StarTools

Hi fellow Startoolers

Beyond and image of NGC 281. Different approach. Taken with Ha en OSC as usual but i blended the red channel with Ha. As explained on page 37 of the Startools manual. No trouble to get red this time, still i find that i lost a bit detail. There is more detail in the mono Ha shot then is visible here in the image. I kinda like, guess it is presentable but i still don't get a real wow effect.

30 x 3 minutes OSC
27 x 6 min Ha Luminance
Askar Fra 500, at f/5,6

What do you think , guys?

Nice colors, Freddy.

Do you ever take any mono luminance? As in actual luminance, not Ha-as-luminance. I wonder if that would add some clarity that you feel is lacking.

Another possible trick, though how disconnected from "reality" it is I'm not sure, would be to process a mono image, perhaps even your Ha, in grayscale for maximized detail. Otherwise match the crop/bin and so forth that you already did. Then layer combine the two images using "color of." Apply strong denoise to the color image if needed.

I did that on my M51, albeit that was broadband, when I otherwise wasn't getting an end result I totally liked with normal composite processing. Probably due to the color data not being so great. At the time I also only had a UV-IR cut as any kind of filter for the 2600MM. So I processed the mono data for detail, then processed the D5300 stack, heavy denoise to clean up color artifacting and flaws, and then layer.

Hi Mike,

I don't take luminance without Ha, i believe for that i need an UV/IR cut filter won't i? I don't have one. the idea crossed my mind too though.

I tried once to layer a mono Ha stack with an OSC stack but it was not very successfull. I believe i tried that on the Heart nebulae.