Hello all,
The time has come again to offer up some of my raw image data for anyone to process if you’re up for it, specifically my 2025 acquisition of the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. I captured this in a relatively narrow FOV with my Celestron C6 scope + 0.63X reducer. I have about 25 hours of data collected on it but my final integrated stack out of PixInsight WBPP module is 21hours, in Bortle 8. I imaged this object entirely with a OSC through an Optolong L-eNhance dual-narrowband filter.
📷 NGC 6888 (Crescent Nebula) 2025
https://app.astrobin.com/i/h788ec/
For my own processing I decided to try an do an HOO composition or treatment, of which was the first time ever I have done so. I did manage to extract quote a bit of the Oxygen and make it stand out quite a bit, but still not very happy with it, mainly the color hue, is still too close to green or cyan and not purely “blue”. I attempted to correct this with selective masking in Photoshop before bringing back into PI and it worked some, but also seemed to decrease the luminosity of the blue at the same time.
Moreover, I also want to see other processed versions of this because when I look at other astrographs of this DSO, I just am not pleased with my own version. I am striving in 2026 to get better about my image processing. Perhaps it’s because I tend to be a bit aggressive on the vibrance/color treatment, or I am bad at managing the sky background levels, or overstretching, but my images always end up looking too “fake”. So I would love to learn some tips and advice for how I can improve and also what should I expect. Ultimately in the end I remember that to some point image processing is artistry, and that no two images processed by different individuals will ever look the same even given the same base data.
Attached is all the raw image data, calibration frames etc. as well as an already integrated master light frame.
I have also included the PI project so you can see my workflow.
Happy processing and good luck! I am eager to see what can come out of this.
