Hi, All. I'm looking for feedback on my image of M51, https://astrob.in/k1dxtf/0/.
[RCC] M51 from Cape Canaveral, FL
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I'm not sure how much there is to say. It's a serviceable image but it does have some easy to fix flaws:
The colour balance is totally off. If you have PixInsight, have you tried SPCC? Everything you need to know about it can be found here: https://pixinsight.com/doc/docs/SPCC/SPCC.html
The background has been clipped way too much and is too black. Take a look at this recent IotD for an idea of what your brightness should be on your background: https://www.astrobin.com/dckw7u/
I feel like you could get more out of your stars. Perhaps try a masked stretch or use GHS to help avoid clipping them. After you have your image in a non-linear state and the curves where you want them, you can use StarNet or your favourite star removal process to take the stars out, run SCNR on them to get rid of the green, saturate them, and then plug them back into your image with pixel math.
Perhaps more exposure time could help? I think you are sitting at 4 hours but supposing weather permits you and you don't have any other projects on your plate you might try going for double or triple the integration time.
https://www.astrobin.com/337926/?q=&camera=
Here you can find an M51 with an EdgeHd 8 that gives you an idea of what is possible.
The colour balance is totally off. If you have PixInsight, have you tried SPCC? Everything you need to know about it can be found here: https://pixinsight.com/doc/docs/SPCC/SPCC.html
The background has been clipped way too much and is too black. Take a look at this recent IotD for an idea of what your brightness should be on your background: https://www.astrobin.com/dckw7u/
I feel like you could get more out of your stars. Perhaps try a masked stretch or use GHS to help avoid clipping them. After you have your image in a non-linear state and the curves where you want them, you can use StarNet or your favourite star removal process to take the stars out, run SCNR on them to get rid of the green, saturate them, and then plug them back into your image with pixel math.
Perhaps more exposure time could help? I think you are sitting at 4 hours but supposing weather permits you and you don't have any other projects on your plate you might try going for double or triple the integration time.
https://www.astrobin.com/337926/?q=&camera=
Here you can find an M51 with an EdgeHd 8 that gives you an idea of what is possible.
Helpful
Hello Ryan,
I'll throw my two-cents in ....
Perhaps the result of having better tools available, experience and growth, and the reality that some folks are simply fantastic at this wonderful discipline of ours, images keep getting better all the time. I consider that your M51 image is very nice. Many of us - myself included - would be pleased to have captured and processed an image like yours.
I acknowledge that there is plenty of subjectivity in what we do and consider the galaxy (proper) to be a bit bright, perhaps contributing to an overly bright galactic core (?). In general, I am also not a fan of stark black backgrounds. You may have even lost some detail in it. The stars seem to be lacking in color.
Having said all that, I still sincerely applaud you. I haven't imaged M51 in a long time, but plan to (as soon as the persistence of clouds go away) with a newly acquired scope of sufficient focal length. I hope my first attempt is as nice as yours.
Here's a link to what I consider a superb image of M51 (by @Joe Santacroce ): https://www.astrobin.com/mey9f7/C/.
Well wishes,
Jay
I'll throw my two-cents in ....
Perhaps the result of having better tools available, experience and growth, and the reality that some folks are simply fantastic at this wonderful discipline of ours, images keep getting better all the time. I consider that your M51 image is very nice. Many of us - myself included - would be pleased to have captured and processed an image like yours.
I acknowledge that there is plenty of subjectivity in what we do and consider the galaxy (proper) to be a bit bright, perhaps contributing to an overly bright galactic core (?). In general, I am also not a fan of stark black backgrounds. You may have even lost some detail in it. The stars seem to be lacking in color.
Having said all that, I still sincerely applaud you. I haven't imaged M51 in a long time, but plan to (as soon as the persistence of clouds go away) with a newly acquired scope of sufficient focal length. I hope my first attempt is as nice as yours.
Here's a link to what I consider a superb image of M51 (by @Joe Santacroce ): https://www.astrobin.com/mey9f7/C/.
Well wishes,
Jay
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Thank you both. This is exactly the type of feedback I need. I’ll explore these links and reprocess the image. Cheers.
Well Written Respectful
Jay Hovnanian:
Here's a link to what I consider a superb image of M51 (by @Joe Santacroce ): https://www.astrobin.com/mey9f7/C/.
Unfortunately, the example image is heavily processed. It has a lot of processing artifacts on the spiral arms, the color balance is not correct, and even if we can't agree on this, it lacks color diversity, since it is mostly violet.
@Ryan Smith, if this is indeed your first image it is definitely a good image to start with! I believe there is room for improvement if you follow @SemiPro's advice. By browsing the Top Picks/IOTDs you will find some better examples of M51 for inspiration. You don't have to adopt the processing style of a particular image. Just get the general feeling of what elements a good M51 image have in common. Don't be disappointed by the amounts of imaging time and equipment budget some of these images have! Sometimes, a zero-cost element like the choice of composition can make a difference.
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A nice, very detailed, image. The final image can be very subjective. For me, I would tone down the coloration a little for a more muted palette
but that is subjective opinion and does not distract from what is a good image. Well done.
but that is subjective opinion and does not distract from what is a good image. Well done.