Moon PP Help...

[AxPhoto]

I'd love to hear/see what you guys think or can do with this shot. I'm trying to improve my processing skills. Do you guys do most of your work while the files in RAW or once you convert it to JPEG/TIFF?

Also, I've seen a few shots where the moons "true colors" are brought out with post processing. Is this possible with a shot like this? I like the look of those moons as well and would like to learn how to do that. Thanks.

These are 800x800 pixel crops. No resizing done. Shot @ 300mm, ISO 100, f/8, 1/90"

Original
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk27/axphotodesign/POTN/11-29Original.jpg

#1
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk27/axphotodesign/POTN/11-29Final.jpg

#2 - A different shot than above. Same aperture, f/8 but reduced the shutter speed to 1/180.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk27/axphotodesign/POTN/11-29Final2.jpg

[Bernoulli]

Well, you know I can't pass this up!

The original is a little too high-key. I like to expose on the high side but this one may be a bit too much. While there are very few blown-out pixels, the dynamic range is a little bit compressed because the image is almost overexposed. Still, you can work with it. You didn't give us the original for the shorter exposure so I'll do with this one.

The colors are there and did pop out with just levels, curves and sharpening. No saturation or color levels adjustment.

One hint for sharpening that I think would help lots of fellow Moon imagers: don't oversharpen and, if you do, fix those little dots. Set the radius very small, less than 1 pixel for an image under 1000 x 1000, and turn up the sharpening till the little dots just appear. Then, use the "dust and scratches" filter to help get rid of them.

I always shoot RAW in my Canon 50, dump from the camera into Aperture, and do all the levels and color adjustment there due to the higher dynamic range available in RAW. Then, convert to 8 bit TIFF and store to hard disk. Then PS for sharpening and final adjustments.

[AxPhoto]

Thanks Rick! I was thinking that one was a little overexposed. I've got some better originals that I'll post later and maybe have you take a crack at. How does the focusing look? It's so tough to get it just right.

The colored pictures I'm talking about are the ones that actually have color on the moon. They are red, blue, etc.... I'm sure it is enhanced and saturated but I can't seem to get any color on the moon when I mess with the color saturations.

[AxPhoto]

In fact, I just had my partner ask me if you could see the Sea of Tranquility on this shot and I looked it up and I'm pretty sure you can. Is the Dark area straight to the right and down just a little of Tycho (I'm guessing) the sea of tranquility?

[mtbdudex]

Rick;Thx for the PP tips, and thx AxPhoto for asking the Q.

I took Ricks tip, here is un-PP photo (besides the exposure increase upon RAW import)
These are my 55-250 kit lens @ 250.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_FqTNmgNQHz8/SxR_JNZskLI/AAAAAAAAIWA/1Cz4FHFyZUQ/_MG_2647-orig.jpg

My original PP
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_FqTNmgNQHz8/SxSAYdU6_WI/AAAAAAAAIWE/4mlG12CQh8s/_MG_2647_2.jpg

Ricks PP method helped with more detail and clarity
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_FqTNmgNQHz8/SxR-Xr66ZCI/AAAAAAAAIV8/YD4TldHux1E/_MG_2647.jpg

Now I've got a lot of older moon shots (8 weeks worth) to re-PP.
Sounds like a Sat morning w/coffee project...
(I gotta get these moon shots under my belt to move onto other celestial objects, baby steps before leaps and bounds)

Now, in SE Michigan if the cloud break I'm going to shot some more of the moon.

[cinder3d]

Great pp tips! I also was woundering about this with the moon and the color. Once in a while you se the most beautyfull pictures of the moon in color. Mine come out b/w tho! :) anyone got a tip about this, color fake in pp?

[Bernoulli]

Here are four versions of the same exposure:

upper-left: straight from the camera
upper-right: levels adjusted, grayscale, sharpened
lower-left: levels adjusted, color enhanced
lower-right: levels adjusted, color enhanced and sharpened

Done right, your initial shot should be high-key and look a bit washed-out. I have dozens of old unprocessed originals I play with on rainy days. There's always something new in PP.

Colors come out by upping the saturation, but go slow. It's best to saturate in small steps instead of one big push. The enhanced colors don't agree with everyone so expect some pushback. They're real, but just hard to see visually. Once you see them through the scope, you'll never not see them again.

AxPhoto - yes, go right and little down in your shot and there's the Sea of Tranquility.

By the way, one of the best full moons is tonight. At midnight, it'll be about as high in the sky as it gets.

[AxPhoto]

By the way, one of the best full moons is tonight. At midnight, it'll be about as high in the sky as it gets.


I'm hoping to get out and get some shots. I think we have some high level clouds moving in though. I bet you've got them down in Arkansas too. I took some about an hour ago with some fairly decent skies and am trying to process them. Full moons seem to be a little tougher than crescents/quarters.