DSS is working--My PP skills aren't. Suggestions?

well thanks to some good advice, I have DSS working.

I've played with this in DSS some, but I'm having a hard time making the Milk Way "pop" like I know it can.

Here's the data:
17-85 @ 17mm
f/4, 15 sec exposure, and 1250 ISO.

52 Lights, 9 Darks, and 20 Bias. Yes, I really did not have a clue.
In hindsight I would have added about 11 more darks.
Here's a JPG render and I did some Unsharp, and a little bright/contrast tweaking.
Suggestions?
I would absolutely LOVE to post the original flat TIFF file for you guys to play with,
but I don't have access to hosting that would hold a 110 MB file.

Sorry about the road sign in the lower right. :P

Did you not adjust the saturation levels or rgb levels in DSS?

no, not particularly. I thought it might be best to try for those adjustments in PS, but they ended up looking rather blah.
Perhaps I'll go play with those again...

Also don't forget that Milky way is too large.
Use ultra wide.
If you must use your current lens, try to stitch.
Or don't expect too much if you show only a small portion as seen here.

I think you need more time on target. Are you exposing till the histogram is just off the left bar?

Look here: http://www.astropix.co​m/INDEX.HTM

Are you on http://www.cloudynight​s.com/
If not there is a ton of info there. I learned AP just by reading the forums and asking questions.

Also looks like your camera isn't modded. Not sure if thats an option you want to pursue. However, if you plan on doing allot of AP it helps.

Any I played with it a bit and came out with this.

I took a shot at processing your image. Converting it to jpeg makes it noisy though.

hey guys thanks for the tips!


You certainly got more out of it that I did.
I think part of the problem is not knowing how to manipulate the settings in DSS...
which will come with just playing with it more. I am interested to know how you guys
brought out the Milky Way itself? I feel like with as many images as I stacked and as much
data as I have on my end I *should* be able to bring it out more, right?
Thanks for the links by the way...I've got some reading to do it looks like.

When your image finishes processing in DSS, adjust your saturation to about 18% 1+/-. 18% gives me fair results most of the time. Next, RGB levels tab. Mark "linked settings" and play with the right setting and the middle setting. After you make changes with the RGB settings, hit apply after each time you've moved the arrow. This way you'll know if you don't like the result and you can quickly hit the undo arrow or "ctrl z". The left arrow I haven't had great results, so I leave this one untouched. Luminance tab: darkness-93, midtone-31.3 and highlight-63.7 have typically yielded me fair results. Every image is going to differ so you'll probably have to make subtle adjustments here and there. Hope this helps.

It does! I will play with those settings...it's a handy to have a starting point.
thanks so much for the tips!