IC1396 "Elephant's Trunk"
Photo description / processing
Continuing to learn processing. This time I stacked in Siril with extraction of hydrogen and oxygen channels, then separated the stars in PixInsight, stretched, cleaned up the noise as best I could, and used pixel math to combine the channels R(Ha) G((Ha+OIII)/2) B(OIII). The star channels were combined using the same formula, then I overlaid the stars on the nebula without changing the colors, only adding a bit of saturation. I sharpened the stars as much as I could — if anyone knows how to get nice-looking stars without paid plugins, I'd appreciate any info.
P.S. I forgot to do background neutralization, will need to redo it)
Technical information
- Telescope/Lens
- Samyang 135mm f/2 ED UMC
- Camera
- ZWO ASI533MC Pro
- Mount
- Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi
- Guide Scope
- SVBONY SV165
- Guide Camera
- Zwo ASI662MC
- Accessories
- ZWO ASIAIR Mini
- Software
- Siril, Pixinsight, Adobe Photoshop
- Location
- Кичменгский Городок Вологодская область, Россия
Light pollution
Green, Bortle 4 zone
Exposure
- 51 × 300″ · ISO/Gain: 100 · LAIDA dual band Ha OIII 7нм
Total exposure: 4 h 15 m
Photo versions
IC1396 "Elephant's Trunk"
Aug 25th, 2026
4 h 30 m
Balanced the background, reduced the intensity in the oxygen channel, now I need to learn how to work with noise using the available tools.
Current photo
IC1396 "Elephant's Trunk"Aug 23rd, 2026
4 h 15 m
Continuing to learn processing. This time I stacked in Siril with extraction of hydrogen and oxygen channels, then separated the stars in PixInsight, stretched, cleaned up the noise as best I could, and used pixel math to combine the channels R(Ha) G((Ha+OIII)/2) B(OIII). The star channels were combined using the same formula, then I overlaid the stars on the nebula without changing the colors, only adding a bit of saturation. I sharpened the stars as much as I could — if anyone knows how to get nice-looking stars without paid plugins, I'd appreciate any info. P.S. I forgot to do background neutralization, will need to redo it)
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