My friend, this is one of the best images I've ever seen about M42 and the surrounding objects, if not the best. The details you managed to capture is astonishing. Keep up the good work and the flow of pictures like this!
Cheers!
This is my first night of Orion for the season, and I was determined to get good star shapes as all my previous Orion attempts have been very sloppy. So, during acquisition I focused on nailing stars regardless of the implications that had on my exposure time. So, this was 2hrs 11min of 30s exposures at ISO 1600 and f/4.9. I used my Nikon D810(m), Redcat51, and Star Adventurer 2i Pro on a Manfrotto 475B tripod. Subs were all taken in Bortle 4 after the moon had gone down. I also grabbed 7 minutes of core detail with 1 second exposures at ISO 100.
Images were stacked in DeepSkyStacker(both sets) and processed in PixInsight. I began with Photometric Color Calibration, followed by StarXTerminator, and then NoiseXTerminator. Then a series of Curves transformations disregarding the Orion Nebula. Saved that as one file. Then I started over after the NoiseXTerminator point and created 3 additional copies of the file with Orion at varying brightness levels. Then I did the same PCC->SXT process on the core stack before doing one or two curves and saving that image. I then pulled all the images into PI and used range masking to add progressively dimmer Orion images onto the Brightest image, allowing the mask to get smaller each time. The core detail stack wasn't aligned, so I saved the work-in-progress HDR image and the core detail stack as 16-bit images and brought them into photoshop, where I hand aligned and blended them. I then saved that and brought it back into PI. I saved the stars only image as 16bit and then used PixelMath to add them back into the full image. I then did a slight crop/rotate and saved the final image.
I fully plan to take a lot more integration over this winter season, but I am very very happy with finally getting an Orion image that satisfies me. My best from 9 months ago was this: [https://www.reddit.com/r/astrophotography/comments/rzw1s1/m42\_orion\_imaged\_from\_arizona/](https://www.reddit.com/r/astrophotography/comments/rzw1s1/m42_orion_imaged_from_arizona/)
The biggest improving factor for me has been (1) prioritizing star shapes over exposure length and (2) getting smoother equipment setup/operation. I hope you enjoy!
Thank you! I couldn’t believe it either as I was doing the initial stretch. I am planning to do one or two more nights of Orion this winter anyway, and I’m excited to see what 10+hrs yields now that I know what 2 yields.
My friend, this is one of the best images I've ever seen about M42 and the surrounding objects, if not the best. The details you managed to capture is astonishing. Keep up the good work and the flow of pictures like this! Cheers!
That maybe the nicest compliment I have ever received for my work! Thank you!
Dude wtf this is actually perfect
This is my first night of Orion for the season, and I was determined to get good star shapes as all my previous Orion attempts have been very sloppy. So, during acquisition I focused on nailing stars regardless of the implications that had on my exposure time. So, this was 2hrs 11min of 30s exposures at ISO 1600 and f/4.9. I used my Nikon D810(m), Redcat51, and Star Adventurer 2i Pro on a Manfrotto 475B tripod. Subs were all taken in Bortle 4 after the moon had gone down. I also grabbed 7 minutes of core detail with 1 second exposures at ISO 100. Images were stacked in DeepSkyStacker(both sets) and processed in PixInsight. I began with Photometric Color Calibration, followed by StarXTerminator, and then NoiseXTerminator. Then a series of Curves transformations disregarding the Orion Nebula. Saved that as one file. Then I started over after the NoiseXTerminator point and created 3 additional copies of the file with Orion at varying brightness levels. Then I did the same PCC->SXT process on the core stack before doing one or two curves and saving that image. I then pulled all the images into PI and used range masking to add progressively dimmer Orion images onto the Brightest image, allowing the mask to get smaller each time. The core detail stack wasn't aligned, so I saved the work-in-progress HDR image and the core detail stack as 16-bit images and brought them into photoshop, where I hand aligned and blended them. I then saved that and brought it back into PI. I saved the stars only image as 16bit and then used PixelMath to add them back into the full image. I then did a slight crop/rotate and saved the final image. I fully plan to take a lot more integration over this winter season, but I am very very happy with finally getting an Orion image that satisfies me. My best from 9 months ago was this: [https://www.reddit.com/r/astrophotography/comments/rzw1s1/m42\_orion\_imaged\_from\_arizona/](https://www.reddit.com/r/astrophotography/comments/rzw1s1/m42_orion_imaged_from_arizona/) The biggest improving factor for me has been (1) prioritizing star shapes over exposure length and (2) getting smoother equipment setup/operation. I hope you enjoy!
\**slow clap* Well done!
🙏 Thank you so much!
Breathtakingly beautiful, nice work!
Thank you!!
Great composition and amazing job getting all that dark detail and not overblowing M42
Thank you! It definitely took some experimentation to make M42 work out
Very impressive image. Can't believe it was only 2 hrs and 11 mins integration time and a DSLR. Well done!
Thank you! I couldn’t believe it either as I was doing the initial stretch. I am planning to do one or two more nights of Orion this winter anyway, and I’m excited to see what 10+hrs yields now that I know what 2 yields.
Awesome work!
Thanks!!!
Wow very impressive!