by geckzilla » Tue Jun 07, 2016 2:42 pm
There is this thing among some (most?) astrophotographers to try and lay bare the Universe by bringing up the floor of the image a little bit from pure black so that the darkest parts become more easily visible. Hours upon hours are spent trying to capture the faintest details to reveal tidal streams and deeper, more distant objects. He wants it to look something more like the attached image, except for the harsh lines caused by posterization. You can see them easily just under the galactic nucleus, although if your eyes aren't trained to look for that sort of detail you might miss it. You can also see a little bit of extra light around the periphery which ideally would be flattened down since it's not actually there. Valid criticisms for sure, but in the end it's still just an aesthetic choice, and I stand by my assertion earlier that the histogram hasn't been clipped.
Edit: Looking at some DSS imagery of this galaxy, I think the hard lines under the nucleus may actually be present and not actually the posterization I thought they were. Disturbed galaxies don't always have a smooth transition.
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![Whale_Galaxy_Martin_Pugh_brightened.jpg (297.3 KiB) Viewed 1195 times Whale_Galaxy_Martin_Pugh_brightened.jpg](./download/file.php?id=24060&t=1&sid=a7dba0d469cad65bdea7506615f157b8)
There is this thing among some (most?) astrophotographers to try and lay bare the Universe by bringing up the floor of the image a little bit from pure black so that the darkest parts become more easily visible. Hours upon hours are spent trying to capture the faintest details to reveal tidal streams and deeper, more distant objects. He wants it to look something more like the attached image, except for the harsh lines caused by posterization. You can see them easily just under the galactic nucleus, although if your eyes aren't trained to look for that sort of detail you might miss it. You can also see a little bit of extra light around the periphery which ideally would be flattened down since it's not actually there. Valid criticisms for sure, but in the end it's still just an aesthetic choice, and I stand by my assertion earlier that the histogram hasn't been clipped.
Edit: Looking at some DSS imagery of this galaxy, I think the hard lines under the nucleus may actually be present and not actually the posterization I thought they were. Disturbed galaxies don't always have a smooth transition.