Wide field Astrophotography editing of Orion!

[@astrojet9484]

Starnet++ is such a good thing, I use it all the time! Hope it can BOOST your nebula alot !

[@MattDieterich]

I love using StarXTerminator lately. Such powerful software!

[@matej.mlakar]

Great image, Matt. You should be proud. And also - finally a good Orion tutorial.

[@MattDieterich]

Very glad you enjoy the tutorial and photo!

[@M31glow]

Good tip about making an artificial flat frame! Good post

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching Walter! Photoshop lens profiling comes in handy :)

[@sajjadahmed46]

Epic shot!!!

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching!

[@sajjadahmed46]

@@MattDieterich mate, that was a real pleasure

[@MattDieterich]

@@sajjadahmed46 Glad you like the video!

[@Feanor1397]

I made around 300 20s exposure photos of orion constellation on my !phone!, and after stacking I noticed some redish noise all around constellation. Turns out it was not a noise after all😀

[@MattDieterich]

That's all the hydrogen alpha emission nebulae!

[@SireSteckdose]

Very good shot! I would recommend you try some star reduction on it, that should bring out the nebulae even more

[@MattDieterich]

Great idea! I ran some reduction on the stars in Photoshop, but also just found the star reduction methods in PI to test out on this data!

[@oryanastrophotography3450]

@@MattDieterich the star reduction script in PI is not the best. i use starnet++ and pixel math to get good results

[@MattDieterich]

@@oryanastrophotography3450 Ya I have been running a mix of either Starnet, or the EZ panel Adam Block reduction method. The one from Adam works well. Haven't played much with the pixel math, but heard that is a good way to go.

[@MohibKhan1989]

Beautiful image and excellent tutorial Matt. Awesome work.

[@MattDieterich]

Really happy you checked out the video Mohib!

[@miroslavk.5049]

Thank you matt for another great aid and know-how. I just completed my travel setup (Takahashi SPIII Equatorial mini-mount with Rokinon 135/2 lens and ZWO ASO 071MC) so I will try the same target next time I will get to clear sky. I think this gorgeous image of yours would be even better if shot with a dedicated camera.

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks Miroslav! You are absolutely right about using a cooled, mono CCD or CMOS would be a blast to shoot wide field Orion images with!

[@rtlocke]

I like the easy flat fielding trick - I'm going to share your video with my brother who is just starting out. Other than the flat-fielding in Camera Raw, PixInsight handles NEF files OK, at least with all my cameras. They come into PI un-stretched, which will make processing more challenging for beginners, but they work.

[@MattDieterich]

Hope the video helps out! The lens profiling is such a big help for quickly removing vignetting if you are shooting with camera lenses instead of a telescope.

[@joshuawoolfolk7691]

did you use any narrowband filters?

[@MattDieterich]

Hey Joshua, I didn't shoot with any filters for that image. The Nikon I used was HA modified though to let in additional HA over a stock sensor.

[@yervantparnagian5999]

Excellent video. Just subscribed. How do you find focusing with your ML Z6? I use a Z5 and the noise looking through the EVF can be a hassle to say the least? Suggestions?

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching and joining the channel! I've been using live view on the LCD for focusing and it has worked pretty well.

[@yervantparnagian5999]

@@MattDieterich I'll have to use that more often too.

[@Dobsonion]

Bravo, Matt! What is the purpose of de-bayering? Required for PI? I'm a PS-only user for now. Would de-bayering be useful for a PS-only processing?

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching Brian! Correct debayering is for PI since when the images open up PI doesn't automatically have the camera profile info like Photoshop does. If you're just using PS then you won't need to debayer.

[@rtlocke]

@@MattDieterich Matt, Nice tutorial, I haven't been out to West Texas for a while and miss those dark skies. I had the same question on debayering and I am afraid I don't understand the answer. Were not the images debayered when the were originally converted to TIF in Camera Raw? Does the PI debayer somehow make the date linear, or is that maybe an unnecessary step? Very confused on this point.

[@MattDieterich]

@@rtlocke I was glad to finally get to west TX and checkout the dark skies there. Regarding the debayering I actually might have added a needless step, but I can confirm if PI opens the TIFF without showing any issues like opening Nikon NEF RAW files shows. My apologies about the confusion. I think you can skip debayering the TIFFs and you'll be good to go straight to star alignment.

[@rtlocke]

@@MattDieterich OK thanks for that info, I appreciate the clarification.

[@kevindickinson3600]

Matt, this is amazing- is there any hydrogen alpha filter that you would recommend for a dslr? (I do not have a modified camera)

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching! What camera are you shooting with? You can get clip in H-alpha for many popular cameras, but I haven't shot with one of those to see how it would compare to shooting with a modified camera. The key issue is that stock cameras have filters in front of the sensor that block most of the H-alpha, so if you add a H-alpha filter in front it should cut through light pollution, but still will likely not absorb as much as a mod. Most mods are 300-400$ and definitely worth the investment if you can swing it.

[@kevindickinson3600]

@@MattDieterich I am using an old Nikon d610- it is my primary camera, and so I am a bit hesitant to modify it. I have just found that a lot of the nebulosity does not show in my images- they appear somewhat washed out. I am attempting to shoot from light polluted skies in Ohio. (sigh) Would I be better getting a light pollution filter?

[@MattDieterich]

@@kevindickinson3600 ok ya that 610 should do decent, but likely overwhelmed with skyglow. I know how that goes here in Pittsburgh! A light pollution filter can absolutely help, but there is no substitute for dark skies to record faint objects. Feel free to send me some of your photos and I can check to see how they're exposed my email is [e-mail].

[@matej.mlakar]

@@kevindickinson3600 D610 is a fantastic astro camera. In fact, it uses the same sensor as D750 and image quality is the same. If you can, take a look at D600. Again, its the same camera, just the shutter mechanism is a bit different, compared to D610. I also use D610, just like you and I decided to get a D600 which I will send for modifications. Those cameras are sooo cheap now it is unreal. I got mine do 330€ and someone else is selling his for only 300€ with 28.000 shutter actions.

[@edwinsanchez1167]

Matt, I know that you mentioned dark sky is key, I was able to get some ha around horse head, flame etc, with my 135mm and zwo 183 OSC, I recently got a star aventure and tried it with a 50mm canon f1.8 lens and my t6i stock canon dslr but I dont get any of the ha or dark nebula. Any pointers on filters etc.. thank you and great photo I so want to have something similar, am on bortle 6. Clear skies!

[@MattDieterich]

Hi Edwin! Glad you were able to get out and shoot some images of this beautiful area. I really was shocked how all the dark nebulae began to "pop" when editing, but the key for those faint dust lanes are dark skies. If you can get to dark skies then the dark nebulae will begin to come into view during long exposure. I was right near McDonald Observatory in TX for this shoot, so the skies were dark enough that the dark nebulae came out well, Bortle 1-2. For the hydrogen alpha the other key aspect is going with a modified camera and one with large pixels. Larger pixels are more sensitive in low light, so they soak up more light than smaller pixels. The Nikon Z6 has decently large pixels and is a full frame back illuminated sensor, both of which made soaking in the H-alpha easier. You did a great job using a faster aperture, but I think the issue is the lack of a H-alpha modified camera in combination to the bright sky conditions. You can try a light pollution filter to help cut through some of the skyglow, but if you can see about modifying your camera, or head a little further outside of the city glow. Keep me posted on how you do!

[@edwinsanchez1167]

@@MattDieterich thanks for taking time out to reply! Hoping to go this coming summer to cherry springs🤗😊 meantime, I’ll see about modifying but I really like my star adventurer glad I got it for X-mas! Happy new year Matt!

[@MattDieterich]

@@edwinsanchez1167 Cherry Springs is a great spot and you'll capture some awesome images with the tracker!

[@RaghuramKhandrika]

hello Matt, do you still have those Orion Wide field subs to process? I missed the link. Could you please share the link again. Thanks a lot !!

[@MattDieterich]

I sure do. The data link is in the YT video description of this video.

[@oldies7436]

Any idea why I dont have ArcsinhStretch in the menu?

[@MattDieterich]

Hmm it's not under your Processes menu? Is it possible you're running an old version of PI?

[@AstroNightBR]

Muito bom 👏👏👏

[@ChicagoAstronomer]

Very coolest Matt. Using a Canon T7i but never can get that from Chicago. Thank you. Chicago Astronomer Joe

[@MattDieterich]

Thanks for watching Joe. I hope you can get to dark skies with your gear!