Moon, Venus & Mercury in North Cornwall 12-11-20

[AstroNebulee]

There was a brief clear spell on Thursday 12th November in the early hours around 6am where the moon, Venus and Mercury were in close proximity to each other.  So I got my Cannon 450d dslr out t, quickly to take a few images to process.  I took one with a high iso longer shutter speed to bring out Mercury more and then one with a low iso shorter shutter speed so the moon and Venus weren't so overexposed and sharper and merged both together in PS.  The zoomed out image was my 18-55mm kit lens at 36mm and 4.5 f/stop and the other is my 50mm prime lens at 1.8 f/stop.  It is my first time trying to merge to images together with different settings, not sure if this is how you are meant to process images of the moon without over exposing whilst also keeping a sharp image of the other elements sharp and clear.  Clear skies

[Scooot]

They came out well.  

What tool did you use in PS to merge them?

[AstroNebulee]

46 minutes ago, Scooot said:

They came out well.  

What tool did you use in PS to merge them?

Thank you, I'm pleased with them and never seen Mercury before let alone with the naked eye. I opened the sharp crescent moon image which the sky was black and opened the higher iso image with Mercury showing, then on that one I used the clone tool to rub out the over exposed moon. Adding a few adjustment layers on both images to alter brightness, contrast, colour, levels and curves. Then on the sharp crescent moon I clicked select then all, then copy. I opened the high iso image with Mercury and pasted the crescent moon one on the top of the list in the layers window, then near the top of the layers window (where it says normal) I clicked that and chose the screen option and both images merged to form these ones. I hope this makes sense. Clear skies 📷🌌🔭

Edited November 13, 2020 by LeeHore7

[Nicola Hannah Butterfield]

Wonderful image, if all these images are is, you could possibly do this shoot in the raw format, though you might have done this,

[AstroNebulee]

9 minutes ago, Nicola Hannah Butterfield said:

Wonderful image, if all these images are is, you could possibly do this shoot in the raw format, though you might have done this,

Thank you Nicola, yes I shot these in raw format, I only ever shoot in raw now, clear skies 📷🌌🔭

Edited November 13, 2020 by LeeHore7

[Scooot]

21 minutes ago, LeeHore7 said:

Thank you, I'm pleased with them and never seen Mercury before let alone with the naked eye. I opened the sharp crescent moon image which the sky was black and opened the higher iso image with Mercury showing, then on that one I used the clone tool to rub out the over exposed moon. Adding a few adjustment layers on both images to alter brightness, contrast, colour, levels and curves. Then on the sharp crescent moon I clicked select then all, then copy. I opened the high iso image with Mercury and pasted the crescent moon one on the top of the list in the layers window, then near the top of the layers window (where it says normal) I clicked that and chose the screen option and both images merged to form these ones. I hope this makes sense. Clear skies 📷🌌🔭

Yes perfect sense thanks, I wondered as I’ve tended to use the gradient tool for something similar.

Edited November 13, 2020 by Scooot

[AstroNebulee]

Phew, thank you, I've never been good at explaining workflows. I've never used the gradient tool before, I may give that a go on these to see how it differs. I saw the technique I used on a YouTube video by nebula photos I think, where he used it on the Andromeda galaxy. I'm still very new to astrophotography and usually take nebula, star clusters, galaxy and milky way shots, so this is new to me still, clear skies 

[AstroNebulee]

I think to get a much sharper crescent moon is to have my f/stop a little bigger, I seem to be reading, as mine although sharp outlines they aren't detailed enough, but could be wrong 

[Nik271]

Great photos! Mercury is a hard planet to see at the best of times, photographing it is even harder. Well done!   

[AstroNebulee]

2 hours ago, Nik271 said:

Great photos! Mercury is a hard planet to see at the best of times, photographing it is even harder. Well done!   

Thank you, I didn't realise it was so hard to photograph, I must of just been lucky that morning, like I say, I've never seen Mercury before that morning, it was just a quick few images to process later and a quick look at stellarium to check what was in the sky then. I have taken some images the next morning with the moon in between the pair, just got to check but a brief glance shows clouds very near Mercury so not holding out any hopes. That would make a lovely photo. Clear skies 📷🌌🔭