Small Sagittarious Star Cloud ~ Getting there

[JBW]

Tonight was not so frustrating. I have got the Sony nicely dialed in at 3.2 seconds, F/2.8, a custom white balance of 4800K and ISO 3200.

This is an 11 frame stack with 4 darks and two bias. The next good night I shall try twenty shots. But with no tracking ability I’m not sure what the results will be.

[James G]

Yes you are... Maybe push the true blacks more, and maybe develop the reds a bit?

20 shots will mean more clipping but I would have thought no prob, just remember to position to allow for the drift keeping the nebula and cluster in the 'cropped' frame.

My trick with 100+ and no tracker is to do 5 batches of 20 (say) and reposition after each batch. You can do all your darks and bias at the end of the session since tracking is not an issue.

[JBW]

Yes you are... Maybe push the true blacks more, and maybe develop the reds a bit?

20 shots will mean more clipping but I would have thought no prob, just remember to position to allow for the drift keeping the nebula and cluster in the 'cropped' frame.

My trick with 100+ and no tracker is to do 5 batches of 20 (say) and reposition after each batch. You can do all your darks and bias at the end of the session since tracking is not an issue.

Next good night I'll try your technique

[JBW]

Yes you are... Maybe push the true blacks more, and maybe develop the reds a bit?

20 shots will mean more clipping but I would have thought no prob, just remember to position to allow for the drift keeping the nebula and cluster in the 'cropped' frame.

My trick with 100+ and no tracker is to do 5 batches of 20 (say) and reposition after each batch. You can do all your darks and bias at the end of the session since tracking is not an issue.

And here's my effort to follow your suggestions:

[James G]

Beautiful! Getting that velvety black makes the image pop for me. The orange in the star to the far left and the subtle increase of reds /yellows definitely emphasises the dark 'lanes' between areas of the 'cloud'. Hubble and NASA will need to up their game

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[JBW]

Nicely done.

It' coming along nicely

[PRSearls]

Beautiful image, Brian.

PRS

[JBW]

Beautiful image, Brian.

PRS

With James mentoring me and a decent macro set-up it amazes me what beauty I can find

[Wavelength]

Well done

[JBW]

Well done

it's getting there. there is however a great deal more to learn.

[Donald]

it's getting there. there is however a great deal more to learn.

Which makes it fun! Learning is great fun.

[JBW]

Which makes it fun! Learning is great fun.

absolutely

[bnnrcn]

Your second version looks very nice Brian

[JBW]

Your second version looks very nice Brian

It's definitely getting there. There is an incredible difference in the pp techniques and work flow