Colour saturated Moon with 40D

[Dennis]

Hello

With all the rain we have been having in Brisbane, :thumbsup: I’ve been looking at some recent images to see if I can improve them. Here is one I have been playing with, a colour enhanced version of the recent Moon photo I took at the prime focus of the Tak Mewlon 180 with the Canon 40D. Focused using Remote Live View, with an exposure of 1/50 sec at 100 ASA.

All I did was increase the saturation in CS3 and the colours and hues just popped out!:eyepop:

Warning: File size=160K at 1300x1200

Cheers

Dennis

[edwardsdj]

Very detailed image Dennis :)

I love these colour saturated images :)

[Matty P]

Wow Dennis amazing image! :eyepop:

It certainly gives you a different perspective when compared to the typical B&W image.

:thumbsup:

[skwinty]

Great moon shot Dennis
Regards
Steve

[peter_4059]

Matty, that's exactly what I was thinking when I looked at the image! Great image Dennis. What causes the brown tinge vs the otherwise grey mare?

[Dennis]

Thanks for the nice comments guys – have a look this LPOD link (http://www.lpod.org/?m=20060707)to some Zac Pujic colour saturated images for some details on which elements produce these colours. Zac is an IIS member from Brisbane.

Cheers

Dennis

[StarLane]

Wow Dennis, thats really cool, very sharp. I have often noticed brown tones on the moon.
Cheers, Paul.

[citivolus]

Nice shot. It has me thinking about false colour composite narrow band imaging of the moon, including into IR.

[h0ughy]

pleasing to the eyes Dennis:thumbsup:

[allan gould]

I know its garish but for differences between different topographical features and their composition you can take it further - see attached. But I prefer the subtleness of yours

[Dennis]

Hi Allan

Nice work and not too noisy. :thumbsup: I did initially take it almost that far, but when it began to look like technicolour dog vomit, I backed off the slider!:lol:

Cheers

Dennis

[allan gould]

Damn, now you know my secret!!!

[Inmykombi]

Beautiful Photo. Focus looks perfect to me.

Thats the kind of photo I can hope to capture when I get some decent gear for the job.

Well Done.

Geoffro.

[kljucd1]

Hi Dennis,

Man this photo has to be one of the best Moon photo's I have ever seen. Every time I come into the Solar System forum I just have to have another look.

Regards

Daniel...

[rally]

The link listed below illustrates a slightly more complex technique for producing some amazing coloured moon shots, that avoids some of the limits using saturation control.
http://www.colormoon.pt.to/

[Dennis]

Thanks again for all your nice complements; I’m glad you enjoyed the photo. Our Moon is a rewarding celestial target as it is so close and has an amazing variety of moods and detail which are always changing depending on the season and the phase.

There is a little softness in the image at the edges as the large sensor is quite challenging for the central, relatively small, in-focus field of view of the Dall-Kirkham design of the Mewlon.

I’ve found that the combination of magnified focusing via Remote Live View and using the Mirror Lock Up on the Canon 40D have significantly improved the sharpness on my DSLR lunar images compared to my trusty old Pentax *ist DS which I still treasure.

Cheers

Dennis

[matt]

That's a terrific image, Dennis:thumbsup:

Super sharp and subtle as far as bringing out the colours is concerned.

Great stuff.

[iceman]

Brilliant image, Dennis. Great to see something from you again! It's been a very dry spell from the Dennis imaging factory.

I hope you get some clear skies soon!

[StargazerX1]

Dennis,

That is a wonderful image. Questions:
Is that a single image?
Did you take it in RAW mode or Jpeg?
And finally, what white balance did you use - daylight?

Glenn

Brandon 94mm f7, Televue TV102 f8.6
Losmandy GM8 mount
Celestron C11 SCT + CI700 mount

[Dennis]

Hi Glenn

Thanks for those nice words.

At the F12 prime focus of the Mewlon 180 the gibbous Moon won’t quite fit on a single frame with the Canon 40D, so I resorted to taking two photos slightly offset, then using CS3 to automatically create a mosaic from the two panes.

Here are the two frames and the Exif details of one of them as a screen capture; I haven’t figured out yet how to capture the Exif data as a text string.

The captures were RAW and WB was left at Auto. 1/50 sec at ISO 100.
Essentially, it is a single image although it is in fact a mosaic of the two segments.

Cheers

Dennis

[StargazerX1]

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for the info. I guess if your image was shot RAW my queston about white balance is not meaningful as any manipulation is done later. Interesting your Exif data shows a temperature of 4550K.

I have a Canon 40D as well but have not used it yet on the moon. Your image is beautiful, one of the best color shots of the moon I've seen and motivates me to give it a try!

Glenn

Brandon 94mm f7, Televue TV102 f8.6
Losmandy GM8 mount
Celestron C11 SCT + CI700 mount

[skwinty]

Hi Dennis
Herewith a little exif program.
Unzip and run the exif program.
Once you have browsed the folder where your pix are you right click on the file you want and select info.You can then copy and paste the exif data.
Regards
Steve

[Dennis]

Hi Glenn

Thanks again! The most significant factor in being able to record this lunar image was the Canon 40D’s Remote Live View (RLV) and exposing the images whilst RLV was active, which meant that the mirror was locked up.

Using the same ‘scope I had previously imaged the Moon with my Pentax *ist DS and focusing was always hit and miss and despite the 2 second delay between mirror flip up and exposing the chip, the images were always spoiled by vibration; sometimes major, sometimes minor.

Good luck with your efforts – that C11 should produce some stunners, be sure to post them here.

Cheers

Dennis



Thanks Steve, I’ll have a look at this. IIRC I wrote that I would post the Exif data for you from another post of mine - this should now help.

Cheers

Dennis

[Bunker9603]

That is a beautiful image! One of the best I have seen

[prichens]

Nice Photo's - Both of you!
But I do have to ask how do you get so many Colours out of the moon?
Do you use a filter to cut the light back - what is the exposure time?

[alan meehan]

very detailed image dennis very sharp,so much detail one of the best shots i have seen almost 3d :2thumbs:

[bird]

Nice Image!

Bird

[Omaroo]

Sorry Dennis - couldn't resist seeing what it was like as a colour negative. You see all sorts of different details this way. Very nice indeed...

[Alchemy]

just caught up with this shot, so many threads to check out,

Very nice indeed