First Moon image attempts

[Retrodan16]

hi all,

This is my first real try at getting a photo of the moon, and although not brilliant by any means, I'm personally really proud of myself after not really knowing what I was doing and relying on a lot of trial and error (I took over 100 snaps last night and only found about 3 or 4 that were half usable!)

Despite all the messing around in the cold trying to get something on the small screen of the camera, I really enjoyed it last night.

The family was impressed anyway, and I'm hoping to try again when there are some shadows on the moon etc for some better snaps. Once I'd uploaded them, I messed about with the levels and curves a little until I saw something I liked, without really knowing what I was doing (half the fun!).

The biggest thrill for me was that I did it all myself and have had great pleasure looking at them since, and now I hope to improve on this as I get more used to all the different ways of getting a picture. I'm sure there are a million faults with the results, but for a first attempt I'm ecstatic at what I've got! I was most excited about how much detail showed up despite being such a bright moon, I don't have any filters or such as yet.

[sheri_barri]

You are on the right track!! Nice work persevering in the cold!! Tough to focus on a digital camera screen!

Assuming you are using Photoshop, try using the Unsharp Mask filter on the image to tighten the resolved edges of the craters. I took liberty of trying your first image with a radius of 2.0 and 100% to illustrate the enhancement. Hope you find this of interest.

Cheers,

Sheri

[Retrodan16]

Hi Sheri,

Thanks for the advice and for having a tinker with the picture, I can see the unsharp mask has brought out even more detail, I've saved this picture to add to my folder of first attempts if that's ok. I am using Photoshop so I will have a play with this filter.

I've popped out tonight, but I don't think I'll get anything very good as the atmospherics were really making it hard to focus and there was a lot of rippling in the air, but it gives me a chance to get used to camera settings.

I'm glad I'm on the right track, and hopefully can improve in time.

[Retrodan16]

Well, I didn't get too many pictures, as I expected, and eventually the clouds won! I thought this made an interesting picture, I've tried to sharpen it up some to improve it. I like the colours that have come out, it's a shame I couldn't focus better

Still happy with the result on a personal level anyway!

[sheri_barri]

Every attempt is a learning experience! The colouration does give a nice feeling of depth to the craters. Well done for braving the elements! Look forward to your next update!

~Sheri

[sheri_barri]

One more trick worth trying it to create a Hartmann Mask and use that for focussing. Even in the view finder of a DSLR I have found it to make focussing a far more pleasant experience! A good site to print out a template and make your own can be found at Hartmann mask template generator - Billyard Ink

Cheers,

Sheri

[RobH]

Yep, a Hartmann mask will really help and is dead easy to use.

Just focus on a bright star first, then swing over to the moon.

Cheers

Rob

[Retrodan16]

Thankyou, I'd never heard of a Hartmann mask, I will definitely try that. I'd also like to get a better eyepiece as I can't fit all of the moon in in one go at the moment using a 25mm. I also realised that the photos I'd been taking were 6mp jpegs, and my camera has a RAW facility which I haven't tried yet. The camera also has an AVI mode although I'm not sure what I'd do with an AVI afterwards, or if it would pick much out.

I think I'll concentrate on getting things in focus first, and some better results the way I'm working now, get the hang of that some more and then try some other methods. I'm amazed at what detail the photographs can pick up, already far more than I thought I'd be capable of!