Shooting the moon

[sidx001]

I just took this shot and I was surprised at how well it turned out! This picture is a 100% crop. C&C are welcome...

Attachment 263411

[viktor061]

at least i'm not the only one outside tonight.

i am using a XTi with a 75-300 is with a 2x tel. is is on cause it's so windy.
5.6 at 1/50 gives a great photo. now i need to learn how to resize and post.

[sidx001]

I need to mention also that this is the first moon shot with my new EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS.

[viktor061]

ok, lets try this, it's my first picture post.

canon XTi , canon 75-300 IS, 2x tele (digital concepts) 600mm+ crop factor makes this a 960mm lens.
old Kmart focus tripod, all alumiumn, (thanks Dad)
shot in raw, 5.6 @ 1/50 sec, looks a lot better when fully blown up.
only thing is i don't like how the pole is in good focus, but the equator is out of focus, slightly.

[Walczak Photo]

These are pretty decent for a first attempt, but if I may make a suggestion...

Since you're not actually using a telescope, you might want to try shooting several shots in a row and then "stack" them with a program such as "Astro Stack" or something similar (Astro Stack is still a freebie last time I looked). You can get some really nice stuff by stacking the images.

This wasn't actually taken this evening, but here's my contribution to this topic...





This one was taken through a telescope...my 5" Orion Mak. It was actually shot with my old Sony H1 hand-held thru the telescope's eye piece (40mm Owl Optics) and it's a stack of 4 images. Incidentally, this particular shot was rotated/reoriented for artist reasons so for you experienced moon gazers out there, if it looks a little out of sorts...it's not your imagination . I have a framed copy of this shot hanging in my upstairs hallway.

If your interested in astrophotography, you can do a lot with image stacking and it's very well worth checking out.

Peace,
Jim

[sidx001]

Sweet! I'll be looking up stacking software tomorrow! Thanks Jim! btw, Viktor...nice shot!

[JuZ]

Originally Posted by Walczak Photo

Since you're not actually using a telescope, you might want to try shooting several shots in a row and then "stack" them with a program such as "Astro Stack" or something similar (Astro Stack is still a freebie last time I looked). You can get some really nice stuff by stacking the images.


Jim

Why? When you can get a perfectly good shot of the moon without.

[Nighthound]

Great first attempt James.

Did you use a tripod and shutter release? Were you manually focusing?

I tinkered with stacking lunar images a bit but didn't see an obvious change in signal to noise or even in image detail to make me want to pursue it further. Maybe I didn't apply enough time or effort. Shooting deep-sky, long exposure work with a DSLR is a whole different matter, stacking is essential.

NH

[Walczak Photo]

Why? When you can get a perfectly good shot of the moon without.

Well, for one thing because even with a really good lens, it can be a little tough for a lot of folks to get a "perfectly good shot" of the moon. Between that actual distance to the moon and environmental variables (wind, humidity, etc..), even on a really good night, most folks don't usually get shots that are that good. I know there are areas of the world that have close to perfect weather conditions where you can get good shots without too much effort...I don't live there. Here in Ohio, even on a good night (which doesn't happen often), there's almost always some degree of atmospheric disturbance. You may not see it just looking at the moon, but the camera does.

Secondly, in order to get a really decent shot that's at a size large enough to print something like even an 8x10, you either need incredible sharpness or an incredibly long lens...at least 600mm plus. If you're doing a 100% plus crop on images from a 200mm or 300mm lens, you -ARE- going to loose detail. Even when you have the focal length, again getting the shot that sharp in a single exposure can be daunting for most. Again in my shot above, that's actually a stack of 4 images taken thru a 5" 1540mm telescope...no single image I've taken of the moon (and believe me...I've taken -A LOT-) is as sharp or has as much detail as that stacked shot.

Very simply stacking software is what you might call "smart software". It can take the sharpest areas of multiple images and combine those areas into a single image that's sharp (or sharper at least) from edge to edge (as apposed to just a portion of it). It's actually more involved than that, but that's the simplest explanation .

Honestly, if you have a 600mm lens or larger that's capable of doing images as sharp or sharper than what I've posted above, I salute you my friend and I'd love to see your results with it (and please include the EXIF data). If you're using a scope and can get some really amazing shots with single long exposures, please share them! For me though, it's simply about using what tools I have available...including stacking software...to get the best images that I can using what I have to work with.

Just my $.02 worth since you asked "why".

Peace,
Jim

[HOBO_sm]

A couple of my moon shots. One from last night and one from tonight.

[Celestron]

Nice moon shots everyone . BTW , ASTRO STACK is Freeware , free demo to download and try but actual cost for full version is $39.00

[Raikyn]

Moon from about half an hour ago

[JuZ]

I can do that too

[Adrena1in]

Crikey, that's sharp JuZ. What did you use to take that?

[Nighthound]

Very nice work everyone.

Here are a couple pages of single exposures. The eclipse shots were taken with a Vixen 8" Newtonian though thin clouds so the resolution/detail is lacking. Others beyond those were taken with a Meade 10" Schmidt-Cassegrain that I no longer own. I miss the FL but not the telscope design so much. Even so, I'll likely get another large SCT someday for small object deep-sky work.

I enjoy the short exposure times and low ISO settings allowed by shooting Lunar, sure is a whole lot less work than I'm used to now.

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y67...20Photography/

NH