess with the brightness or contrast settings, rather than using levels or curves to adjust the image).

Jeff

Larry,

Very nice shot. I agree with the histiogram comments. Also, if you apply a gentle minimum filter with some feathering you will get less harsh stars. Your star color retention is good though.

Tom Davis
Inkom, ID

Finally got to see it today, as it would not work for anything yesterday!
Very nice shot Larry, beautiful color & detail!


Thank you for sharing,


Ivan
8)