No thread dedicated to the super moon?

[OzStarGazer]

So... I hoped there would be a thread dedicated to the super moon... I have taken some pics but still have to check them on my computer.
I don't want to expose myself too much by posting my pics in an astrophotography thread.... Have you taken pics? Should we start a common thread like for Saturn's occultation?

[PeterEde (Peter)]

I posted last nights but happy to have common thread. Will do more tonight.

[chellaxy (Chelle)]

I think that's a fab idea, here are some of mine ... shame about the clouds in Perth though, as my friend and I got a great viewpoint to see the moon rise beyond the city

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...36676518_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...60757824_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...3106cdd2b6fa5a

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...59562072_n.jpg

[OzStarGazer]

They look great, thanks for posting them!

So... I will start with two videos of CLOUDS and a moon behind them struggling to get through:

http://vid1227.photobucket.com/album...ps118b1cf3.mp4
http://vid1227.photobucket.com/album...psd74e4464.mp4

And some pics of the moon... They looked sooooo much better on the live-view screen... But the ND filter did cause a lot of blurring that was not visible on the live-view screen, so I had to sharpen them a bit. There is also a normal (naked-eye) photo of the moon completely surrounded by clouds... I am a bit disappointed because I thought they were better... My fav pic is probably the fourth from the left, but it could be much better. It isn't easy to take a photo of a super moon!
The moon itself was so huge it had to be perfectly centered or would not fit in the FOV, even with my lowest-power eyepiece.

[james_n (James)]

Fantastic pics! So sharp and so many details in spite of the brightness of the supermoon.
May I ask how you took them?

[PeterEde (Peter)]

Did a small video
http://youtu.be/61i0-tg4LDc

[OzStarGazer]

Originally Posted by james_n

Fantastic pics! So sharp and so many details in spite of the brightness of the supermoon.
May I ask how you took them?

Thanks! Oh, just with my refractor Celestron 90AZ and a compact camera (afocal mode)... I also took some prime focus pics, but they are not better, even a bit worse... (I couldn't use a filter in prime focus).

[james_n (James)]

Cool.
Many pics I have seen look uniformly gray, even in the Wikipedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...comparison.jpg
so I thought yours were really nice. Even the less sharp one (the blue one) is really cool and looks so mystical and mysterious.

[OzStarGazer]

Many look grey because of the use of filters (necessary with a full moon). Mine looked a bit grey too. I did some sharpening, enhanced contrast etc. in Photoshop.

[PeterEde (Peter)]

Filters. eh that's what photoshop is for

[OzStarGazer]

Originally Posted by PeterEde

Filters. eh that's what photoshop is for

Yes, but I actually meant that I used a ND filter, then because the ND made the images a bit dull I sharpened them in PS.
You know, this evening I took some pics without a filter at all and on the liveview screen of the camera they look very clear even if I zoom in (I can see the craters on the terminator very well). Maybe I shouldn't have used a ND filter at all the other day, but a super moon is at its brightest and I thought it would be better.... Well, at any rate PS came to the rescue...

[james_n (James)]

What is a ND filter?

[OzStarGazer]

Originally Posted by james_n

What is a ND filter?

It is a "neutrality density" filter and is used to cut down the glare, that's why images look dull when you use one, but sometimes it is necessary when the moon is very bright. It is better to use one and then fix the images in PS than not to use one and then the images are washed out with light and cannot be fixed. But with digital photography you can experiment as much as you want of course, as you can just delete the images you don't like. Yesterday for example I took some nice pics without a ND filter, but of course it was not "full" moon any more...

[james_n (James)]

Originally Posted by OzStarGazer

It is a "neutrality density" filter and is used to cut down the glare, that's why images look dull when you use one, but sometimes it is necessary when the moon is very bright. It is better to use one and then fix the images in PS than not to use one and then the images are washed out with light and cannot be fixed. But with digital photography you can experiment as much as you want of course, as you can just delete the images you don't like. Yesterday for example I took some nice pics without a ND filter, but of course it was not "full" moon any more...

Thanks for the explanation.