The Official Shoot the Moon Thread

Super nice image Phil !! Not too dark however I prefer just a little lighter . How does it feel viewing the moon in your EP ? I love viewing the moon up close in my 8" SCT.

Celestron wrote in post #17986034
Super nice image Phil !! Not too dark however I prefer just a little lighter . How does it feel viewing the moon in your EP ? I love viewing the moon up close in my 8" SCT.

Better? Or worse?

Oh, and you're right. There is something about the moon that I just can't stop looking at it. and in that SCT, it's incredible.

IMAGE LINK: http://s177.photobucke​t.com …202016%20Lighte​r.jpg.html

I think the subtle difference is all it needed. Any brighter and it would start losing detail in the brighter areas. The color's better too. At least in MY opinion. Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder, though, and is very subjective. It's better to shoot for what YOU think looks good than to try to satisfy everyone else. (Just another opinion of mine! )

Tonight, from Florida, around 5am.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/GuP4​3y

Would love to see a pic of your set up and know what kind of equipment you used to capture the photo above. BTW, great work.

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17986255
I think the subtle difference is all it needed. Any brighter and it would start losing detail in the brighter areas. The color's better too. At least in MY opinion. Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder, though, and is very subjective. It's better to shoot for what YOU think looks good than to try to satisfy everyone else. (Just another opinion of mine! )

Thank you Roy. The color was bothering me a little bit too, a bit too "warm" for the moon. All I did was drop the saturation down a little bit and add a small levels adjustment. I definitely like it better.

MalVeauX wrote in post #17986692
Tonight, from Florida, around 5am.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/GuP4​3y LIGHT_Tv11000s_3200iso​_+28c_20160427-05h00m56s157ms by Martin Wise, on Flickr

Very best,

Good capture but there is a lot of noise in there . Have any idea what caused the noise ?

Phil Light wrote in post #17986212
Better? Or worse?

Oh, and you're right. There is something about the moon that I just can't stop looking at it. and in that SCT, it's incredible.

IMAGE LINK: http://s177.photobucke​t.com …202016%20Lighte​r.jpg.html

Actually the difference may be too subtle.

Yeah that will work but as Roy says shoot to your likings and don't worry about what others say , right Roy ? Just kidding .... Anyway what you see in the SCT looking at the moon the overall brightness and all is what I try to project but it's extremely hard to get it correctly and still see detail and all craters . That's why I say it is so important to not just taken images if you have a scope but use it for viewing too , that way when you actually see something in space you have a better idea how to present it in an image . The best images I have ever seen are in B&W with good focus and great detail . I once saw the Orion Neb in a B&W image and was exactly how I could see it in a 32mm EP in my scope . It just left me in AWE !! Thing is the camera is what picks up color from most DSOs' . Other than stars it's extremely hard to detect any color with the eye looking through a scope at DSOs' . Keep on posting your images tho ! Your coming along well !!

Celestron wrote in post #17986872
Good capture but there is a lot of noise in there . Have any idea what caused the noise ?

I swear my 7D is one of the noisiest 7D's made. I actually dropped exposure in post, if you can believe that, I generally expose to the right a bit, but my 7D has grain and noise even at ISO 400 and exposed to the right (let alone the above, which is at ISO 3200). I have a 650D on loan to a friend, that is much less noisy, and will be outfitting it for astro/solar/lunar instead of my 7D which I use to bird and it's cleaner. So for now, noisy 7D it is.

I was devastated to learn that the EOS-M can't be tethered properly and doesn't work in BackyardEOS.

Very best,

Does your camera have a high ISO noise settings ? Most cameras have either long exposure noise settings of some kind. Maybe you can find that in your FN settings. I think all you have to do is turn it on. Maybe that will help .

Re: Grainy moon, by MalVeauX

There's no real reason to increase the ISO to 3200 when shooting the moon. And it doesn't move fast enough to require setting the shutter to 1/1000 sec, either. Reducing the ISO a LOT would go a long way toward reducing the noise. I try to set the ISO as low as possible to avoid the noise produced at higher settings. It's a lot like using film - the faster the film, the grainier the picture.

There's a lot of detail in this picture that's totally hidden by the noise. Try setting the ISO to 100, and reduce the shutter speed to see if you can't get rid of a lot of noise.

Celestron wrote in post #17986877
Yeah that will work but as Roy says shoot to your likings and don't worry about what others say , right Roy ? Just kidding .... Anyway what you see in the SCT looking at the moon the overall brightness and all is what I try to project but it's extremely hard to get it correctly and still see detail and all craters . That's why I say it is so important to not just taken images if you have a scope but use it for viewing too , that way when you actually see something in space you have a better idea how to present it in an image . The best images I have ever seen are in B&W with good focus and great detail . I once saw the Orion Neb in a B&W image and was exactly how I could see it in a 32mm EP in my scope . It just left me in AWE !! Thing is the camera is what picks up color from most DSOs' . Other than stars it's extremely hard to detect any color with the eye looking through a scope at DSOs' . Keep on posting your images tho ! Your coming along well !!

Well, actually, photographers almost always try to create photographs that will please others. Otherwise, what's the point? But don't lose your individuality, spontaneity, and creativity, by doing things solely to satisfy others. If everyone did everything the same way, this would be a boring world. Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso certainly didn't paint what could be considered 'normal' and they did okay, didn't they? (Even though I wouldn't give a buck for anything they painted, other than to resell it to someone that thinks being weird is artistic!)

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17987263
Well, actually, photographers almost always try to create photographs that will please others. Otherwise, what's the point? But don't lose your individuality, spontaneity, and creativity, by doing things solely to satisfy others. If everyone did everything the same way, this would be a boring world.

True I agree with that much , except when a night time image is made to look like it's a daytime image . Those I totally disagree with ! You might as well take daytime landscape images and be done with that , otherwise it totally throws off everything and ruins the whole image . People are not grasping that in todays astroimages , that's why oldtimer astroimaging is dying because the new generations can't separate day from night .

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17987241
Re: Grainy moon, by MalVeauX

There's no real reason to increase the ISO to 3200 when shooting the moon. And it doesn't move fast enough to require setting the shutter to 1/1000 sec, either. Reducing the ISO a LOT would go a long way toward reducing the noise. I try to set the ISO as low as possible to avoid the noise produced at higher settings. It's a lot like using film - the faster the film, the grainier the picture.

There's a lot of detail in this picture that's totally hidden by the noise. Try setting the ISO to 100, and reduce the shutter speed to see if you can't get rid of a lot of noise.

Yeap,

My issue was I was fighting with my mount and it wasn't tracking correctly, so I had to get the shutter speed up because it was tracking, but drifting off the moon, the moon was a pot shot at the time, the shutter speed was necessary in my situation unfortunately. I recently got an Orion Sirius and I'm still learning to even use it, it was not a good option for a quick "let's shoot the moon" in the middle of the night completely unaligned and simply facing North at 28 degrees, but I wanted to fiddle with it as it wasn't raining for once.

Very best,