Colour Lunar Images?

[RayD]

I'm about to have the opportunity to image our moon under clear skies.  It's there, it's bright, and while it is there I actually quite like to spend some time enjoying it.  My question is if there is any benefit from imaging in colour?  Obviously I've seen people post images here with some colour, but is this "applied" in processing, or is there any notable amount of "real" colour?  Would I not benefit better with higher resolution from mono imaging, rather than colour?  

My understanding was that lunar images contain very little colour, so not really worth actually shooting using a colour camera?

I'd welcome your thoughts and opinions.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

The Moon is very grey, there is colouration but it is subtle. It is possible to exaggerate them and carry out a little lunar prospecting:

For example, the dark blue areas are rich in titanium ores. 

[CraigT82]

Shooting in colour (with a colour camera) can lead to some nice atmospheric images.  This is a colour image I shot the other day... shot with a qhy5L-ii camera and left it as it was shot by the camera, no saturation or anything.

There is an associated loss of resolution using a colour camera due to the bayer filter, the ideal would be mono cam with RGB filters but that is time consuming obviously. 

[GuLinux]

I don't know... lunar images where colour is emphasized look a bit non-natural, "artificial", to me..

It's only an aestethical judgment though, of course, and very subjective.

[symesie04]

I think its a matter of personal taste. I certainly have seen some images that make use of bi or even tricolour to highlight various mineral rich areas of the surface and it is highly effective. Generally most prefer the mono style images you would normally see as it doesnt distract from the details the Moon presents. 

I wouldnt of thought RGB imaging of the Moon would require to much time as its such a bright object.

[Sargs]

Hi RayD,

It depends partly on what you're after with your pictures. For example, if you're shooting lunar eclipse pics, a  colour camera is practically a must (preferably with a large sensor to get the whole disc in a single frame). The best pic I've ever taken of the moon was using a 16-megapixel colour camera, with a slight saturation boost to bring out the differences in surface colouration. 

It also depends on your cameras; it'd be nice to have a camera for every subject or better still, just one camera that could do it all! For most of us that's not an option, so just take pics with whatever's to hand- it's better than no pics! 

That said, I've got a couple of cameras- For pictures where colour is not a specific requirement, I'd be driven to choose the camera that has the right size and resolution of sensor for what I want to photograph. If I want whole-disc shots of the moon that aren't going to be enlarged much, I might want to use a large-frame sensor like a colour DSLR. If I want shots of individual surface features, I might use a relatively small-sensor mono camera I normally use for guiding, fit it with a 1.25" nosepiece and stick it in a barlow to get the magnification to where I want it. The high frame rate of the camera is handy for improving detail through lucky imaging and stacking and if I'm feeling ambitious, I can always mosaic my way to a bigger picture.

One thing: I've never been afraid to use a colour camera on the moon and *throw the colour away* if it improved the image. Converting to mono is a very quick way of getting rid of any annoying colour casts.

[RayD]

Thanks guys, some interesting points.

I think for me it is about the quality of the image rather than the actual colour, as I think I am one that sees our moon as mono, albeit some great images here prove otherwise.

I have a few different cameras and will be taking my mono Atik, so may well just take along the ZWO colour to do a quick run and see what comes out.  I don't think I'd take the time to do RGB as the time expended I wouldn't have thought would be reflected in the image?

Noted with the bayer matrix, and I think I am more interested in getting really sharp mono than a touch of colour, so I guess in a way I'm answering my own original question, in that there probably isn't really any real gain or benefit in imaging in colour, given that the actual colour there is so subtle.

[Alien 13]

I prefer to shoot in colour how else would you capture a blood moon or a daylight moon surrounded by blue sky, the colour is sometimes subtle as said but it can be vibrant at times.

Alan

[RayD]

29 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

I prefer to shoot in colour how else would you capture a blood moon or a daylight moon surrounded by blue sky, the colour is sometimes subtle as said but it can be vibrant at times.

Alan

True.  I hadn't given that a thought really as I've never imaged a daylight moon, so always assume a black sky.

I like that first image, subtle colours yes, but definitely colourful.

[Pete Presland]

I have seen some nice colour images of the moon, when done subtly.

I remember an APOD from quite a few years ago that exaggerated the different colours to show the chemical make of the surface.

[johnfosteruk]

Definitely worth doing if done well Ray, it shows off the different materials in different regions nicely, when done well. (i.e. not by me)

[RayD]

Cheers guys, colour it is.  Now, colour camera or mono with RGB.........yep colour camera it is.  Hello little used ZWO colour camera, you are going to work 

[LukeSkywatcher]

2 hours ago, Alien 13 said:

I prefer to shoot in colour how else would you capture a blood moon or a daylight moon surrounded by blue sky, the colour is sometimes subtle as said but it can be vibrant at times.

Alan

I really like how the Moon looks here in the top image. To me, it is the most natural looking of Lunar images. I also do like the images where there is a bit of colour here and there showing up different "mineral deposits".

[Alien 13]

29 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

I really like how the Moon looks here in the top image. To me, it is the most natural looking of Lunar images. I also do like the images where there is a bit of colour here and there showing up different "mineral deposits".

Thanks Paul, for info the top one was taken with a 90 mm Mak single shot with a DSLR the second one is with a camera lens.

Alan

[Knight of Clear Skies]

3 hours ago, Alien 13 said:

I prefer to shoot in colour how else would you capture a blood moon or a daylight moon surrounded by blue sky, the colour is sometimes subtle as said but it can be vibrant at times.

Like the subtle colours in the first image.