StarTools

Wanted to share my result of a quick "HDR" image of M42 and the Running Man. This is only 5x 120s lights (plus darks/flats/dark flats), shot at 400ISO with my Nikon D5100, CCDT67 reducer, and 6" GSO RC. Encountered some guiding issues so didn't get as many subs as I would have liked. I processed the DSS stack output twice in startools, once to focus on the fainter nebulosity, and a second time focusing on the core - then I combined these in the Layer module with a simple mask around the core of Orion. I think this really shows how useful lower ISOs can be - IMHO, not a bad HDR composition for using only one exposure length! Now need to take even longer subs to bring out the fainter nebulosity even more...



Full res image: https://flic.kr/p/ASYtPg

Step 2...added several 240s frames in and combined the previous images for the core. A few aircraft decided to fly by the running man in no less than four of the subs, so more data to be added later.