Reprocessed M31 with Pixinsight
Oct 27, 2019 21:30:59 #
Ballard
Loc: Grass Valley, California
Late last week I downloaded Pixinsight for the 45 day free trail. I used it to stack and reprocess the M31 images I took a couple of months ago. Needless to say I will be purchasing this product. Below is the original version that I processed with DSS and the canon software that came with my DSLR. The next image is the one I reprocessed with Pixinsight. At lot more of the galaxy became visible as well as more detail in the spiral arms in the reprocessed image. The images were taken using a canon 5D mark IV DLSR set to ISO 1600 with a canon 500mm F4.0 lens. The camera and lens where piggy backed on may 5 inch APO which was used for guiding during the ~20 2 minute exposures. All comments and suggestions are welcome.
Oct 28, 2019 05:48:51 #
Oct 28, 2019 08:05:11 #
Wow, what a difference. I have been thinking about Pixinsight also and you've helped me with my decision. I also think you have waaaaay too many nice toys to play with. ðŸ”ðŸ”ðŸ”
Oct 28, 2019 11:35:23 #
Big improvement. A couple suggestions 1) you are clipping the lights and darks when stretching the image. As a beginner I would do this to overcome the gradients I had from light pollution (I still catch myself doing it) I’m not sure why you are clipping. The sky should never be black, and stars should not be white (at least not all stars). PI has great tools to help with gradients. 2) your galaxy is purple, so you need to work a little on the color balance, again PI does this very well. M31 should have some blue in it.
Keep plugging away at it and don’t throw away old data, it’s fun to go back to old data and reprocess it after you learn new techniques.
Keep plugging away at it and don’t throw away old data, it’s fun to go back to old data and reprocess it after you learn new techniques.
Oct 28, 2019 12:01:14 #
Oct 28, 2019 12:05:51 #
Oct 28, 2019 12:39:00 #
Ballard
Loc: Grass Valley, California
Europa wrote:
Big improvement. A couple suggestions 1) you are c... (show quote)
Thanks for the suggestions. I've been playing around with pixinsight for a couple of days now and have just scratched the surface. I have a lot to learn on using this product. I'm going to go back and play with the data again to learn how to use a few more of the tools (gradient and color balance in particular).
Oct 28, 2019 12:41:38 #
Ballard wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions. I've been playing around with pixinsight for a couple of days now and have just scratched the surface. I have a lot to learn on using this product. I'm going to go back and play with the data again to learn how to use a few more of the tools (gradient and color balance in particular).
Well these guys who use it a lot should be able to help you along with it.
Good Luck!
Oct 28, 2019 12:47:22 #
tony85629
Loc: Sahuarita, Az
You might want to check out the Adam Block Pixinsight series of tutorials. Excellent but expensive.
Oct 28, 2019 12:48:50 #
Ballard
Loc: Grass Valley, California
alberio wrote:
Wow, what a difference. I have been thinking about Pixinsight also and you've helped me with my decision. I also think you have waaaaay too many nice toys to play with. ðŸ”ðŸ”ðŸ”
It seems to be a very powerful imaging tool but does have a fairly step learning curve. I sharpened the stars a bit too much and will go back a play again with the data to hopefully improve the image. There is a lot of functionality I still need to learn and keep myself from over cooking parts of the image. Once you retire you have to have your toys to keep your mind sharp.
Oct 28, 2019 12:52:35 #
Ballard
Loc: Grass Valley, California
tony85629 wrote:
You might want to check out the Adam Block Pixinsight series of tutorials. Excellent but expensive.
Thanks for information. I have found a number of tutorials on youtube that helped me get started. Once I get a bit more experience under my belt I will look into the ones you suggested.
Oct 28, 2019 16:21:54 #
Oct 28, 2019 16:38:53 #
Ballard
Loc: Grass Valley, California
James Van Ells wrote:
I am certainly no expert in astrophotography but last one reminds of Hubble images.
Thanks for checking out the image. I expect I can make it look a bit better as I learn more about using pixinsight.
Oct 30, 2019 16:18:35 #
Ballard
Loc: Grass Valley, California
Europa wrote:
Big improvement. A couple suggestions 1) you are c... (show quote)
Another attempt at processing M31 with Pixinsight. The color is a bit more realistic (perhaps a bit overdone but I like the look), a bit more of the galaxy is visible (note the faint nebula between M31 and M110). There is more detail when zoomed in (didn't over-process as much), the sky background isn't pure black (still probably a bit dark). I darkened the background stars a bit to not distract from the M31 as much (should have used a star mask to not darken the background quite as much). A lot left to learn on using Pixinsight.
Oct 30, 2019 16:22:33 #
Definitely looking better! Ease up on the noise reduction. You kinda balance the amount of noise with the amount of sharpness/detail. But it’s a huge improvement.
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