My first real try at Imaging!!

[LonestarrSB]

Hey star fiends!

Last night was perfect, took a brilliant video of the moon.  So I decided this morning to try RegiStax for the first time. I also have a video of Jupiter and Venus that I was lucky enough to get when I got home from work.  Decided I would start with the moon as it would be the easiest. Lemme know what you guys think!

[PeterCPC]

Hi

Looks pretty good to me - just a tad overexposed I think but still nice.

Peter

[LonestarrSB]

Is that something that can be adjusted in RegiStax? I had a moon filter on my camera at the time.

[all-on-black]

Pretty good! A moon filter is not really any use for imaging IMO, it just cuts the light levels down, and that's not needed. More light = faster shutter speed = crisper images.

Good effort though! 

[PeterCPC]

You can adjust brightness etc in Registax but I would do it using Paintshop/Photoshop/Gimp ....whatever. I find that you can adjust these things better in PS or whatever you use.

Peter

[LonestarrSB]

Im learning, this was 10 times better than the first one I recorded.  For the record I should state that Im using a StarBlast 4.5 EQ with an Orion StarShoot IV camera. The camera especially isnt the best available. I found that without the moon filter it just seemed way to bright.  Thanks for all the input!

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

sometimes you have to step down the camera, adding a moon filter cuts the brightness by around 25%.

your choice was a fair choice given the moon is very bright. 

learning no, mastering Yes  

some more playing with the wavelets in registax, i think there is a tad more detail you could

maybe squeeze out ( go gentle on the wavelets not to strong not to weak )

[PeterCPC]

I should have added that it's better to slightly underexpose than overexpose. You can lighten up the image fairly easily but, if it's overexposed, some of the detail could be lost and not recoverable (burnt out). Sometimes I have used a Polarizing filter with the moon as, I find, it makes it easier to accurately focus or even a light pollution filter but these will reduce any light received. Experiment, that's how you learn. Find out what works for you.

Peter

[Langy]

That's an excellent first attempt. Better than what mine was.

The only area I find a bit off is the line of light by the shadow, the detail looks like it is over sharp and just doesn't look natural.

It's so easy to overdue the settings, I know that for a fact as I often try for a black sky which just ruins the content.

Great job!

[Russe]

Well done!! A tad overexposed on the right side!

Good start.

[Robbo AR]

It's an excellent first photo and I'll wager that you'll be taking many more good uns too.

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

the overal image is wicked for a first time and something to be proud of. 

top and bottom of image you can see some alignment white, its where frames are stacked off line slightly to gain the image.

to get the very best chance of nice stacking from the start you can do a little work before hand. 

PIPPS : 

this program will take your images, check each one for an object ( the moon) 

then it will make each picture centered , you can also resize your images to. 

you hit the go button and it chops and centers all your pictures. 

now when you cme to use them in stacking software each image if perfectly centered

so the software takes less time moving them around, being all centered there is less

chance of ghosting ( where a final image looks to have double view) and other little niggles

it also means your final image will be of nicer quality having less work needed shifting it around to align