Still working on M27

[dsnay]

Hi guys,

I tried something different the other night. I substituted my UHC filter for my green filter in my DSI Pro. What do you know, I have green data now! Now I have to ask you all for some processing help. How do I get the stars and background in this image to be less colorful without effecting the nebula?

If I just play around with curves and/or levels I can get the stars to go back to white, but then I lose the detail in the nebula.

thanks,
Dave

[TonyReynolds]

Hi Dave,
You can make a  duplicate image and turn it into a mask. Mask out the nebula detail then adjust the background to your liking then blend the original and the mask together. You can also go the other way and adjust just the nebula and not the background by using a mask.  If you're using IP and have the videos, Mike has a couple of great videos on masks and all that can be done with them. Filtered masks are some amazing tools.

Tony

[dsnay]

Hi Tony,

Thanks. I know about that technique, not how to do it yet, but that it exists. I have instructions available. I was just hoping for something that wouldn't isolate the nebula and leave the stars in there looking different from the rest of the ones around the nebula. I'm afraid I'll end up with nice neutral/white stars everwhere except behind the nebula where they'll remain reddish.

I'm using Photoshop 7, by the way.

Dave

[twilbur]

Hey Dave, making progress!

There's a new nova in this area that you may have picked up near the top of your image. It's a wierd dwarf nova. There's a blink comparison at this link that shows where it is: http://www.cosmotography.com/images/m27_nova.html

Tony, here I was thinking you were a newbie and you come up with that!

Dave, I shouldn't do this since I just did the same thing to Tony, but your color balance is off. It's good you were finally able to get green to show up but now it's too strong. The green has overpowered the red in the nebula and made it brown. You should be able to back it off in PS. Regarding the stars, you can try using the magic wand to select only the stars.  After you play with it for a while you'll be able to work on just the stars, or just the nebula. PS is super flexible with this kind of stuff.

[dsnay]

Hey Dave, making progress!

There's a new nova in this area that you may have picked up near the top of your image. It's a wierd dwarf nova. There's a blink comparison at this link that shows where it is: http://www.cosmotography.com/images/m27_nova.html

That would be totally cool. I checked the link you gave me and it looks like you're right. I would never have spotted that.

Tony, here I was thinking you were a newbie and you come up with that!

Dave, I shouldn't do this since I just did the same thing to Tony, but your color balance is off. It's good you were finally able to get green to show up but now it's too strong. The green has overpowered the red in the nebula and made it brown. You should be able to back it off in PS. Regarding the stars, you can try using the magic wand to select only the stars.  After you play with it for a while you'll be able to work on just the stars, or just the nebula. PS is super flexible with this kind of stuff.

Yah, I know the balance is still off, but at least I got some green to show up. Now that I've seen that it will work, I can work on reducing the amount of green, or maybe just go shoot some more red and blue and maybe some Ha for luminance. The more the better, right? Assuming I get the balance right.

Anyway, here's another version. I adjusted levels a bit to lessen the green. I ended up bumping up the blue just a bit as well. I also took your advice, Ted, and played with the magic wand to select some stars and increased the blue and green in them to counter some of the red. I think I still need some more data in the nebula and I've got some artifacts around some of the brighter stars, but it's a start.


Thanks,
Dave

[twilbur]

Big improvement Dave!
You must be excited. I'm looking forward to seeing more!