First Posting
- Jordan Konisky
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First Posting
I have finally reached a stage in my imaging to feel comfortable enough to post my first image on “This Is Solar Chat.” It was captured on July 3. SW ED 100 (masked to 50mm), Lunt CaK B1800, ZWO 1600mm), SharpCap, Autostakkert (100/400), ImPPg for sharpening and Photoshop for coloring.
Had several issues along the way and so appreciate the help I received from members of the SCF community. Thank you all so much for sharing your expertise and experience as I crawled up the learning curve.
Would appreciate any comments on sharpness and coloring or anything else. At this point I need your honest critiques so that I can improve.
Jordan
CaK July 3 2021 (3) by Jordan Konisky, on Flickr
CaK July 3 2021 (2) by Jordan Konisky, on Flickr
Had several issues along the way and so appreciate the help I received from members of the SCF community. Thank you all so much for sharing your expertise and experience as I crawled up the learning curve.
Would appreciate any comments on sharpness and coloring or anything else. At this point I need your honest critiques so that I can improve.
Jordan
CaK July 3 2021 (3) by Jordan Konisky, on Flickr
CaK July 3 2021 (2) by Jordan Konisky, on Flickr
Jordan -
SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
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SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
Celestron CG4 Equatorial Mount
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Lunt CaK B1800 Filter Module
Lunt White Light Solar Wedge
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Re: First Posting
These are fantastic Jordan love the colour and the sharpness is not to bad. One thing I would do is crop the image so the Sun is in the middle. Also, not sure whether this has happened in post processing or capture but the plage in the main AR is a bit over exposed. This is easy to do in CaK. If you capture the image much darker than you think, the plage won't be blown out. If the capture was OK, and it happened after, then in post processing try not to brighten too far that you over saturate the plage. You can do this by fixing the white point in photoshop so if you raise the histogram the white point stays fixed.
I hope this helps a bit. However, this is a fantastic first shot, you should be very proud.
Alexandra
I hope this helps a bit. However, this is a fantastic first shot, you should be very proud.
Alexandra
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Re: First Posting
Jordan:
Very good images, second what Alexandra explains, it sure will help.
Best regards,
Eric.
Very good images, second what Alexandra explains, it sure will help.
Best regards,
Eric.
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Re: First Posting
Very,Very nice work for a first imaging post!!
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Re: First Posting
Brilliant capture. Great first post, I third what Alexandra said, lol. Thanks for sharing and look forward for more of your work.
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Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.
2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
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Re: First Posting
Congratulations Jordan on an excellent result.
Here I have tried to tone down the plage brightness in a simple image handling software. [PhotoFiltre7]
Not with complete success but this is more representative of typical CaK image posted here.
The image is also much reduced in size. There is no need to post huge files on a forum.
The forum format simply doesn't need it to show all the detail in an image.
I hope you can forgive my very clumsy efforts?
Like yourself, I am very grateful for all the helpful advice I received from the members here.
Sometimes achieving our desired goals can seem insurmountable in the early stages.
Studying the real experts' images and lots of practice is a the surest way to keep on improving.
Here I have tried to tone down the plage brightness in a simple image handling software. [PhotoFiltre7]
Not with complete success but this is more representative of typical CaK image posted here.
The image is also much reduced in size. There is no need to post huge files on a forum.
The forum format simply doesn't need it to show all the detail in an image.
I hope you can forgive my very clumsy efforts?
Like yourself, I am very grateful for all the helpful advice I received from the members here.
Sometimes achieving our desired goals can seem insurmountable in the early stages.
Studying the real experts' images and lots of practice is a the surest way to keep on improving.
http://fullerscopes.blogspot.dk/
H-alpha: Baader 160mm D-ERF, iStar 150/10 H-alpha objective, 2" Baader 35nm H-a, 2" Beloptik KG3,
Lunt 60MT etalon, Lunt B1200S2 BF, Assorted T-S GPCs or 2x "Shorty" Barlow, ZWO ASI174.
H-alpha: Baader 160mm D-ERF, iStar 150/10 H-alpha objective, 2" Baader 35nm H-a, 2" Beloptik KG3,
Lunt 60MT etalon, Lunt B1200S2 BF, Assorted T-S GPCs or 2x "Shorty" Barlow, ZWO ASI174.
- VasilevIvan
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Re: First Posting
Congratulations Jordan with first posting and nice image in CaK!
Best regards, Ivan.
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VANTIM. Two Brothers observatory.
Observatory Dome 2.85m
SolarMax II 60mm DS, SW MAK 150, SW 80 ED, TS-Optics 6'' f5,9, LightBridge 12'' // AZ-EQ6 Pro, HEQ-5 mount
DayStar Quark Chromosphere, Lunt CaK B1800, D-ERF Baader 6'' // ZWO ASI 174mm, ASI 183mm, ASI178mm, ASI462mc, Player-One Apollo-M MAX.
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Re: First Posting
Very nice result, Jordan.
I agree with Chris in that you may want to tweak the exposure so as not to blow out the highlights in the plage regions.
Cheers
Peter
I agree with Chris in that you may want to tweak the exposure so as not to blow out the highlights in the plage regions.
Cheers
Peter
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- Jordan Konisky
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Re: First Posting
Thank you everyone for your response to my image. Credit for the coloring should go to Mark Townley who provided me with his protocol and settings for color management in PS.
Rusted and Alexandra, I will make use of your suggestions to correct that overexposure in the vicinity of the sunspot. Alexandra, would you provide a bit more detail of how you use the PS M curve to do this. I have looked over several tutorials on making such adjustments but remain confused as to what exactly you do. I understand that you first fix the white point. But what do you mean by “raise the histogram so that the white point stays fixed.” Exactly what is being raised? I must be missing something rather obvious or intuitive.
Jordan
Rusted and Alexandra, I will make use of your suggestions to correct that overexposure in the vicinity of the sunspot. Alexandra, would you provide a bit more detail of how you use the PS M curve to do this. I have looked over several tutorials on making such adjustments but remain confused as to what exactly you do. I understand that you first fix the white point. But what do you mean by “raise the histogram so that the white point stays fixed.” Exactly what is being raised? I must be missing something rather obvious or intuitive.
Jordan
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SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
Celestron CG4 Equatorial Mount
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Lunt CaK B1800 Filter Module
Lunt White Light Solar Wedge
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SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
Celestron CG4 Equatorial Mount
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Lunt CaK B1800 Filter Module
Lunt White Light Solar Wedge
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Re: First Posting
Excellent first images, Jordan. For sure there's some tweaking to be done, but then I'm still finding my way after years of practice!
Stu.
Stu.
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More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
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Re: First Posting
I need to make some screen shots, when I get a moment I will have to explain. Pictures speak louder than words
Alexandra
Alexandra
- Jordan Konisky
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Re: First Posting
No rush, Thanks,
Jordan
Jordan
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SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
Celestron CG4 Equatorial Mount
Daystar Quark H-Alpha Chromosphere
Lunt CaK B1800 Filter Module
Lunt White Light Solar Wedge
ZWO ASI174MM, ZWOASI1600MM Cameras
SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
Celestron CG4 Equatorial Mount
Daystar Quark H-Alpha Chromosphere
Lunt CaK B1800 Filter Module
Lunt White Light Solar Wedge
ZWO ASI174MM, ZWOASI1600MM Cameras
- Jordan Konisky
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Re: First Posting
Here is an image from the same day series in which my SharpCap capture histogram was set to provide a slightly darker overall image compared to the image that I posted earlier. As you can see the vicinity of the sunspot is less blown out.
15 20 97 imppg2.5 color by Jordan Konisky, on Flickr
15 20 97 imppg2.5 color by Jordan Konisky, on Flickr
Jordan -
SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
Celestron CG4 Equatorial Mount
Daystar Quark H-Alpha Chromosphere
Lunt CaK B1800 Filter Module
Lunt White Light Solar Wedge
ZWO ASI174MM, ZWOASI1600MM Cameras
SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
Celestron CG4 Equatorial Mount
Daystar Quark H-Alpha Chromosphere
Lunt CaK B1800 Filter Module
Lunt White Light Solar Wedge
ZWO ASI174MM, ZWOASI1600MM Cameras
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Re: First Posting
This one looks nice in the plage areas!
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Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
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Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces
Visual Observer
" Way more fun to see it! "
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces
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Re: First Posting
The new image is really excellent!
Had I known you were hiding this image I needn't have embarrassed you with my clumsy tweaking!
You are obviously far more accomplished than I will ever be.
Had I known you were hiding this image I needn't have embarrassed you with my clumsy tweaking!
You are obviously far more accomplished than I will ever be.
http://fullerscopes.blogspot.dk/
H-alpha: Baader 160mm D-ERF, iStar 150/10 H-alpha objective, 2" Baader 35nm H-a, 2" Beloptik KG3,
Lunt 60MT etalon, Lunt B1200S2 BF, Assorted T-S GPCs or 2x "Shorty" Barlow, ZWO ASI174.
H-alpha: Baader 160mm D-ERF, iStar 150/10 H-alpha objective, 2" Baader 35nm H-a, 2" Beloptik KG3,
Lunt 60MT etalon, Lunt B1200S2 BF, Assorted T-S GPCs or 2x "Shorty" Barlow, ZWO ASI174.
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Re: First Posting
OK, I'm not saying this is the right thing to do, but it is how I do it:
First open levels and set the black and white points to each end of the histogram so it is spread evenly Then open curves (CTL+M) and press the little hand (1) then go over to the white area you don't want to move and click there (2) and you will see an anchor appear at (3) Then go and click in a dark area you want to add contrast to and click (4) and you will see another anchor appear there (5) which is highlighted. Click your down arrow key until you think that area is dark enough. Notice the white area remains untouched as the anchor has fixed it. You can also do this the same in h-alpha by anchoring the pale chromosphere but only darkening the filament areas. You can do this any way you fancy so that plage areas don't get brighter or darker, or filaments but not plages get darker. It gives you flexibility and control.
I hope this helps
Alexandra
First open levels and set the black and white points to each end of the histogram so it is spread evenly Then open curves (CTL+M) and press the little hand (1) then go over to the white area you don't want to move and click there (2) and you will see an anchor appear at (3) Then go and click in a dark area you want to add contrast to and click (4) and you will see another anchor appear there (5) which is highlighted. Click your down arrow key until you think that area is dark enough. Notice the white area remains untouched as the anchor has fixed it. You can also do this the same in h-alpha by anchoring the pale chromosphere but only darkening the filament areas. You can do this any way you fancy so that plage areas don't get brighter or darker, or filaments but not plages get darker. It gives you flexibility and control.
I hope this helps
Alexandra
- Jordan Konisky
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Re: First Posting
Alexandra,
This is perfect. Immense thanks for taking the time to provide this to me. Can't express enough how your patience and sharing of expertise over these last several months have helped me get to this stage.
Jordan
This is perfect. Immense thanks for taking the time to provide this to me. Can't express enough how your patience and sharing of expertise over these last several months have helped me get to this stage.
Jordan
Jordan -
SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
Celestron CG4 Equatorial Mount
Daystar Quark H-Alpha Chromosphere
Lunt CaK B1800 Filter Module
Lunt White Light Solar Wedge
ZWO ASI174MM, ZWOASI1600MM Cameras
SkyWatcher ED100 Refractor with Diamond Steeltrack Crawford Focuser
Celestron CG4 Equatorial Mount
Daystar Quark H-Alpha Chromosphere
Lunt CaK B1800 Filter Module
Lunt White Light Solar Wedge
ZWO ASI174MM, ZWOASI1600MM Cameras
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Re: First Posting
Wow! That is an amazing result for first CaK image.
~ Petrus ~
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