Which Way Is Up?

[gnomus]

It's been a few days since my last stupid question so .....

When finishing/presenting an image, should I be thinking about which way up it should be, and whether or not it needs to be "flipped"?

For, lunar shots (to take an example), should I be changing the orientation of the image to match the way it appears to the naked eye? Alternatively, should I orientate it so that it would match what I would see through a telescope (with diagonal fitted)? Or, should I just leave it as seen by the camera?

Are there "conventions" as regards these things? Should I follow the same convention for lunar, planetary and DSOs?

Apologies for troubling you, and thanks for your continuing patience.

[ollypenrice]

I think flips are a bit odd since they don't look that way ever, to anybody.

Rotations are another matter, though. There is no 'right way up' in space but convention suggests that you post north up (from the northern hemisphere) or place  a north arrow on the image if it isn't that. These days images posted for aesthetic purposes can be presented in a way that looks best. Sometimes a change in orientation makes an image look very different. Some say that having the image weighted to take the eye somewhat towards the upper right is most pleasing, 'balanced' around golden section. I like M42 'north up' in portrait because it seems more rhythmic that way, but it is usually seen north to the left in landscape.

Olly

[Blazar]

I usually flip when doing Lunar through the Edge 800 (IE I use software to flip  so I am looking at the surface, as I would be when just looking up at the moon itself). Saying that however I do find certain images of the surface do have different looks when orientated in certain ways. If you look at the one of Theophilus I did recently, I always seem to think showing it rotated anticlockwise in landscape with north to the left that my eye seems to pick out more detail....don't know why... I think whatever you do will be right though, as long at it is beautiful to your eye then all is good ;-)

[groberts]

Not such a stupid question as I see photos orientated all over the place.  

You might look at a map from different perspectives to assist your understanding of the information but would always present it with north upwards. You might look at the Mona Lisa from different angles but would only hang it in a natural way i.e. upwards.  Why should astroimages be any different? They are a mix of information (the map) and beauty (the Mona Lisa) and, in my opinion should be presented in a natural way, which I would define as the way we would see them from Earth, in the case of the Northern Hemisphere with north upwards.