Orpington Astronomical Society

Astronomy => Astrophotography => Topic started by: Fay on May 01, 2011, 16:38:30

Title: NGC 4531 Whale
Post by: Fay on May 01, 2011, 16:38:30
Did this a couple of weeks ago, forgot about it. My galaxies are not too riveting this year. I think face on spirals are the best for a bit of impact.
This also cries out for some colour, John's is much nicer with RGB.

12x600 Atik 314L cls L 0.8fr SW120

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5104/5675695973_9730d5c924_b.jpg)
Title: Re: NGC 4531 Whale
Post by: JohnP on May 01, 2011, 17:25:27
Fay - you are getting like me forgetting about images you have taken. ;) .....

Anyway result is non too shabby - its came out very well & nicely processed as well. Like you said would look great with some RGB. Maybe you should spend the upcoming DSC getting RGB for all the images you have done over last month or two.. (assuming you are going).

Out of interest is this full frame?

Cheers, John
Title: Re: NGC 4531 Whale
Post by: Fay on May 01, 2011, 18:45:44
Thanks John, yes full frame with Atik
Title: Re: NGC 4531 Whale
Post by: Rocket Pooch on May 02, 2011, 12:19:41
The only thing I can think thats wrong with that image is the brightness scaling the stars are washed out a bit and the sky a little tooooo black.

Chris
Title: Re: NGC 4531 Whale
Post by: RobertM on May 02, 2011, 20:20:55
That's a nice image Fay though I would agree with both Chris's comments.

Robert
Title: Re: NGC 4531 Whale
Post by: Fay on May 02, 2011, 20:42:11
It is lighter on the laptop, I usually have to do a bit more processing when transferring to the desktop. Regarding the stars, what could I do to rectify. Hardly any processing done on the stars, no sharpening etc
Title: Re: NGC 4531 Whale
Post by: RobertM on May 02, 2011, 20:59:10
It's very difficult to get the black point right without the greyscale brightness and contrast calibrated correctly.  On this image you should be able to see black as black and white as white with clear delineation between each step in the scale (there should be NO colour in the greyscale).  Please don't ask about colour !

(http://www.curtpalme.com/images/HCFR_IRE.jpg)

As for the stars, it's possible I may be able to suggest what to look at - what processing did you do to arrive at that image ?

Robert