Theophilus and Cyrillus area

[qcdougn]

Here's one of the images I managed to get before the moon went behind a big pine tree. This is a stack of approx. 550 frames through my CPC-1100 and a DMK-31 USB mono camera.

Cheers,

Doug

[michaelmorris]

That's a lovely picture - loads of detail in there. Thanks for sharing.

[Trevor N]

Excellent shot. Very clear, Trevor

[Dave]

Stunning!

[Dangerous-Dave]

Great shot, very sharp. The aperture certainly tells with these lunar shots.

[neil phillips]

I like the way the tiny craterlets have come out Doug. But be careful. detail is only part of a great lunar image, I guess everyone has there own idea about balance. Go easy on the wavelets. Ed roach once said to me ( ive never forgot since ) less is more.

If a lunar image loos like your looking out of a window on a spacecraft aproacing the moon, that will be the correct balance, any deviation from that ideal, is computer talk. I often do lots of processing then go back a few stages ( where less sharpening is done ) and realize it looks better. And for the reasons i just described. You did say when we chatted that advice would be appreciated. This is the single most important advice i could give.

Your capture looks good here Doug, Try a re process and use much less sharpening, what you lose in detail, you will more than make up for in realism. Everyone is different you may not agree, But i think you will like the results, Infact maybe you could start each session with a lightly sharpened shot, then one heavily sharpened, and see which you and others prefer.Thats a great way to learn too. Hope im helping and not just complainig, Helping is my intention

[qcdougn]

Hi to all,

Thanks for the kind remarks...

Neil, you have given excellent and practical advice. I too will remember what you and Ed R. have stated....Sometimes everyone can let the hand get heavy on the mouse..trying to squeeze out just a little more detail...Ha..

Please continue to give your honest suggestions and tips...

Cheers,

Doug

[neil phillips]

No worries Doug, It worries me sometimes when i try to help, because the very idea of helping often means doing something a different way, which often can come across as being negative, More than that sometimes it puts people off even trying further which scares me the most.

But those that really love astronomy and imaging, Hopefully want to go further, And yes your right i often struggle with balance a lot, its something i get obsessive about, and often became uncertain, Often waking up in the morning and looking at last nights processing, and thinking that's a little too much or whatever.

Great processing to me is like art, it requires judgments to be made, and often our judgments are off. But the first lesson is realizing that to be so.There after, better things can happen.

Ive seen many different approaches on the wavelets on registax some like to use the top slider as it produces the finest details, but also the most noise, because of this others like to use sliders 2 and 3 less noisy. I keep changing my mind ( judgments again ) but pushing sliders a little too much will highlight the white areas a little too much, When i first started thinking about Eds advice everything i did was probably a little too soft ( one extreme to the other ) Because the processing was being thought about from the point of view of less is more. But over time i realized , you can get that neutral appearance, but also make the image sharper too, its a fine line that has to be learned. We all start somewhere, And in the end we become better at it.

If you have any specific questions Doug plz pm me.My knowledge is limeted, but if i can help ill try. Im often torn between trying to help, and just keeping my mouth shut for fear, I was worried about trying to help, I have vowed in the past never to utter another word. But i was hoping you respected me enough to know my advice is not pointless advice, or complaining but the goal of greater things for everyone. Not just a select few