The Dark Seahorse

Dark Nebulae are a bit harder to photograph, unless they are in front of a bright emission nebula. To capture the faint molecular cloud lit only by surrounding stars, not only a long integration time is mandatory, but a dark sky without moon as well. To get the best details of the faint cloud structures, I've also captured the luminance channel. If you are interested how I integrate luminance in my image, check out the page What to do with Luminance?

It took me several attempts to image this target from my Bortle 5 location to be happy with the result. It rained the days before so the air was exceptionally clear.