Do you keep all your old astro images?

[geppetto]

Strange thing this imaging lark.

Decided to do a web site about my ups and downs in astronomy and have been

sorting through my images to put the best ones online.

I started in late 2003 and have been chuckling at some of the dodgy but hard earned

pictures I clawed onto the camera during my first few months.

Now here's the strange thing, during 2004, my images were showing a gradual improvement

and there were plenty of keepers.

My 2005 images were very satisfying to say the least but sadly up to now in 2006 I seem to be slipping

backwards.

I know more what I'm doing now and the gear is the same or better but I haven`t come close to whats

gone before.

Sort of knocked me back a bit and will have to do a bit of head scratching to sort out why.

For instance, I came across this mosaic of moon terminator shots I took in March 2005 using my Toucam

and my 130mm F5 reflector on the EQ5 mount.

This is greatly reduced in size to fit here but its the best moon picture I've ever taken both before and since.

Do you guys get this or is it me loosing my touch... must try harder :whip2:

[FLO]

That really is excellent Phil

And taken on affordable kit too 8)

[Kain]

Phil that is jaw droppingly good.

As for pictures, I dont have many, but I only keep the good ones, the rest are chucked.

Kain

[geppetto]

Thanks, I love that mosaic but I just can't seem to repeat it :?

[Jamie]

Its kind of like golfing mate if you don't constantly do it you loose your touch a bit.

On the other hand you might just have had your best imaging night (conditions wise)

and never realised it at the time.

[The Warthog]

That's a wonderful picture, Geppetto. I don't take many astrophotos, but with photographs generally, I only show the good ones, and I don't tend to keep anything long.

[geppetto]

On the other hand you might just have had your best imaging night (conditions wise)

and never realised it at the time.

Sort of thinking along those lines Jamie.

Cant say from memory having seen any really "WOW" skies at all since winter 2005

Plus, everything has seemed to be low this year the moon and Jupiter whenever I've

had chance to get the gear out.

So it might not be my fault after all

[geppetto]

Thanks WH

Just got rid of a few hundred that I should never have kept

Note to self: the next image I take is going to be the best ever 8)

[OXO]

Lovely image Phil, the thing i have found is it's all down to the weather i mean if you get a good run of clear nights you can improve your images tenfold but if you get an hour or so then none at all for a few weeks or so it's easy to forget what you got right last time.. imho

James

[mightymonoped]

"Seeing is king" as they say.

You can make sure you don't repeat the same mistakes and ensure that you follow best practice, but you can't control the atmosphere so don't beat yourself up

[Caz]

Bl@@dy Nora Phil, thats one hell of an image.... :shock: 8) Its crisper than crisp, detail is incredible, spot on! 8)

Out of the innumerable moon images I've took, I've only kept 5, but my first pic had to be my best, I haven't bettered it, and I haven't come anywhere near to it since. Beginners Luck? Who knows....

Caz

[MartinB]

Fantastic mosaic Philip, can't see the joins and wonderfully sharp. Agree with everything that has been said. I got lucky a couple of nights with Saturn earlier this year and other occsions it wasn't worth the effort. Spent many fruitless hours on Jupiter. Our problem is we get so little opportunity that we tend to waste lots of time trying to get images when conditions are carp. Leads to a lot of frustration.

Last night I spent 2 hours on the Heart Nebula. How stupid was that. Even with narrow band filters I was never going to get a decent image with the moon up.

I have thrown a lot of Jupiter Saturn and lunar stuff away but no DSO subs. Some are of sentimental value, others I might use again to combine with newer stuff and others have been laid down to come back to if my processing skills ever improve.

[CELESCOPE]

that is an excellent pic Phil ,yes its a funny ole game is this , but yup the weather plays such a large part as we know , i dont even try now , its not right, no point in getting a bad image and trying to make it good , so first off pick the right time to image , second it is practice , and remembering , take notes if you need to , i nearly always stick to the same procedure , a bit boring , but if i do make a change its so gradual, thats so my brain can remenber it lol,also try and stretch yourself to harder targets, this helps a lot , thats the way i went , saw what others were acheiving, and thought ,Hey i can do that ,and in time i have matched very good imagers, so keep at it Phil, good luck,

Rog

[geppetto]

Thanks Caz

my first pic had to be my best, I haven't bettered it

Well at least I now know there's two of us going downhill

Blimey, I'm really getting buried under all these images I'm trying to sort out

got to get ruthless else I'll be here all night :insects1:

[OXO]

Blimey, I'm really getting buried under all these images I'm trying to sort out

got to get ruthless else I'll be here all night

Tell me about it i had to sort my images out the other day(over 5000 of them)

[geppetto]

Martim

Looking through loads of my Jupiter shots, I have to admit that your right about

"panic imaging".

After a few weeks of duff sky you feel almost obliged to get out there even if there really

is no point.

So, into the wastebin go lots of jupiters that I shouldn't have tried to get at the time and

more sadly, shouldn't have save on my hard drive.

Saturn folder next.. I may be some time

[daz]

I've just cleared mine out with a very critical eye! Only very few have made it off my hard drive to the outside world, now they never will!!!

One thing that I am very bad at is recording what I do, so I have no correlation between a picture and the steps taken to achieve it. I really must do better than this, otherwise I shall look back in 10 years and say "So, just what did I do, then.....?"

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

also try and stretch yourself to harder targets, this helps a lot , thats the way I went , saw what others were acheiving, and thought ,Hey I can do that ,and in time I have matched very good imagers, so keep at it Phil, good luck,

Rog

Watch your back Rog., thats my plan too. Problem is, I can't yet, but you keep me trying and thanks for all the tips.

Captain Chaos

[SteelRat]

That's a lovely mos' Gep! I've only got my mobile phone for imaging - only so many things I can image with it and... only so much room on the d#mned thing... AND with the limited ops due to weather.... only have a few shots to choose from. Sigh.

[geppetto]

Right, got most of it sorted.

Glad I did actually cause some important ones weren't backed up on CD.

Well, important in that I might not be around to get them again

such as my transit of Venus pictures and various comet chases I did.

Just got to get back up to speed with the techniques and then I can

show Rog how its done

[LITTLE COL]

nice detail phill

crater/crater/crater and loads more craters

:shock: