Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146)

[Johnny9s]

This is my initial edit of the Cocoon. It is a work in progress but I just wanted to get some feedback.

16 x 120sec, ISO 1600, stacked with 10 dark frames in DSS and processed in CS3 with Noels tools.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2898520067_db41611d9a_o.jpg

John

[Celestron]

It's coming along nicely John . The Cacoon is a lighter shade tho , almost a dark pink . Check this out : http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/Cocoon6303.html .

[Johnny9s]

Thanks Ron. I am having a hard time bringing out the colour of nebula. I know that it is mostly due to my unmodded 40D. I just need to figure out what steps to do to increase and accurately portray the colour of just the nebula and not the surrounding area. I find it really difficult to bring out more detail without blowing out the entire frame.

[Celestron]

Check this out John : http://www.astropix.com/HTML/J_DIGIT/TOC_DIG.HTM

[Nighthound]

Nice work once again. Great star color for this region John. The same principle for balance applies as the M45 adjustment I did. It's important to get your color balance correct from the start and maintain it throughout processing. On the cmyk scale I go for Cyan:73, Magenta:68, Yellow:65, Black:80. The percentages can shift by a couple either way but I find this a decent mixture. It's not set in stone but it's a good baseline. By starting and keeping balance you won't end up down a path of having to color correct drastically which can become a guessing game.

You went really deep on this but you clipped your black point which may be hiding some of the faint dust in the dark lane if any was captured. I don't know anything about DSS but maybe the clipping is occurring in the stack and some preferences need to be set, don't know. I raised the black point some but to no real gain because once faint details are clipped, they're gone for good. Mainly I color balanced and then de-saturated the red and also went into "selective color" in PS and pulled some black and cyan out of the red to brighten the nebula. It's still too magenta but you can see where I was going with it.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/test/tst2/2898520067_db41611d9a_o.jpg

[Johnny9s]

It looks like I clipped the black point in my initial levels adjustment. I am going to rework this image from the start again. I have also ordered Michael Covingtons book on Astrophotography so hopefully this will help me to get my head around some of these ideas a little better.

I am still pretty much a full beginner with photoshop and photography as a whole. I have been reading Scott Kelby's books on CS3 and that has taught me the basics. With curves I have no idea where to start adjusting from. I usually just pick a random spot on the line and adjust from there.:o

Thanks for all your patience and help so far. This forum has been a valuable tool and I really appreciate all the knowledge you have imparted to me.

[RadAL]

the dark spot looks like a hand/arm holding a redish/pink ball...