Moon - again

Getting better with the moon shots, thanks a bit to some PP help from Romy (liquidstone). Anyway, here's an image reduced to 50% of the original, shot with the 5D, 400, 2X, and 1.4X teleconverters.

Good shots. I like the first image better. Is that the lunar rover I see in the second shot?

Those are great,I love moon pics.

first shot is awesome!

First one, first one!!

Very impressive.

I think it's a McDonalds!

Very nice pics. Great detail!

Thanks, everybody.

The second image is a crop from the original image from which the first one was made. I'll probably be working with the original a bit more to hone my post-processing skills a bit.

Wow, that is an awesome shot. I think you got the hang of it.

The "rays" from Tycho are amazing. Good picture.

Jake

Very nice... now if a space shuttle was on there I bet that would show it lol.

Amazing...

Very nice, moon shots are always a challenge, but you certainly did well.

They're great.

What is this new technique?

I have a whole heap of moon shots, I wouldn't mind re-editing, if I knew how to do it.

Thanks again, all.

Wazza, the technique (not really a technique at all) is to find the right balance between sharpness and noise. If you start off in DPP with the RAW file, adding sharpening and contrast in too large an amount, you will end up with a grainy image. I'm finding myself putting contrast at about +2 in DPP (version 2.0.3.7), sharpening at 0 or 1, use only modest exposure adjustment if possible (I try to keep exposure adjustment to 1/3 stops or less).

After conversion to JPG, I evaluate and apply minimal noise reduction in Photoshop Elements 3 to get the grain down (usually level 3 or 4, 180, 70), then make a coarse, low-level sharpen in USM (25, 2.0. 3). Check levels, and possibly put a small "S" shape to the exposure curve with curves (I have PSE-3, but found a free "curves" plugin that is compatible). Sharpen again at a moderate coarseness (40-80, 0.7, 2), and again evaluate for noise.

Final sharpening is at 80-120, 0.3, 0 to get the final crispness.

I'm still tweaking my adjustments, and I'm finding that each image is a little different. I shot these at a moderately high ISO (640) because I'm using a rather small aperture (f/22-25) so I have to find the right balance between graininess and detail. If the moon were larger, it would be easier as I wouldn't have to present anything close to a 100% screen magnification as the final output. Plus, I wouldn't need to stack teleconverters on my lens, and thus could use a larger aperture and lower ISO.

BTW, it does print nicely on 8.5X11 or A4.