First attempt at Carina

CCD vs Film? Lots of time vs no patience? Alright, this is your place to discuss all the astrophotography what's and what's not. You can discuss about techniques, accessories, cameras, whatever....just make sure you also post some nice photos here too!
maguro77
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First attempt at Carina

Post by maguro77 »

Settings: 7 frames @45 sec each (Raw) with two darks. Stacked with Deepskystacker courtesy of Barry's tutorial (very useful). Tif file was then processed in photoshop. Equipment: Tak 60CB with unmod canon 500d on Tak Space Boy, unguidded, tracking. IDAS LPR filter.

Any comments are appreciate on how to improve the image. Especially the nebulosity. Was playing hide and seek with the clouds and couldnt take as many frames as i would have like.

Shot through my backroom window facing south in west coast.

Image
Last edited by maguro77 on Sun Jun 06, 2010 5:46 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Bergkamp_
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Post by Bergkamp_ »

very well done.. =) bro.. any place i can learn to take a photo like urs? i'm using wo90 and pentax k-x
Wee Ern aRmeD wiF Telescope reAdY tO taKe ovEr thE skY .. wIF jUst mY naKed eYEs .
wintertriangle22
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Post by wintertriangle22 »

Good attempt... nice photo though a bit too small
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weixing
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Post by weixing »

Hi,
Nice job!! I wish I had a clear window view like yours.

Hmm... why no colour?? Should have colours if using a DSLR.

Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing
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Airconvent
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Post by Airconvent »

Excellent first attempt! [smilie=admire2.gif]
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maguro77
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Thanks all for comments

Post by maguro77 »

Thanks all for comment - have crop and resize picture and increase saturation. But dont know if color is 'fake' or actually from the neb.

As you can see - i dont have a clear view - its a challenge in Singapore - everything blocking. I have to wait for Carina to rise above the tree line then can see it.

Bergkamp - maybe you can try kent ridge park - but not sure about light pollution.
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Chris
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Post by Chris »

1. 7x45 exposures not enough. Try 20x1min exposures from singapore with the LPR filter. East Coast Park Area D or Pulau semakau would be a good place to take it.

2. Take more dark frames if you take in RAW, around 50% of light frames.

3. If your camera have noise removal function installed, use it. Cause Dark frame subtraction when using a DSLR via post processing will not be accurate. The camera would have done 1001 things to the image already.

4. After DSS, you will still have to process with photoshop to bring out the color and details. Try adjusting the curves then levels, then curves again.
(I have solved the color bias problem in the green section, and brought out the red emission more)

This is the result of the modifications. I just copied and pasted the image onto my com... hope you don't mind.

Nice camera by the way... it doesn't screw the H-alpha emission up too badly.

Image
maguro77
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Post by maguro77 »

Thanks Chris for the advice and modification to show what Photoshop can do. Am still figuring out photoshop .... while still constantly amazed at what the camera and software can capture that my eyes cannot. :shock:
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Chris
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Post by Chris »

you're welcome.

Me too, cameras are awesome. There are some videos on youtube that shows ya how to do the levels and curves on astrophotographs. I started out there.

Your attempt is indeed a very good first attempt :)

May I know what scope you using?
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orly_andico
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Post by orly_andico »

original post mentioned Tak 60CB on Space Boy (the predecessor of the Sky Patrol).
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