M42 at Prime Focus
M42 at Prime Focus
Went back and tried again for M42, this time using a Meade 8" SCT as my 'camera lens'. This shot is an HDR composite made from 3 individual 'stacks' of shots (processed using DeepSkyStacker), then post processed in Photoshop CS4 and then Photomatix, to try to mitigate the very high dynamic range of M42
4 x 6 min @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer
21 x 3 min @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer
5 x 1 min @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer
8 x 20 sec @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer
11 x 10 sec @ ISO 800 w/ f6.3 focal reducer
There was additional post processing applied using Irfanview and Photoshop CS4 to the final HDR output. I am still learning about the post processing tricks, having gotten a lot of help form some friends on various forums. I may update this image in the future if I get another version I like more, but this one is not too bad for a beginner like me :o)
