[APML] M42 - Maybe last one of the season? :)

["Lane, Jason R" <jason.lane@navy.mil>]

Hi APML,

This was the only shot (3 exposures) that came out of my last astrophotography session.  I was experimenting with a homemade knife-edge focuser, and the three exposures were the only ones that I focused using my eye and viewfinder.  The knife-edge focuser, unfortunately, still needs some adjustment to be parfocal with my camera :(

This was taken on 10 March just south of Ridgecrest, CA.  The long exposure (60 minute) was manually guided...wind, SCTs, and ST-4s don't mix.  The slides required multiple scans on my HP S20xi to eliminate scanner noise.  Each set of scans for a slide was registered together and combined in Registar.  That gave me three images--5, 10, and 60 min exp--with scanner noise eliminated to work on in Photoshop.

The 5- and 10-minute exposures were blended in to take care of the burned-out core of the 60 minute exposure.  I then used the Shadows/Highlights dialogue in Photoshop CS to bring the faintest nebula out of the shadows while maintaining those beautiful colors in the brighter regions.  Has anybody else used this dialogue?  It seems to work really well, and is fairly straightforward.  Let me know what you think of this technique as applied here.  

I spent some time learning color spaces and setting up for web presentation, so let me know if the picture seems too dark or too light or whatever.  I know that Orion Nebula has been very well-visited, but every beginning astrophotographer's gotta get a good M42 shot, right? :)  

I hope you enjoy the picture!

http://www1.iwvisp.com/opticman/astroimages/M42_031004.html


-Jason
_______________________________________________
Astro-Photo mailing list
Astro-Photo@seds.org
http://seds.org/mailman/listinfo/astro-photo