Moon

[Ags]

I'm quite pleased with this snap.

[sologuitarist61]

Nice shot Agnes.

I took some of the full moon last night and they haven't come out half as well - focus isn't quite right, though they looked good through the viewfinder. It is strange as it seem to be more in focus on one side than the other. I took them with Live View active, so mirror flip vibration isn't the problem. Taken with the Canon 50D at 16mm, eye projection through my Baader zoom

[ATTACH]86372[/ATTACH]

Any comments appreciated

[Ags]

I had a play with my pic to improve it slightly. I used levels to increase the contrast in the bright regions and drop the glow around the moon to deeper black to give a more space-ey feel. And applied a crop for the forum.

[Ags]

The shot is quite nice, solo. I think it looks a bit out of focus because the full moon is low in contrast. I see a bit of CA around the edge of the moon - what did you take the picture with? You could try process the picture as a mono image just using the green data, that might sharpen it up a bit.

You can also use curves in Photoshop (if you have it) or GIMP (it's free) to increase the contrast. You want a hockey-stick shaped curve for the moon, which puts more contrast in the very white areas and makes the image look a bit more structured.

On my monitor your moon is a bit purple - what color balance are you using?

I just noticed you are using a startravel. In that case I would definitely try use just the green channel. The second image is definitely a bit out of focus but I would say the first one is sharp. Did you adjust the focus while zooming? I believe that focus is not maintained at different zoom settings.

[sologuitarist61]

Hi Agnes and thanks for your comments. Yes I have already used curves in Photoshop to get it this good!! Used a gentle 's' shape.

Actually took it through the SW 120 Sytar Travel which is only a doublet I believe so hence the possible CA.

I must admit that I left the colour balance on the camera to AWB, thinking that it is reflected sunlight, should I try something different?

Will try the green channel trick you suggest and sorry to hi-jack your thread :o

[sologuitarist61]

Well had another play and haven't altered the channels at all but in Channel Mixer I just clicked the monochrome box and this is what I got - much better apparent sharpness.

Funnily enough, if I just went greyscale and discarded the colour, I didn't get as good a result.

[ATTACH]86378[/ATTACH]

[Ags]

That looks much better. I think however the S curve may not be the best choice. By S I think you mean a shallow-steep-shallow curve? This would reduce contrast at the bright end of your image, which is where the detail is struggling to come through. If you change to a shallow-shallow- steep curve you may get more detail in the highlands.

To get the green data of the image, make the red and blue channels invisible, then make a new layer from visible and monochrome it.

[sologuitarist61]

Thanks Agnes, this is what I mean by an 's' curve (excuse quality but is a photo from computer screen!)

[ATTACH]86408[/ATTACH]

[Ags]

Yes - I would try a different curve, more like a plot of the spread of a virus. I think the S curve works in many circumstances but not all - I think it is meant to mimic the sensitivity of traditional film.

[Viv]

Lovely one Agnes - what kit did you use ?

Richard - full moon I find is the hardest beastie, to get. Have you tried direct connection (no using an eye peice). It could be worth trying & you'll get there.

[Ags]

Thanks. I used my 4SE and 1100D at prime focus.

[sologuitarist61]

Viv - The main reason I used eye piece projection was because I alreadu had the scope set up for visual and as the moon was so low, had to catch it before it went behind the houses, so just whacked the camera onto the Baader zoom. Will certainly try at prime focus when the occasion next arises. Thanks

Agnes - Is this what you mean by hockey stick shape in Curves?

[ATTACH]86441[/ATTACH]

If so, here are a before and after of another shot I took at the same time.

[ATTACH]86442[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]86443[/ATTACH]

Certainly better in the 'after shot' but the maria become very dark.

[Ags]

THe curve thing gets addictive - what I would try next is flipping the S curve so the gentle part of the curve is in the middle (so it goes steep - shallow - steep). That puts all the contrast in the dark and white areas, but bring the dark and bright areas nearer to each other in brghtness.

[sologuitarist61]

Thanks Agnes, have just tried the 'steep-shallow-steep' routine and it worked very well and the maria weren't quite so dark as with the previous posts, but the highlights were better.

This goes contrary to everything I have learned about how to usehotoshop from a photographic standpoint, so without your help I would never even have thought to try such things. Thank you very much - with your help I have been able to turn some mediocre shots into not bad ones.

[Ags]

Now you know as much or as little as I do :-)

[sologuitarist61]

Learning all the time ....... :D

[todd8137]

Nice images