First Bicolor Narrowband Image

March 09, 2011  •  Leave a Comment

I have imaged various objects in just Ha before, but just got to use my OIII filter for the first time and am attempting my first bi-color processing. I am hoping to get more hours of both Ha and OIII in the coming days or weeks (whatever the weather will allow).

This is 3 hrs of Ha and an hour of OIII (yes I need more, I have trees which are preventing me from imaging this target for too long in any one night).

I think I have a method (albeit convoluted) that gets a result I like. Basically I have combined portions of all the various bicolor processing techniques I found. A little of Cannistra's, a little of JPM's tone-mapping, a little of my own mixture and PS actions and alot of layers and masks. For only 6 hrs of data (3hrs each of Ha and OIII) I think I have pulled out a good bit of detail and data, at least enough to make make me happy. I also found a balance of colors that I like (although I know with NB this is basically personal preference).

 
 

















Here is also a crop of one edge of the nebula, I am happy with how this is coming along and am hoping with more data I will really get this region especially to "pop": 
 
 
Image Details: 
Imaging Camera: Atik 314L+
Imaging Scope: Orion EON80ED
Tracking & guiding scope: Celestron CPC800XLT
Guide Camera: Starlight XPress Lodestar
Filters: Astronomik Ha 12nm, Astronomik OIII 12nm
Location: fairly dark in the middle of nowhere Suffolk, England
Set temp on camera: -5C
Preprocessed & Stacked in Nebulosity
All post processing done in Photoshop CS2

Comments

No comments posted.
Loading...

Archive
January February March April May June July August September October November December (1)
January February March April (1) May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August (1) September October November December (2)
January February March April May June July August September October (1) November December
January February March April May June July August September (1) October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November (1) December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December