First really successful attempt with StarTools. Very happy with the result. Getting on top of the tools - well! just a little bit.
http://www.astrobin.com/23830/
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/show ... post910284
Getting there...
Re: Getting there...
That looks great Rowland!
Great framing (with heaps to look at and discover), great processing and beautiful colors!
Great framing (with heaps to look at and discover), great processing and beautiful colors!
Ivo Jager
StarTools creator and astronomy enthusiast
StarTools creator and astronomy enthusiast
Re: Getting there...
If you feel inclined to provide feed back on any aspect of the image, as far as processing is concerned, I'd be most happy to receive.
It has taken a while, but I'm much more confident with the settings now, and really finished this image with careful use of noise reduction settings - no tracking - and colour. I'm getting used to what does what and what effect each setting has.
Frankly, I prefer the result obtained in Star Tools. But can't remember what steps I took.
An Elzeimers module would be good - recording the steps applied to each image. Found it. The log file. That's excellent.
It has taken a while, but I'm much more confident with the settings now, and really finished this image with careful use of noise reduction settings - no tracking - and colour. I'm getting used to what does what and what effect each setting has.
Frankly, I prefer the result obtained in Star Tools. But can't remember what steps I took.
An Elzeimers module would be good - recording the steps applied to each image. Found it. The log file. That's excellent.
Re: Getting there...
All that is left is up to individual taste.
You could, for example, use the 'Reveal' preset in the HDR module to dig out the details around the keyhole nebula that are currently less visible as that region is currently very bright.
Wide fields like these have a lot of stars, which sometimes make the more interesting larger scale structures harder to see.
There are a number of things you can do in StarTools to improve things, for example, you could simply shrink the stars a little;
Create a Star mask; set Exclude Color to Purple (don't look at red, blue or purple features), set Feature Size to 4 (just look at the smaller stuff), set Filter Sensitivity to 10 (less sensitive).
The launch the Magic module. I set 'Mask Grow' to 0 (no extra mask growing).
I then used the Life module's Isolate preset to retain and enhance super structures, while pushing back non-super structure features (e.g. stars). It's one of my favorite modules in StarTools as it really helps bringing out the more interesting features in an image. You'll notice now, for example, that the focus is now more on the clustering of the stars and density of their distribution, rather than the stars themselves.
Lastly, I used the flux module with the Sharp preset, which I then tweaked to taste, to sharpen up the image a little bit.
Like I said - it's all down to taste or what you're trying to accomplish!
Hope this helps,
You could, for example, use the 'Reveal' preset in the HDR module to dig out the details around the keyhole nebula that are currently less visible as that region is currently very bright.
Wide fields like these have a lot of stars, which sometimes make the more interesting larger scale structures harder to see.
There are a number of things you can do in StarTools to improve things, for example, you could simply shrink the stars a little;
Create a Star mask; set Exclude Color to Purple (don't look at red, blue or purple features), set Feature Size to 4 (just look at the smaller stuff), set Filter Sensitivity to 10 (less sensitive).
The launch the Magic module. I set 'Mask Grow' to 0 (no extra mask growing).
I then used the Life module's Isolate preset to retain and enhance super structures, while pushing back non-super structure features (e.g. stars). It's one of my favorite modules in StarTools as it really helps bringing out the more interesting features in an image. You'll notice now, for example, that the focus is now more on the clustering of the stars and density of their distribution, rather than the stars themselves.
Lastly, I used the flux module with the Sharp preset, which I then tweaked to taste, to sharpen up the image a little bit.
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- rowland_eta_ST13.jpg (1.67 MiB) Viewed 7101 times
Hope this helps,
Ivo Jager
StarTools creator and astronomy enthusiast
StarTools creator and astronomy enthusiast
Re: Getting there...
Thanks Ivo. A little more going a long way.