Iris Nebula NGC 7023

[Johnny9s]

Spent a few hours out imaging tonight. This is my first edit of this photo so I thought I would post before hitting the sack.

16 x 120sec frames stacked with 10 darks, @ 1600 ISO. Feel free to correct my image as I am very tired and not sure how it is supposed to look.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3075/2898521286_5c3c5f1bcd_o.jpg

John

[Celestron]

Boy John ... :shock: , your really coming along nicely ! Looks good , just needs more frames and there is a slight green cast to it but that will edit out easily :) ! Congrats !

[Nighthound]

You didn't waste any time getting to the tough ones. The Iris and the Bubble are two I've struggled with, just haven't dedicated enough effort to be honest. I'm looking forward to your first two hour total time image, going to be awesome.

Great shot John.

[Celestron]

John , like Steve says it's going to be awesome when you spend two hours on this ! One real important thing i'd like to mention is about image choices . Some are very hard and take alot of time and images to get all the info needed for a decent image . I would suggest that you not try to get as many images as possible in one night . I know cause i'm there all the time cause my time is limited . I usually try for several in a 2-3 hr session when what i really should do is spend a couple hrs on one image and get better results . This is a long lasting hobby if you don't get burnt out too fast . Take your time and spend more time on a single image than going at a hurried pace . You'll enjoy it better . Oh and BTW don't forget to do some plain old observing so you know what your imaging better . It' s really neat to check out fuzzies and know they are so far away and something or someone may be out there ....:) .

[Nighthound]

Ron makes a VERY important and wise point that I was slow to learn. Bouncing around the sky all night meant I wasn't dedicating the time necessary to do any given object justice. I was all over the place when I started but once I settled down and focused only on one or two objects per night, my images improved tremendously. I know how strong the urge is to see and capture all the season's objects but if you don't get it this year, they'll be back around the same time next. Don't forget to save all your RAW files too and add time to the total as you go.