Processing story / Pelican Nebula - IC5070
Finding the Pelican in blue and gold
A gold-lit profile rises from flowing blue emission. More than 27 hours of narrowband exposure, separate work on nebula and stars, and a brighter portrait finish shaped this view of IC 5070.
Photography and processing by Michael Page
- Integrated narrowband exposure
- 27 h 05 min
- Light frames
- 325
- Per exposure
- 300 s
- From capture to stars
- 6 stages
Let the gold profile emerge from the blue
The bright rim and narrow dark pillar were already visible in the first monochrome masters. The processing challenge was to give those structures presence without losing the surrounding emission or allowing the stars to take over. The finished portrait brings the Pelican upright, with warm edges against a broad blue field.
A darker stretch did not give the surrounding emission enough presence. An alternative stretch balanced the channels independently, then selective color work separated the warm rim from the cool gas. The final Photoshop pass lifted the image after the earlier version felt too dark.
See the difference
Two decisions, made visible
Let the stars return without taking over
The saved starless color-work master and the saved PixInsight composite show the same field before and after the recorded star-restoration stage.
Drag the arrows on the image to compare. You can also use the arrow keys when the handle is selected.
Saved nonlinear Float32 XISF with embedded sRGB IEC61966-2.1; exported with repository exporter, zero samples outside [0,1]. Same 90-degree counterclockwise rotation and resize for both comparison images. No STF, added stretch, normalization or brightness matching. This compares complete saved versions; it does not isolate an individual color curve or prove every blend setting from pixels alone.
A brighter portrait finish
The saved PixInsight composite, rotated to the final orientation, compared with the accepted Photoshop PNG.
Drag the arrows on the image to compare. You can also use the arrow keys when the handle is selected.
Complete saved versions with identical field and web dimensions. The PixInsight export uses its embedded sRGB profile; the final PNG has no embedded profile and is treated as sRGB for web display. No brightness matching, extra stretch or synthetic intermediate. Differences include the complete Photoshop finish, not one isolated slider.
At the telescope
- Camera
- ZWO ASI2600MM
- Hα filter
- Antlia 4.5 nm
- O III filter
- Antlia 3 nm
- S II filter
- Antlia 3 nm
- Exposure
- 300 s · bin 1 × 1
- Final portrait
- 4015 × 5973 pixels
- Processing
- PixInsight and Adobe Photoshop
| Channel | Frames | Exposure |
|---|---|---|
| Hα | 110 | 9 h 10 min |
| O III | 109 | 9 h 05 min |
| S II | 106 | 8 h 50 min |
325 retained exposures at 300 seconds each total 27 h 5 min. WBPP calibrated 328 frames and rejected three S II frames before registration. S II maps to red, Hα to green and O III to blue; these are mapped narrowband colors, including the stars.
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