Dragons of Ara - Reprocessed

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Hi all,

With the lack of clear skies down here in Helbourne, I thought I'd go back and revisit my first image that really blew me away - NGC6188, aka 'The Fighting Dragons of Ara'.

I have the old one printed at A2 size (or is it A1? I forget...) and framed for display.

This revisit, I think, is even better than last years's effort.

Last year's work can be seen here: https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/...d.php?t=205686

The over-all process was the same - Siril / starnet++ / Affinity Photo - so something has changed in my workflow, or my tastes in colour and contrast.

The first image below had the starmask / starless layers recombined in Affinity Photo, the second in Siril.

As always, suggestions on how to make this better are welcome.

Now, all I want are some clear skies!

Cheers,
V.

[carlstronomy (Carl)]

Very nice indeed, just like my comments from the first versions.

I personally prefer the new process, the dark sky is blacker which I think always makes an image more realistic.

These are smoother and a lot more colour balanced, also more contrast but not too much.

And those stars, so many stars, where did they all come from.

I think at the start we all stretched the data to get more than there really was. Now as we know a little more we stretch our data less and say well that looks nice even though we do not see as much. I think this an example of that and proves you do not have to show every bit of gas cloud to have a nice image.

But all four images are equally good just different interpretations

Carl

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Hi Carl,

Thanks for the feedback!

My first cut (last year) did not use the GHS (Generalised Hyberbolic Stretch) function in Siril, relying in the "take what you get" Histogram auto-stretch. Which gives a good result for a beginner, but really penalises you when it comes to the super-fine tweaks.

The output from the GHS and the associated fine control of the process is definitely worth the learning curve. (I do have a long way to go before I fully understand the interaction between all the controls, though.)

As for the stars, yeah, that's better control / more experience on my part when it comes to recombining the layers.

I might try the Megalens on the Dragon's Egg this weekend, if we get some clear skies...

Cheers,
V.

[Drac0 (Mark)]

Great effort Steve - pretty much my favourite late autumn/winter target.

Cheers,
Mark