AstroTanja
In May 2013 I photographed M16, acquiring 21x 180sec exposure images to total 63min. I initially calibrated and stacked in Nebulosity, and edited in Photoshop. Since end 2013 I’ve moved over to processing in PixInsight, and have been wanting to reprocess some of my previous images.
Acquiring in Nebulosity
Unfortunately all the images I acquired on my May 2013 Sutherland trip were auto-stretched by Nebulosity. Unbeknown to me I wasn’t shooting true RAW, and Nebulosity was applying an auto-stretch to my images, diminishing the quality of data. I only noticed this when bringing data into PixInsight, having the FITS already in a non-linear state directly after being integrated. So, some advice; Ensure that you set your “Acquisition Mode” in Nebulosity to RAW. It’ll go a long way in preserving quality. (Although you’ll have to debayer)
Processing in PixInsight
The colour balance is much better than the original image. Although I don’t have as much of the surrounding area’s nebulosity showing, I prefer this rather than the reddish blotchy appearance of the initial image. I also used a process called “Morphological Transformation” that helps reduce stars. With this area being filled with so many stars, it really helped bring out the detail in the nebula – by reducing the star field.
I used this tutorial by Rogelio Bernal Andreo
Since the quality of data was poor to begin with I didn’t spend too long on re-processing this. Next try will be with better data; M31!
Looking for some PixInsight tutorials? Sean Curry’s site www.drakevisual.com has some interesting links
Hello THANK YOU SO MUCH for the video on how to shoot wide field shots with a tripod and a wide angle lens . it really cleared so much of my confusion on how to shoot these kinds of shots . I love open star clusters and large 20×80 binocular use that this is exactly what i want to shoot this winter . Here in the USA I love in the state called massachusetts in the western part far away from city light s out in the boon docks of western MA its only a short 20 min to 40 min drive to get so far from lights that you can read a book by star light . so now i can of and really shoot stuff and get the shots i wanted for so long . I am so happy you explained the 500 rule and know ing approx. how long i can leave a shutter open with out star trails i have been experimenting with a 50 mm prime at f1.8 and getting star blobs at 10 seconds and not know ing why until you explained stuff on the video . I used to have alot of astro gear but sold it all for a new camera and so far i am pretty happy . but i once again have the astro bug and now I’m planning on getting into astro photography again next summer 6 months away so i can save up for some new gear . i am planning on getting a ioptron az mount pro which can support 33 lbs of gear really cool and a wide field refractor and maybe even a 150 mm MAK case for lunar and planetary imaging not sure yet i have always wanted to catch the objects in the night sky . i bought my gear when scopes were not all that computerized yet and had much frustration with the gear now for the same money you get a full blown computerized scope and great optics for pretty cheap so now i will start save to get back into astronomy but while I save i can shoot with my tripod and camera and get great wide field shots and learn to stack and process images it will be so cool to shoot this stuff as i always have dreamed of well thanks so much for your video and the advice and explanations they are the best on you tube hope to see more son can i contact you with questions as i start on this endeavor as to shooting night sky shots . This is interesting cause i have never seen the sky in the southern hemisphere and lookig at your pics is greta to see the stuff i only can see on maps in real time . Thanks agiain Mike remillard it would be great to write to you and talk shop with astro stuff gear and technique so be well happy shooting.
Tanja M 16 is my 3rd group of stars on my list of the most fascinating Stars in the sky. The 4th would be the Trapizium, also in Onion. I love the fact we can see the Eagle in M16 clear as a bell, and the 4 stars in the Trapizium are fabulous. Leave comment later, Tim