Imaging the Pillars of Creation and taming those stars.
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- Опубликовано: 6 авг 2024
- In this video I imaged the Heart of the Eagle Nebula, M16 and the "Pillars of Creation". I also show my current technique to deal with stars.
00:00 Intro
01:37 Equipment used
03:20 Acquisition (speed up)
04:25 Images acquired (Pixinsight)
06:47 Shrinking stars
11:34 Processing the starless version
13:48 Making the luminance
16:18 Applying the luminance
17:40 Adding back the stars in photoshop
22:30 Final image
Link to Bill's Channel: / @anotherastrochannel2173
Link to Luke's video with Bill's star reduction tools: • The BEST Star Reductio...
Equipment:
Telescope: Meade 10" SCT ACF
Camera: ASI2600mmPro
Filters: Antlia 3nm SHO
Mount: iOptron CEM120
Processing in AstroPixel Processor, Pixinsight and Phototshop
Total integration 9hrs 30mins SHO palette.
Astrobin link : www.astrobin.com/j81c00/B/
#Eagle_nebula
#m16
#pillars_of_creation
#astrophotography
#nebula
#zwoasi
#meade_instruments
#astronomy #pixinsight
#antlia 
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Your work is a great inspirstion Logan
Thanks you very much. Greatly appreciated.
Amazing image Logan, one of the best I've seen! Stars seem to be a hot topic lately. James Lamb just did a video on replacing stars that is very cool as well. So now we have the tools from Bill, and multiple better ways of adding stars back in from you and from Jay. Great time to be in our hobby.
Thanks Joe. It amazes me 🤯when people like Bill come up these pixelmath expressions to make our processing lives easier. My stars have always bugged me in my images but I think things are improving with all these tools and techniques available now. Next I need to start including runs for RGB stars to be added to my narrowband images (if these goddamn clouds would go away!! 🤬🤣).
Excellent tutorial and even better image Logan. As a beginner (1st yr) AP these instructional videos you guys put out are growing the hobby to all new levels. Thankyou so much mate.
Thanks Chris. Watching a ton of RUclips videos was the way I learned this hobby so it seemed only reasonable to do the same in return and hopefully help someone else. I found that I picked up a bit here and there from different videos to incorporate into my workflow so if someone finds just one small thing helpful here then doing the video is well worth it.
Wow Logan, that’s the best Pillars of Creation that I’ve seen next to Hubble!! You nailed it mate! You must be pleased with that, I’d be putting that on the wall for sure😀 Great tutorial as always, I like your editing methods, especially putting stars back in PS. You pulled out some incredible details and I love the colours! Awesome job! Clear skies
Thanks very much Simon. Definitely the SII is where all the pillar goodness is happening with the Ha mopping up around the outside. The OIII wasn't exactly pulling it's weight though 🤣 I have to admit I am pretty pleased with this one for sure. I need to check out James Lamb's latest video on stars too.
Hi Logan,
WOW, FANTASTIC final image. Thanks for the step-by-step tutorial. I did learn a few new techniques from it. I particularly liked the use of the reduction of the S2 data. I can see why now a lot of my images had that gray haze in the stars. I also liked the way you re-combined the stars to the nebulosity via Photoshop. Well done.
Thanks very much Pat. Combining the SII and Ha for the luminance the way I did it is probably not the best way to do it I'm sure (there must be some clever Pixelmath expression for this), but it seemed to work well enough in this case. Bill's Pixelmath tools have certainly made dealing with stars waaaaaaay easier.
That's really a nice piece of art! The Pillars of Creation speak for themselves.
Amazing details and excellent processing skills. Thanks for sharing the processing details.
I'll take it as a tutorial.
Thanks very much, hopefully there is something useful in there.
Excellent video as always Logan Cheers
Thanks very much Nik.
Congrats on the Astrobin image of the day!
Thanks very much, it was a nice surprise.
Excellent image Logan & great tutorial to still haven't moved onto Pixinsight as yet but fairly happy with what I've been getting so far & it's always been good to revisit some data now & then. Me & the missus were in video chat & when you showed the image we were having a boogie to lol.
Clear skies mate.
Haha glad you got a bit of a dance in at the end of the video 😁💃. Clear skies
Loved watching your process.. Amazing image Logan!!
Thanks Jason. Took about 5 nights to collect on 9.5 hrs because of the crappy weather although it sounds like you are getting it a lot worse from mother nature over there.
Great looking pillars Logan!
Thanks very much Luke.
Great video Logan, a lot of new things here. Envy that focal length and MM Pro. Really like the stars treatment in Photoshop, I will experiment with that, thanks, clear skies, Ian
Thanks very much. Whilst wider-field is great (I love my Esprit) , sometimes it's nice to get up close and personal with part of a target with the longer focal length. I've just recently purchased a second ASI2600 so now both scopes have the same camera.
That's a fantastic image, Logan! Thanks for the tutorial - I definitely want to try that star reduction technique, now I have a chance of getting rid of those darker grey circles around some brighter stars. Oh, one of the pixelmath expressions to screen in stars is: combine($T, XXXX_stars, op_screen())
Thanks AL. Yep it's great that Bill made those star reduction tools available to us all - kind of blows my mind that people can come up with these complex pixelmath equations that make our astro processing lives so much easier. I will definitely try out that expression above, thank you, as it would save me a step having to put the stars back in through photoshop. I see James Lamb recently put up a follow up video on putting stars back so I need to check that one out too.
@@LogansAstro Yes, James used this, or an equivalent, in his quest to bring in RGB stars while maintaining their colour. Some extensive pixelmath there, ha!
Another IOTD with this image. Looking forward to seeing your entries in this year's competition. This one's going to be pretty good.
Thanks Tony. I put some entries in a couple of days ago. I presume yours are in too or are you still finalising your images?
@@LogansAstro I put my images in at one minute to midnight on the last day. I have too much to learn to put anything in early. Wait till next year, though. I'm coming after you (and Rolf)
@@tonycooper0 excellent 👍🏼
Excellent video Logan! The Pillars are always Stunning! Wonder What the Nebula would it look like in a Few Thousand years!
Thanks Avanteesh. My plan is to reimage them in, oh, I don't know, about two thousand years time and see how they've changed 🤣. I wish. Hope you are getting some clear skies over there. Planning on doing some more planetary? - your last Jupiter was excellent.
@@LogansAstro some more Jupiter would be Great, Unfortunately we have Got Some Heavy rain and Thunderstorms atm!
I love your videos...good tips, inspirational
Thanks very much Greg
Beautiful image Logan, well done!
A huge thank you to you Bill for coming up with those pixelmath equations and kindly making them available for us to use. As I replied to someone above, it blows my mind when people like yourself and come up with these expressions that have a huge impact on how we can process our images.
@@LogansAstro thanks for saying that Logan? Also, let me know if you want to beta test for me on RGB stars to NB image transfer pixelmath. Assuming you have this type of data, if so, it would be a big help if you could test
@@billblanshan3021 Definitely be keen to test that. RGB stars is something I really want to start adding to my NB images going forward.
Great video ,
Thanks
Maravilhoso ! Parabéns
Muito obrigado
Beautiful image Logan. I did not know the Optec Lepus focal reducers for SC. It is a pity that my old Meade SC 10" from 1999 only accepts the classic reducers. A hug
Thanks Jesus. Yep Optec Lepus make a focal reducer especially for ACF scopes as the usual focal reducers are not really compatible. On the bright side, with your Meade accepting the classic reducers, at least you have more choice of make of reducer. Clear skies
Love your work Logan! Excellent final image with great colors and nice contrast in the pillars
Thanks Simon. I was kind of surprised when I found all the detail of the pillars was in the SII but glad I noticed it early on in my capturing sessions so I could spend most time on that filter.
Wow Logan, the way you combined those channels for the Luminance is just awesome! It really did bring out more than the Ha would alone! Have you tried the combination in Pixinsight or you just prefer photoshop ?
Thanks Isaac. The combining of the two channels for luminance was complete trial and error and there are probably better ways to do it. I tried in Pixinsight using pixelmath but it didn't seem to work very well but I was using very simplistic equations so I'm sure someone with more smarts than me could come up with something more ideal.
Nice work Logan I'll have to take a look at Bills tools. I'm guessing you used them after the image was stretched ? Super looking result, I have to confess I was watching this on my PC with big speakers and your music at the end nearly blew my head off !!! 😂🤯
Thanks Ollie and sorry Ollie. Yes I should have adjusted the music volume at the end but on the plus side, it probably woke you up right?😔😳🤣. I actually reduced the stars before stretching although I guess you could do it after as well as I'm sure Bill's pixelmath tools would work just as well stretched.
@@LogansAstro Yes it did wake me up!! I guess in this case with the separate channels it kinda makes sense reducing pre stretching 👍
Wow! A jaw-dropping final product Logan, thanks to some spectacular subs & your brilliant processing! (Heck, just the master SII layer blew me away...lol) You definitely have a winner there!👍👍 Great tutorial as well, which I plan on re-visiting when I get to the point of doing more sophisticated processing. BTW, your comments during the tutorial re 'the dark bits floating about' (are they Bok Globules?) had me thinking of how much your image reminds me of a deep sea environment...perhaps looking out of a cave or hole in the coral, and seeing tiny fish swimming in the illuminated blue water!
Thanks Derek. I'm just a bit annoyed that I "tidied up" and deleted the actual colour masks before saving my project for the video. I presume those dark bits would be classified as Bok globules (I'll have the check that one) and yes definitely look like alien sea creatures floating in the sea 😃 🧞🐟
Great video and some top tips for PixInsight (I have been using it for 2 months now). The section on using luminance for detail is very intersting as I have never done this - I shoot OSC so am unsure if this would work if I extract the luminance from the image. I am also sure by now you have seen the PixelMath that does the same as the PS 'screen' blend. You can use ~((~starless)*(~stars)) to do it, or this which is the same thing combine($T, stars, op_screen()).
Thanks Jonathan. Yes you can extract a luminance layer early on in the processing of an OSC image and them work on that separately to enhance detail before adding it back to the colour image. Yes I've seen the PixelMath "screen blend" type formula but haven't been using it....yet. I'm still doing it in PS as that is the stage when I'm doing my last tweaks on the starless LRGB in PS but no doubt at some stage I will start using the pixelmath formula in PI.
CS
Logan
I enjoy your videos, thanks. I am interested in a 10 inch scope for a bit more FL and would appreciate your thoughts on the Meade. We used to ridicule the old LX200 in its day, but it seems they are now producing good scopes, perhaps you could make a video review of the Meade SCT?
Thanks Adrian. I find the Meade to be a great scope but to be honest, haven't had any experience with any other SCT for comparison. It's probably worth considering the Celestron SCT's also because there are a lot of accessories available for the Celestrons including things like hyperstar etc. And yes, I should probably do a review at some stage - might include the SkyWatcher Esprit also.
Wonderful image, thanks for sharing. I too enjoy relatively long focal length (1500+) astrophotography.
Over how many nights did you acquire all your 114 subs?
Thanks very much. It actually took about 5 nights because the weather has been so bad here that each night I could often only get and hour or two before the clouds would roll in.
@@LogansAstro OK thanks Logan. Good for you for getting the images when you could!
Great work Logan thanks for the content!! Do you watch Astroworld TV on youtube?
Thanks very much. No I haven't seen that one, I will check it out.