You don't need a telescope

Celestron wrote in post #17982074
You can adjust Gama , just find your Adjust Exposure edit and do so from there.

Thank you

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17982166

Inspeqtor wrote in post #17981869
Thank you Roy!

For the "plugging away" you do, you do a mighty fine job

Oh, I copied this photo and printed it off for future reference

I have Photoshop Elements; currently V. 11 and 13. When you say you added or darkened with Gamma, is that something I could do in Elements?

Thank you, again. I think you printing it is the ultimate compliment. Photos are pretty useless if they aren't shared, and I like to share mine... hate to have them just sit on my computer.
I don't have Elements. I do nearly all of my editing on Irfanview, since I can't load any of my versions of Photoshop onto my new computer - they aren't compatible with Windows 10! I LOVE Irfanview and recommend it to everyone - and it's FREE!

Your photos have always impressed me Roy I do seriously mean that!

I am surprised you cannot get Photoshop to work in Windows 10. I also have Windows 10, and Elements work just fine for me.

I have heard many people highly recommend Irfanview on several forums before. Is it easier to use over Photoshop? I would think so.....

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17981570
I seldom 'nail the exposure' with one image. If I'm planning on taking a single exposure of a bright object, like the Moon or Jupiter, I usually start a little dark and keep increasing the exposure as I take more photos until they look almost too bright... then decide on the best after loading it onto my computer. That's the beauty of digital cameras... you can take as many photos as you want, and then just delete the bad or marginal ones... or all of them if none are any good. The only thing it costs you is having to recharge the batteries. Nothing like the 'good old days' when you had to wait to see if any were any good, and pay for film and developing - even if they were all bad.

If you're planning on stacking an image of star fields or a nebula, each separate image can appear to be too dark, and stacking them, followed by post-processing will reveal a LOT of detail that's impossible to see in a single exposure. Stacking them also allows for shorter exposures, which reduces star trails that might happen on a single, long exposure. You can take those kind with a standard tripod by moving the camera after two or three exposures to keep the main subject in the field. Stacking will register the stars in each image to 'build up' the exposure.

You don't have to worry about depth of field with astronomical photos.. everything is at infinity. It might help to focus with the lens wide open and stop it down for the exposure if you're concerned that it might be slightly out of focus, but if you get it properly focused on a dim star, everything in the night sky will be in focus. I said 'dim star' because if a dim star is slightly out of focus, it won't show up at all. You can only see it in your live view if it's in focus. I don't know if your camera has 'live-view' to help with focusing, but it makes a world of difference. That's one of the reasons I bought the Nikon D5200 - it has a fully articulated screen with live view, so even if the subject is straight up, I can tilt the screen to see what I'm doing. I don't have to stand on my head or twist it off trying to see through the view finder.

Hang in there. The only way to reach your goal is to practice, and keep trying to make each one a little better.

Thank you kindly for the reply Roy, i use a Fuji X-S1 Bridge cam it does in deed have live view with a rear screen, i tend to stick it on my tripod set it to man focus and if i have been lucky enough for the moon to be out, i use the moon as focus data by either one shot focus on the moon or manualy with the 10 x man focus assist with the LV i then just move the cam to where jupiter was/is and do a range of shots with different exposures all wide open f5.6 from 1/125sec - 1/1000sec to see what one comes out best, i also set the timmer on the cam at 10sec, and hope for a sharp shot?

P.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #17982230
Your photos have always impressed me Roy I do seriously mean that!

I am surprised you cannot get Photoshop to work in Windows 10. I also have Windows 10, and Elements work just fine for me.

I have heard many people highly recommend Irfanview on several forums before. Is it easier to use over Photoshop? I would think so.....

Irfanview is supposedly the most popular photo/video viewer there is. Don't know about that, but I uses it almost exclusively.

I'm sure a NEW version of Photoshop would work with Windows 10, but I have 3 older versions, and they won't work. I don't think I should have to buy a new version every time Microsoft decides to create a new operating system that NO ONE likes or wants to use!

Pagman wrote in post #17982628
Thank you kindly for the reply Roy, i use a Fuji X-S1 Bridge cam it does in deed have live view with a rear screen, i tend to stick it on my tripod set it to man focus and if i have been lucky enough for the moon to be out, i use the moon as focus data by either one shot focus on the moon or manualy with the 10 x man focus assist with the LV i then just move the cam to where jupiter was/is and do a range of shots with different exposures all wide open f5.6 from 1/125sec - 1/1000sec to see what one comes out best, i also set the timmer on the cam at 10sec, and hope for a sharp shot?

P.

I sometimes use a bright object, like the moon or Jupiter for a rough focus, but then switch to a dimmer star for final focus. It's hard to tell when the moon is at a precise focus, and equally hard to tell when a round object like Jupiter or Mars is perfectly focused, but with a point light source like a dim star, it's much easier to tell when it's at the best focus you can achieve. If you're taking a photo of Jupiter, try to check the focus on one of the moons instead of the planet. The moons will fade away when they are out of focus, and become brightest when they are properly focused.

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17982681
I sometimes use a bright object, like the moon or Jupiter for a rough focus, but then switch to a dimmer star for final focus. It's hard to tell when the moon is at a precise focus, and equally hard to tell when a round object like Jupiter or Mars is perfectly focused, but with a point light source like a dim star, it's much easier to tell when it's at the best focus you can achieve. If you're taking a photo of Jupiter, try to check the focus on one of the moons instead of the planet. The moons will fade away when they are out of focus, and become brightest when they are properly focused.

Thanks Roy i will give that a try

P.

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17982681
The moons will fade away when they are out of focus, and become brightest when they are properly focused.

Thank you for this huge tip Roy! I used it tonight to get this!!

I was not able to get a good pick of the bands tonight like I did last Sunday night, but am thrilled I got the moons!

I am guessing the 'star' to the far right is the 4th moon?

I took this with my Sigma 150-500 at 500, and with my Kenko 1.4TC at ISO 2000, 1/20 and f/6.3

Thank you again Roy

You are a great teacher

Very good!

It's virtually impossible to get the cloud bands and the moons in the same shot with just a camera lens. There's just too much difference in the brightness of Jupiter and that of the moons.

From left to right in your photo... Io, Jupiter, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto way out to the right. If you want to check and see what's available in the night sky, or what you took a photo of, you can download 'Stellarium' for free... I use it all the time. You can speed up the time or reverse it to see what things looked like at any time, or what is coming up. Just Google 'Stellarium' and you should have plenty of download sites pop up. It's a computer planetarium and is very detailed and accurate - even showing artificial satellites and their paths and times of flyovers. The menus pop up when you put the cursor over them in the lower left corner - at the bottom and at the side.

Keep it up! And keep striving for better results - the better you get, the more fun it is. It's addictive.

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17982829
Very good!

It's virtually impossible to get the cloud bands and the moons in the same shot with just a camera lens. There's just too much difference in the brightness of Jupiter and that of the moons.

From left to right in your photo... Io, Jupiter, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto way out to the right. If you want to check and see what's available in the night sky, or what you took a photo of, you can download 'Stellarium' for free... I use it all the time. You can speed up the time or reverse it to see what things looked like at any time, or what is coming up. Just Google 'Stellarium' and you should have plenty of download sites pop up. It's a computer planetarium and is very detailed and accurate - even showing artificial satellites and their paths and times of flyovers. The menus pop up when you put the cursor over them in the lower left corner - at the bottom and at the side.

Keep it up! And keep striving for better results - the better you get, the more fun it is. It's addictive.

Thank you.... yes I did read and understand in your previous post not getting the bands and the moons in one shot. I should have explained that better.

I was trying to get the bands to show again in a separate shot using both your settings, and the same settings I used Sunday night.

I have Stellarium on my computer, but I don't really understand how to use it yet. I need to have some time to study it, look for tutorials on it etc, but have not found the time to do that just yet.

Here is my astro photography rig and my rather small viewing area

P.

Pagman wrote in post #17984419
Here is my astro photography rig and my rather small viewing area

P.

Hosted photo: posted by Pagman in
./showthread.php?p=179​84419&i=i66762822
forum: Astronomy & Celestial

Hosted photo: posted by Pagman in
./showthread.php?p=179​84419&i=i201834672
forum: Astronomy & Celestial

Well, I guess I can't complain about my back yard being cramped. I have a LOT more sky to work with than you have.

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17985293
Well, I guess I can't complain about my back yard being cramped. I have a LOT more sky to work with than you have.

The equipment aint bad though is it?

P.

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17982669
Irfanview is supposedly the most popular photo/video viewer there is. Don't know about that, but I uses it almost exclusively.

I'm sure a NEW version of Photoshop would work with Windows 10, but I have 3 older versions, and they won't work. I don't think I should have to buy a new version every time Microsoft decides to create a new operating system that NO ONE likes or wants to use!

I'm surprised you couldn't get PS to work on Win10. I've got Win 10 and can confirm that not only does the latest version (Photoshop CC) work, but up until about 6-8 weeks ago I was using a version of Photoshop that was 9 years old (Photoshop CS3). How far back does one need to go before their version of PS doesn't work on Win10? I would think that it would be so far back that the new features in PS would be well worth upgrading to CC at this point.

Roy A. Rust wrote in post #17982829
Very good!

It's virtually impossible to get the cloud bands and the moons in the same shot with just a camera lens. There's just too much difference in the brightness of Jupiter and that of the moons.

From left to right in your photo... Io, Jupiter, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto way out to the right. If you want to check and see what's available in the night sky, or what you took a photo of, you can download 'Stellarium' for free... I use it all the time. You can speed up the time or reverse it to see what things looked like at any time, or what is coming up. Just Google 'Stellarium' and you should have plenty of download sites pop up. It's a computer planetarium and is very detailed and accurate - even showing artificial satellites and their paths and times of flyovers. The menus pop up when you put the cursor over them in the lower left corner - at the bottom and at the side.

Keep it up! And keep striving for better results - the better you get, the more fun it is. It's addictive.

I'll definitely second the recommendation for Stellarium, it's fantastic software used even by planetariums. And there is a phone app version, I've got it on my Android phone. Combine that with Google Sky Map and you have a powerful set of tools on your smartphone for viewing. Stellarium is how I figured out the labels for my shot during the Opposition of Jupiter.

heldGaze wrote in post #17985705
I'll definitely second the recommendation for Stellarium, it's fantastic software used even by planetariums. And there is a phone app version, I've got it on my Android phone. Combine that with Google Sky Map and you have a powerful set of tools on your smartphone for viewing. Stellarium is how I figured out the labels for my shot during the Opposition of Jupiter.

I used to use Google Sky Map on my Android phone, but then on 2 different phones I had, after a few months the program would get wacky. I would point it at the sky and the map would go crazy moving all over the place.... or the times the map would stay still, it would show the moon in a totally different direction from where it really was.

I now use a program simply called Planets by Dana Peters. Works Great!