The Moon

[Octane]

Hi all,

Here is the Moon I shot last night before I started on M42.

Photoshop processing: desaturation, slight cropping off the top, unsharp masking, and image size reduction to fit forum. :P

Regards,
Humayun

[Astroman]

Nice shot Hummy, was that prime through the lx? or with the camera? Nice contrast there not over done. You shot in B&W?

[davidpretorius]

great focus, nice and sharp!!!!

well done!

[Octane]

Andy,

That was prime focus.

I didn't shoot in black and white, but I did desaturate the image in Photoshop, primarily to remove noise.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Thanks, David!

Regards,
H

[ving]

nice moonage :)
gotta love the moon hey :)

[RB]

Very nice shot Humayun,
Like Davo said nicely focused and sharp.

Have a look at getting a moon filter. I bought a 2" Orion moon filter from Bintel. Havn't had a chance to try it yet.
Also maybe consider a 0.6x reducer for your 8", which will allow you to frame the moon and do widefield shots later with you 350D.

In case you where contemplating, I don't suggest imaging in B/W mode through the camera. What you did to desaturate is better.
Personally I like to keep it in colour, use the in camera noise reduction and if necessary run the image through NEAT IMAGE later, but don't overdo it.
Obviously use mirror lockup.

Did you crop the image because the top of the moon was oversaturated?
I'd leave it as is because now the crop detracts from the overall look.

I think you've done a top job with it tho.
Well done mate.

:)

[Robert_T]

That's a bewdy Humayun, lovely sharp and with a nice 3D feel to it.

excellent stuff!:thumbsup:

[Octane]

Thanks, David!

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Hi Andrew,



Thank you. :)



I do have a Bintel ND 96 filter, but I don't have eyepiece projection/tele-extender equipment just yet to do that much-loved eyepiece-projection photography.

I have been thinking about a focal reducer as well.



I never shoot in black and white; that can always be digitally performed later. I like my colour! I didn't turn the on-camera noise reduction on, even though this was an ISO-1600 image. I felt that at 1/640th of a second, I probably wouldn't need it. I will try next time with it on. And, yes, I did use mirror lock-up with this shot.



Because I don't have a focal reducer, the Moon was very large at prime focus; it didn't fit on the sensor, although it fit perfectly when viewing through the eyepiece. I guess that has something to do with the increased focal length induced by threading a camera on the back; it's not the same distance as the eyepiece. So, I made sure I got the portion of the Moon which showed the most detail. The left-hand side hasn't been cropped. It's just that way because the subject didn't fit the frame. The part that has been cropped is the top part, it was all black sky, and detracted from the feel of the image. I, therefore, roughly cropped the top the same sky distance as the bottom of the image to the edge of the frame.



Thank you, heaps!

Regards,
Humayun