Beginner astrophotographer shares first M101 image for feedback

ZWO ASI2600MC Pro Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight Sky-Watcher HEQ5 PRO Deep Sky Galaxy M101 Messier Objects
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Vincent TESSIER avatar
Vincent TESSIER avatar

Bonjour à toutes et à tous,

Jeune 😆 débutant en astrophoto (mais photographe par ailleurs) de 54 ans, je viens vous partager ma première photo que j’estime correcte afin de recueillir vos avis et idealement vos conseils.

Merci d’avance. Il y a encore un énorme travail devant moi!

📷 M101-Modifier.jpgM101-Modifier.jpgCette photo a été prise dans les conditions suivantes:

Lunette 80ED sur HEQ5 Pro + Asiair + Autoguidage

Réducteur de focale 0,85

Caméra 2600MC P

60 lights de 300s à Valence (26) Bortle 5-6 avec filtre IDAS NGS1

Développement Pixinsight

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Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

Overall I would say bravo, for a first image this is very good. I get the feeling that your photography experience is helping you out here. I can’t get into the details with a small image like this. Just putting up a link to the image in your bin would be much better. The first thing I do notice is a slight green cast to the color balance. I would work to see if I could balance that out. I’m also not seeing much star color. That’s probably because of the filter and the rather long 300 sec. subs. You might try 30 min. of shorter subs with a just a UV/IR filter to get RGB stars. Also, hard to really tell at this image scale but some of the details look a bit stringy, maybe pull back on BlurX a bit if you are using it.

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Tom van Peer avatar
Tom van Peer avatar

Looks very nice, lots of detail in the core. As Tony mentioned, some more color would be nice. How did you stretch this image? I used MAS on this very same image and got ver colorful stars.

Jan Erik Vallestad avatar
Jan Erik Vallestad avatar

Tony Gondola · Apr 17, 2026, 03:48 PM

You might try 30 min. of shorter subs with a just a UV/IR filter to get RGB stars.

Just a reminder that the ASI2600MC Pro has a built in UV/IR filter, so I would definetly not advice anyone to double-stack with another.

Otherwise I agree, a bit more color wouldn’t hurt but I too belive this has more to do with stretching/curves adjustments.

Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

Jan Erik Vallestad · Apr 17, 2026, 06:57 PM

Tony Gondola · Apr 17, 2026, 03:48 PM

You might try 30 min. of shorter subs with a just a UV/IR filter to get RGB stars.

Just a reminder that the ASI2600MC Pro has a built in UV/IR filter, so I would definetly not advice anyone to double-stack with another.

Otherwise I agree, a bit more color wouldn’t hurt but I too belive this has more to do with stretching/curves adjustments.

Oh gosh, yes, i forgot about that!

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