This one has been a real bugger: Bodes galaxy {m81} 255 subs lrgb from my light polluted driveway. I'm trying my best with what I have to keep up with yall . It's better than last...

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Bodes galaxy {m81} 255 subs lrgb from my light polluted driveway. I'm trying my best with what I have to keep up with yall . It's better than last years , I think .

M81 Bodes Galaxy
M81 Bodes Galaxy...

(Download)

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Much improvement! You have battled, fought and clawed your way through more gear malfunctions that most and have not given up! For that you deserve and "standing galactic ovation!" M81 is one of those targets that (at least for me) is a tough one to expose far. What helps me is to take very short exposures, 15 seconds or less and then blend them with longer exposures 180 seconds or so. I process both independently and blend in photoshop. This helps me to keep the core from appearing overexposed and to hot and the longer exposures bring out the detail in the remaining galaxy. I know there are easier ways to do it in PixInsight with Pixelmath, color and luminosity masks....I have tried that but end up falling back on PS where I feel more comfortable.

The "Hog" has processors that may have some better ideas on getting good detail out of these kind of targets.

"Stepping Beyond" great job!

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Thanks Ed , your advice is appreciated . I only got to shoot 10,30,90 in lrgb and then it was in the tree before I could get the rest. I'll have 180s and 300s lrgb&Ha now that I have a mount that will at least guide longer than 30seconds. I wasted days and nights trying to get a mount to do something that it wasn't made for. The weather {hurricane season} didn't help with all the rain and cloudy nights. There's always next year friend.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

stepping beyond wrote:

Bodes galaxy {m81} 255 subs lrgb from my light polluted driveway. I'm trying my best with what I have to keep up with yall . It's better than last years , I think .

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

stepping beyond wrote:

Bodes galaxy {m81} 255 subs lrgb from my light polluted driveway. I'm trying my best with what I have to keep up with yall . It's better than last years , I think .

Nice Image of M81. I found that using an unsharp mask can bring out more detail in the image. I yesterday I learned how to use Multiscale transforms in pixinsight which really helped remove color blotching noise in my final images but I'm using a DSLR which tends to be much noisier than a cooled camera.

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

That’s a great improvement. I also find this one to be very difficult. I’m coming to the conclusion that you need really good skies to tackle it. Try M51, it is high in the sky, I think you’ll find it to be much better.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Thank yall for the support and advice. I'm trying so hard and this processing stuff is really hard when your workflow no longer works on a specific target . I've made spreadsheets for each target I capture with a thorough workflow from stacking to final tweaking but, I'll be damned if it works consistently. I'll keep trying and one day magic will happen.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

stepping beyond wrote:

Thank yall for the support and advice. I'm trying so hard and this processing stuff is really hard when your workflow no longer works on a specific target . I've made spreadsheets for each target I capture with a thorough workflow from stacking to final tweaking but, I'll be damned if it works consistently. I'll keep trying and one day magic will happen.

That's because every day is a new day, and every night is a new night, and we are looking up from the bottom of a fishbowl through the Earth's atmosphere.

But you are making great strides! Great image, Ronnie!

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Thanks Sonny , I get sooooo frustrated when processing . I end up walking away from it for a month or so.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I fully understand, Ronnie.
But eventually you will find a path and your processing will get easier.

Being a PP minimalist, I've settled in on a very simple set of things I do in Adobe Elements 12, and a couple of filters.
I'm not about to wrack my raisin over a bunch of fiddling.

Just find the steps you like and that work well for your imaging. Then try using them for each of your images.
Never forget we are in the bottom of a pond looking up. So there will be some good nights, and some really crummy nights.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

I used to be able to go through my workflow and everything was shaping up and the last little tweak in Photoshop astronomy tools finished. That now doesn't get it done anymore , I've still got to do more work and more work to get it the way I want it. I just don't get it , I just changed mounts not my imaging train. I don't handle these changes to well . Now my mount makes the creaky door sound in certain positions of Dec , any ideas Sonny?

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

stepping beyond wrote:

I used to be able to go through my workflow and everything was shaping up and the last little tweak in Photoshop astronomy tools finished. That now doesn't get it done anymore , I've still got to do more work and more work to get it the way I want it. I just don't get it , I just changed mounts not my imaging train. I don't handle these changes to well . Now my mount makes the creaky door sound in certain positions of Dec , any ideas Sonny?

I think I'd look into rubbing, or possibly re-lubing something. Creaky door sound could easily botch up your imaging if the mount tends to shutter or jump, even if you don't notice it, it can fubar your images.
You want things as smooth as you can get them.
Clutch material comes to mind as well. What mount is it, and model? I'd be glad to try and research for ideas for you to check.

My AVX needed a spacer to get the Dec away from the housing to address a rubbing situation.