Why do you post your images on the forum?

[ollypenrice]

Oh no, now you have me paranoid, how do images look "American", this sounds like an affliction, but it might already be too late for me!

Fear not, John, you are quite the reverse of 'American' as the term is used by the French. I think the term implies hard processing, excessive sharpening and excessive noise reduction, high contrasts and high colour saturation. I take it to me the opposite of 'natural looking.' They'll somtimes descirbe an image as a little 'flashy' - using the English word itself.

Olly

[Owmuchonomy]

So there we are. Let's be more constructively critical. It's all a matter of confidence and trust.

I'd be happy to post an image which, despite my best efforts, has some considerable way to go. I'd be happy to invite you all to let rip. Maybe we could start a separate thread inviting hard core criticism of posted images?

Olly

Put much more eloquently than I was trying to say earlier. That's precisely what I was hoping to achieve by posting images on this forum.

[Stu]

Well, I hesitate to call anything I post an 'image', more like a happy snap.

I post up some truly awful iPhone shots of the sun, and some so so shots of the moon, for two different reasons.

The solar ones are simply to represent what I've seen at the eyepiece, whilst the lunar ones are actually more to show what is possible with very simple kit ie iPhone, scope and a bracket.

I also post up the odd solar sketch, again mainly to show what I've seen, but also to potentially encourage others to take up solar observing and sketching.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I post here and on Solarchat and some other place both to share results, and to seek improvement. I like the inclusive attitude here, and appreciate people pointing out ways to improve matters. People should not be afraid of saying what they do not like about an image. There is always a way of saying these things politely, especially when you add advice on how you think it could be improved.

[Scott]

I would agree that criticism should be backed up with advice. The level of competancy also needs to be concidered. It would hardly be useful advice if I was to suggest to some of our top drawer imagers to use gradx or hlvg on their images, in the same way that it might be overwelming if not off puttingto tell someone just starting out to go and purchase a couple of grands worth of software/hardware. 

I also think its up to the op to let people no what they want from posting their image.

[Earl]

Fear not, John, you are quite the reverse of 'American' as the term is used by the French. I think the term implies hard processing, excessive sharpening and excessive noise reduction, high contrasts and high colour saturation. I take it to me the opposite of 'natural looking.' They'll somtimes descirbe an image as a little 'flashy' - using the English word itself.

Olly

Im really trying to dirty up my images, and do my best to avoid over sharpening, over saturation, the way I have got closer to what I want is via small curves, and plenty of them, its seem to be far more subtle, Noice reduction I have moved over to doing when linear like Harry shows in his tutorial for PI and again ramp it down maybe to the poitn where you need to do it twice to get a noticable effect,

I try to get my nebulosity to look cloudy. Im actually quiet pleased with my final Rosette process although some of the dark stuf might be a touch too dark,

[martin_h]

If nobody looks at them are they really there?

[wxsatuser]

Im really trying to dirty up my images, and do my best to avoid over sharpening, over saturation, the way I have got closer to what I want is via small curves, and plenty of them, its seem to be far more subtle, Noice reduction I have moved over to doing when linear like Harry shows in his tutorial for PI and again ramp it down maybe to the poitn where you need to do it twice to get a noticable effect,

I try to get my nebulosity to look cloudy. Im actually quiet pleased with my final Rosette process although some of the dark stuf might be a touch too dark,

I don't have to dirty mine, they dirty themselves.

Like all photography you cannot please everyone, just do the best you can, they will never be perfect.

[fatwoul]

I don't know, which is why I stopped posting images here.

I used to think that it was motivating for me to look back over previous images - mine and others - and see how they progressed over time.  More recently, however, I have noticed only a worsening of my own images, and the continued improvement of others' has just left me feeling very disheartened and disillusioned.

[ollypenrice]

I don't know, which is why I stopped posting images here.

I used to think that it was motivating for me to look back over previous images - mine and others - and see how they progressed over time.  More recently, however, I have noticed only a worsening of my own images, and the continued improvement of others' has just left me feeling very disheartened and disillusioned.

Oh, that's terrible! Help is at hand, surely.

Often some small thing might be standing between an image and greatness. It might just need one insight to unlock the puzzle, change the workflow...

Olly

[lensman57]

I don't know, which is why I stopped posting images here.

I used to think that it was motivating for me to look back over previous images - mine and others - and see how they progressed over time.  More recently, however, I have noticed only a worsening of my own images, and the continued improvement of others' has just left me feeling very disheartened and disillusioned.

This happens to me all the time, it is a case of two steps forward one step back and vice versa but I do persevere. At times I am not sure if I should post an image in case of being embarrassed but I do post. Never give up.

A.G

[fatwoul]

Oh, that's terrible! Help is at hand, surely.

Often some small thing might be standing between an image and greatness. It might just need one insight to unlock the puzzle, change the workflow...

Olly

Thanks, Olly.  I wish that was the case, but ultimately, I think my astrophotography might be behind me.  A great shame, since even recently I have poured yet more money into the observatory, with a new mount and camera, and a second scope, only to face the realisation that my imaging has got worse, rather than better.  Whether this is the result of the change of equipment, misfortune, or just that I have so few clear nights with which to improve what I'm doing, I don't know.

I almost threw in the towel a year or so ago, for reasons some of you may already know.  I got through that, and found enthusiasm again, but recently that has once again been challenged by several seemingly small - yet session-ending - problems.  The last one was an incompatibility that has emerged from nowhere somewhere between Maxim, my Mount Hub Pro, my Atik One and GP.  They've just stopped working as they have done for 4 months, and I don't know why.

These days I just feel that I'm not smart enough to fix these problems as they occur, which they do too often.  I achieve nothing, and end up feeling frustrated with my failure.  Bottom line is that I don't enjoy it anymore, and if I don't enjoy it, what's the point?

Sorry to hijack a good thread with something so depressing.  The question of "Why do you do it?" is a particularly uncomfortable one with me at the moment.

[fatwoul]

This happens to me all the time, it is a case of two steps forward one step back and vice versa but I do persevere. At times I am not sure if I should post an image in case of being embarrassed but I do post. Never give up.

A.G

Thanks.  I'd very much like to keep at it, as I remember a time when I really got something out of it.  Hell, only 18 months ago I had a 9-pane mosaic of the entire of IC1396 published double page spread in the science supplement of the Financial Times.  But now, the thought of getting 9 panes of a mosaic done without the weather or equipment conspiring against me just makes me scoff bitterly.

[lensman57]

Thanks.  I'd very much like to keep at it, as I remember a time when I really got something out of it.  Hell, only 18 months ago I had a 9-pane mosaic of the entire of IC1396 published double page spread in the science supplement of the Financial Times.  But now, the thought of getting 9 panes of a mosaic done without the weather or equipment conspiring against me just makes me scoff bitterly.

I would vey much like to have a look at the image please if you posted a link. Just a few seconds ago I was calculating the FOV for IC 1396 and SH2 129 using a 70mm apo lens -macro lens, then realised that it is now due north of my back garden and even at 50 degrees of elevation it is behind my neighbours very tall and branched out trees so that is out of the question till next year.

Regards,

A.G

[Dave_D]

for fun... why else?

all my images are junk in comparison to most, do i care? no, i do not.

i haven't got thousands to spend on scopes, flashy CCDs, a nice cosy obsy, but my images are mine, and that's all that matters.

[PatrickGilliland]

Just wanted to follow up on my earlier post.

The other reason to post is to learn.  My M42 is a great example.  With your input Sara I would not have known about adding Luminance data being added to NB.  In time I would have seen it or picked it up elsewhere but your input as well as Olly's (+ a few others) allowed me to get the most out of the image far more quickly than I would have if left to my own devices. 

This invaluable feedback increases my learning curve immensely and is the sort of stuff that to the experienced people out there may have been obvious but to me, a relative newbie would not have been obvious.

Even the most experienced of imagers can learn something new, a new technique, tool a approach and in is this community approach that allows us all to develop our skills far quicker than we would if left to just figure it out on our own.

We all strive to improve (I suspect those who do not do not use sites such as this!) so one more reason for posting and getting feedback, both complimentary which is always nice but also advisory.

Paddy 

[MattJenko]

It's a simple case of learning for me. The amount of quality advice, freely given and gratefully received is what makes this site something else. I am trying to give back as well now I have moved on from total novice, and this is the main reason to post.

I use other sites for gallery type albums, here it is predominantly to share with people who actually produce images as well for the purpose of discussion. I cannot see a point where my knowledge is such that I don't need advice or feedback, there is always something else to learn, something to get better at, or something you may have missed and it is through the mechanism of sharing and discussion that this happens. It's also nice to have a topic of conversation to revolve the discussion around as it is enjoyable to converse (even via the forum format) with like minded people I don't encounter in my day to day life.

[stepping beyond]

It's all about learning how to improve my images and techniques  that'll get me there. In a "NUTSHELL'.

[ryandsimmons]

Threefold for me:

1) I am proud when I get something even half decent and my ego requires I show it off.  (Even if it is the equivalent of a child's drawing being put on the wall next to the Rembrants some of the guys here produce.  None of my friends really care, so the obvious place to show off is with other enthusiasts.

2) It provides a timeline of my improvement that is easily accessible to me and anyone interested in my photo's.  (ie my wife)  My Flickr stream / folders on my PC have hundreds of images most of which are junk, so stuff here is kind of a highlights reel for me.

3) And most importantly it is the feedback I get from the people here.  As well as the sought after feedback (how is my focus) people often offer unwanted, but extremely useful answers to questions you never asked.  "That happened because of mirror flip / ISO settings / worm drive" or other such stuff that is arcane to me.  If people only answered my questions, as opposed to giving constructive criticism I would never have really garnered the knowledge of stuff like guassian blur in photoshop that are essential tools.

[frostynixon]

Hello,

the main reason for me is to get feedback on how to improve my AP. Also i think that sharing helps others to judge equipment or to develop healthy expectations. I think it is very interesting to see what people of all skill levels do with their gear.

greetings

[7170]

Sharing images can help and inspire others....simples!

Agreed, seeing images posted can definitely inspire - especially when there are details about what equipment/techniques were used. It can give you an idea of what your set-up could be capable of too.

[mondeoman]

As a relative noobie to astronomy i love seeing what is achievable.im saving my pennies to get a camera to try it for myself (although no where near as good as most on here for quite some time im sure)Anyway it sure beats some of the drivvle thats posted on other social network sites by a mile.....