Full Moon from November 2007!

[michaelmorris]

I've taken the opportunity afforded by the recent string of cloudy nights to go back through my old observing logs and make sure that any missing pictures are printed off and stuck in. During this exercise I realised that there is a 9 AVI mosaic of the full moon form 2007 I had never processed! So here it is.

[Doc]

Mega sharp.

A keeper for sure.

[jgs001]

Ouch... That's sharp. Cracking image, especially for the full moon.

[michaelmorris]

Too sharp? (Please be honest.)

[jgs001]

Sorry, that wasn't what I meant. I don't think it's too sharp, it's a cracking image. I'd just love to know how you get it that clear with the webcam. I just can't get close and in fact I get better results with single shots from my SLR fitted to the scope with a cheapy ebay teleconverter.

[michaelmorris]

Sorry, that wasn't what I meant. I don't think it's too sharp, it's a cracking image. I'd just love to know how you get it that clear with the webcam. I just can't get close and in fact I get better results with single shots from my SLR fitted to the scope with a cheapy ebay teleconverter.

No offence taken. When processing the image I had several goes at it to try and get the right balance of a natural look and sharpness. I am conscious of the fact that it may be a bit too sharp.

Remember it's a mosaic of 9 images, so resolution is about 9 times as high. Each image is a stack of around 400-500 frames out a 2000 frame capture. Processing closely followed that advocated by Tony Gondola. http://www.digital-flight.com/thebigeye/essays.htm

[jgs001]

I like how it's come out, and tend to sharpen mine up to the point where I'm getting good definition. Thanks very much for the link Michael, I'll bookmark and have a good read.

[Taff]

Very nice Michael' clear with you.Mark

[beamish]

I have to say thanks for the link Michael, just had a read re Multi-High Pass filtering -ASTOUNDING !!!

Nice full Moon too, I don't think it's too sharp BTW

Karlo

[michaelmorris]

I have to say thanks for the link Michael, just had a read re Multi-High Pass filtering -ASTOUNDING !!!

Karlo

Karlo, thanks for the comments. I have tried the High Pass Filtering with some success, although ultimately I have found the Focus Magic software plug-in more useful. Still it's a useful technique. However, I did get a problem with 'contour' like artefacts appearing on one image I used this technique on.

[Ben Ritchie]

Really nice full moon Michael, one of the best i've seen - you've done a great job in making it atmospheric and interesting, my attempts when the moon is full tend to end up flat and washed out. The different tones of the mare are excellent.

I do think it's just a touch oversharpened, if you look at Proculus for example it's got a bit of a dark ring around it which I assume is the sharpening coming through. There's another slight 'bullseye' crater nearby too. That's a very minor criticism though.

[michaelmorris]

Ben

Thanks for the comments. You're right, it is a touch oversharpened.

I'm still getting to grips with Photoshop. I'm wondering whether I might be able to put a layer mask over the very bright areas so that I could use different levels of sharpening on different parts of the image Would this be possible?

Heaven knows when I'll get a chance to learn how to use layer masks though!

[michaelmorris]

Ben

... I'm wondering whether I might be able to put a layer mask over the very bright areas so that I could use different levels of sharpening on different parts of the image Would this be possible?

Well, I've stubbled across a technique called variable brightness masking here - http://www.waid-observatory.com/articles.html

I've given it a quick try on the full Moon image and it definitely shows some promise. However, the masking doesn't seem to work on the Focusmagic plug-in so the jury is still on on this technique.