How could this image be improved?

[Muz]

Hello,

I have here an image of the Moon, which I took a number of days ago. I've just spend about fifteen minutes fiddling around with Canon Digital Photo Professional until I was reasonably happy with how the image looked, but I don't really know what I am doing, so advice on that would be appreciated.

Camera: Canon EOS 600D

Exposure time: 1/400 second

ISO speed: ISO-100

White balance: Auto

File type: RAW, exported as JPEG after processing

Connected via prime focus to

Telescope: Skywatcher Explorer 200P

Aperture: 200mm

Focal length: 1000mm

F-number: F5

(I have been careful to mention basically all information possibly necessary as I have forgotten to do so on previous occasions)

A previous image of mine was overexposed on the side which faces the sun, so I took a comparatively dim image to retain detail, then increased the brightness slightly on DPP. I also have heard from somebody that there is a way to set my camera to inform me when I am overexposing an image. I looked for such a thing in the settings, but I couldn't find it - does anybody know how I can access that?

General advice and advice about how to process photos on Digital Photo Professional would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Muz]

I forgot to mention in my original post that the full image can be viewed here:http://postimg.org/image/go7a5n2j5/full/

[jambouk]

It's nice. Nothing to add other than rotate it so it looks more natural.

Good work.

James

[davefrance]

That's a nice image for a single frame. Some would prefer the image to be sharpened more but I prefer it the way it is. You could improve detail by taking multiple images (30 perhaps) and stacking with Registax or AS2. 

[Muz]

That's a nice image for a single frame. Some would prefer the image to be sharpened more but I prefer it the way it is. You could improve detail by taking multiple images (30 perhaps) and stacking with Registax or AS2. 

I took about 20 or so RAW images, but I don't think Registax works with such file types. Would I need to go through the same process of editing the image in DPP for each image, then exporting it as a JPEG and stacking them, or is there a quicker way? I also have a string of JPEG images on a slightly higher exposure, so I'll try what you suggest with that lot right away. Thanks!

[Muz]

It's nice. Nothing to add other than rotate it so it looks more natural.

Good work.

James

I'll do that, thanks.

[davefrance]

I use DPP to centre the image and create a video, then use AS2 to stack. Used to use Registax but it didn't work all the time. 

[wxsatuser]

Hello,

A previous image of mine was overexposed on the side which faces the sun, so I took a comparatively dim image to retain detail, then increased the brightness slightly on DPP. I also have heard from somebody that there is a way to set my camera to inform me when I am overexposing an image. I looked for such a thing in the settings, but I couldn't find it - does anybody know how I can access that?

General advice and advice about how to process photos on Digital Photo Professional would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

May be they were refering to ' blinkies '.

When you review an image on the camera screen any blown highlights will flash on and off.

Press the playback to review an image and cycle through by pressing the INFO button.

The blinkies appear when the INFO contains the histograms.

You can of course guess this from the histogram.

If any of the white histogram is hard up to the righthandside, and has a significant peak, thats a sign you have blown highlights.

The histogram in theory should start at the bottom left fill most of it's range and finish near the bottom right.

BTW your image is not so bad, a bit bright on the sunside may be.

[Steve Ward]

Convert the RAW files into TIFFs with DPP before feeding to Reg for stacking , Reg 5.1 does take Raw files but doesn't particularly like them.

At the top of the DPP page press "Select all" then "Batch process" 

In the box that appears browse and make a new folder for the TIFFs , select 16-bit TIFF as the output format , then press Execute .

, job done.

[PeterCPC]

Even easier to take an AVI by using Backyard EOS then stacking in AS!2 and finishing in Registax. 

Peter

[Steve Ward]

Better to select by eye the best frames shot , ( software very variable when it comes to judging 'quality' ) , feed frames to PIPP for centering and cropping and output as AVI , then feed the AVI to AS!2 for stacking.

You will have to tweak the settings in AS!2 Config. file to adjust the max frame size from 2000 x 2000 to accommodate the DSLR frame size .

Select the Config file ....

Scroll down to the Max width/height lines , delete the original numerals and type in a figure to suit .

[Muz]

Great advice all, thanks a lot!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'd leave it as it is. Its a nice photo.