M45 from Chiefland Florida.

[markjpcs]

http://www.pcsincnet.com/M45102608-1Rev3.jpg

Canon 50D
Astro-Physics 105mm APO f5.8
134 x 1 minute exposures stacked and median combined in Deep Sky Stacker.
10 dark frames median combined into a master dark and subtracted in Deep Sky Stacker.
Post Processing in Photoshop CS3

[ebann]

:shock: :shock: :shock:

[Nighthound]

Looking good Mark, wish I was there. I'm going to our dark site tonight on the ocean. Looking to get the California Nebula.

Hope you have a great time there.

[Celestron]

Great shot ! You just need to edit that green background . WTG and thanks for posting !

[Adrena1in]

Lovely. Try as I might I simply can't extract any of the nebulosity from my M45 photos, so I'm always impressed at shots like this.

[markjpcs]

I toned down the Green curve a bit.

http://www.pcsincnet.com/M45102608-1Rev4Reduced1024.jpg

[Johnny9s]

The edit look great. bw!

[Celestron]

Mark , this is more like what i was talking about with the green . On my computer it's a solid green background even in your re-edit . Hope you don't mind my reposting it . I had to reduce the file size also because of 150K being max for this section on image size .

[ebann]

Where did the green cast come from?

[markjpcs]

Ron,

Thanks it looks much better!

I see it now. It is more obvious on my laptop though.

What did you do to fix it? I just brought the green curve down a bit.

I'd like to apply your edits to the original tiff file.

Mark

[Nighthound]

Mark,

I took a look at your image in Photoshop and a few things jumped out. The saturation level looks a bit high on my monitor so I backed it down a bit. Also the color balance was off so I tweaked it and raised the black point a bit to see if there was any faint detail being masked. Because this is a low rez JPEG I can't bring back what was lost in the original but take a look in the circle in this image and some detail was revealed even at this stage. These DSLRs are great but when it gets down to the faintest of details I find myself really working hard to retain it during the last stages of processing.

Hope you don't mind me tinkering and sharing some thoughts. Hope you had a great time at Chiefland.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/test/tst2/M45102608-1Rev3nh.jpg

[R Hardman]

Mark, love the details!

[Celestron]

Ron,

Thanks it looks much better!

I see it now. It is more obvious on my laptop though.

What did you do to fix it? I just brought the green curve down a bit.

I'd like to apply your edits to the original tiff file.

Mark

Mark the first thing i do is open LEVELS and click the gray point dropper button , move the cursor over to a dark section of the image (Usually middle upper left hand section ) and right click . You will notice an overall change in the cover haze a picture has on it . This helps remove some false LP film but becareful cause it can also cause a sky change in color . Play with this before you save it to adjust it to your likings . As Steve mentioned he toned down the saturation and i agree it was a little too much but i didn't want to change too much in case you didn't like it but Steves version is better . Next i will check the histogram and see if things are still ok . Next i will make adjustments in VARIATIONS . If it looks ok i'll save a copy first and see how it looks when opened . If the background isn't dark enough for me then i'll use SELECTIVE COLORS and adjust Black point and maybe NEUTRALS point . Careful on the NEUTRALS tho cause one # too much can cause lost of detail and same as with the Black Point adjustments . One main thing i try to watch is to not disturb the Histogram very much . I have a hard time with this . Some times i knock it way out of whack and i'll have to start all over again . I never save any adjustments to the original image cause once saved you cannot go back to the original image and if you don't have a copy then your out of luck to start from scratch again :( .

[markjpcs]

Thanks for the processing tips!

Here is my latest revision based on your (Ron and Steve's) advice.

http://www.pcsincnet.com/M45102608-1Rev5_72dpi_1024.jpg

I could play with this all day but I have real work to do. :lol:

It looks like I captured a faint galaxy to the right of M45! I love it when that happens! ;)

[ebann]

Thanks for the processing tips!

Here is my latest revision based on your (Ron and Steve's) advice.



I could play with this all day but I have real work to do. :lol:

Niiiice!!! bw!

[markjpcs]

I would love to enter it for the book but I have only been a member since October. :(

Any chance of having that rule "re-examined"? ;)

[Nighthound]

Oh ya! You nailed it Mark. Just beautiful, great work.

[Celestron]

I agree with Steve , you nailed it now !

[markjpcs]

Thanks guys!

It would have never happened except for your advice.

[R Hardman]

Much better and way better then the cover shot of one of my observing books!

[markjpcs]

OMG! I just learned today that this photo of M45 was selected for The Book!

I am humbled and honored.

[chris.bailey]

Way to go!

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

Absolutely gorgeous!

I can't wait for summer to have a go at this elusive target!

Well done mate.

Baz.

[gecko3s]

Congratulations!

Chiefland, eh? I love the mexican restaurant in town there!

[Nighthound]

Congrats Mark, well deserved buddy.