Unpopular opinion: That 'perfect' Orion shot from last week is probably a composite.

I was processing my own data from the same region in Arizona last month and the hydrogen-alpha signal in the nebula's core doesn't match the visible light structure that cleanly without serious blending.

4 comments

4 Comments

fionat552mo ago

Serious blending" sounds like my last smoothie attempt.

patricia_hill6020h ago

Wait, has anyone actually tried using an immersion blender for all of this? I know that sounds crazy for astrophotography data but hear me out. When you blend your smoothie with an immersion blender you can move it around and target the chunks directly instead of hoping a regular blender gets everything. Same with processing data - sometimes I use a targeted gradient removal tool on just the problematic areas instead of running a script on the whole image. Your mileage may vary obviously but it helped me get way cleaner results on my last Orion shot where the core was just blowing everything out. Might be worth a shot if you're still fighting with those chunks.

taylor.brooke2mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I feel that! My blender used to just give up and leave chunks. What finally worked for me was adding the liquid first, then the soft stuff, and the frozen fruit on top. It gave the blades a fighting chance.

the_julia2mo ago

Yeah, blending narrowband data is such a pain. I have to mask the core separately most times, like taylor.brooke was saying about smoothie order. What stacking software are you using?