the moon & stars Lunar Eclipse 2008

Too much post processing??

I don't think so. You just need a longer lens next time so you don't have to crop so much. I would have run into the same dilemma. What you got looks pretty good.

I have to agree with Keith. The processing is fine, just need more focal length. The hard part with shots like that is keeping the levels relatively balanced. A long focal length and wide aperture helps with that. Most of us that shoot astro have run into that problem all too often. If you don't have access to a telescope and have to use a lens shorter than 500mm then I would recommend stopping the lens down to maybe F/5 or more to get the detail and in the case of the moon a polarizer works wonders. I use a schmidt/newtonian scope nowdays, 1016mm @ F/4 and have less processing but a lot more setup time.

 

Now, just for the record, your shot looks great. You got much more color than a lot of people that tried it!!!

G'day Brian.

 

I fully agree with the above comments. Its a great shot of what can be a slightly tricky target sometimes :)

Thanks everyone for your comments. I would love to have a longer lens and/or a telescope. I've already invested too much money in the glass I have now...maybe someday :)

What really stands out is that it's not sharp!! You only have one thing to focus on and it's . . . out of focus. Nice try and nice colors but I think I have to be honest!

Rod: I'm going to stand up for Brian on this since I've taken many more astro photos, only a small number of which is in my port on here. I noticed in your port, Rod, that you don't have any astronomical photos at all. The focus is a little soft, yes, you're right, but, with any lens less than 500mm is going to half to be cropped significantly. Cameras' auto focus just weren't designed for objects like the moon or other astronomical targets. You have to manually dial in the focus, either taking many different test shots for the focus, or purchasing a ronchi screen or knife edge system. With the later two you have to remove the lens, dial in the focus on a bright star and then put the lens back on the camera without moving the focus. Even after all that, if you're lens is short, like his, or mine (excluding the telescope), you have to crop significantly which softens the image.

 

When you metioned 'nice try', you're right there also. It's a very nice one, mine were much, much worse in everyway the first, oh, 50-75 times I tried to shoot the moon. I'm not a photojournalist and don't pretend to be one, but I hope the shots I have of the moon in my port speak for themselves.

Thanks Jerald,

 

I have a hard time getting a shot of a full Moon - let alone a Lunar eclipse. This was hard because of the bright light in the 5 O'clock position with the rest of the Moon being dark from the shadow of the Sun. I probably did crop this too tight for the lens I was using.

No prob Brian! The Moon is a tricky target for smaller lenses unless you're doing a landscape shot with the moon in it. The moon is too small of a target for your auto focus to really lock on to, and when it does it's the lit circle that gets the camera's attention, not the details.

 

Best way to go about it would be to get a nice polarizer and let the camera lock on it self then go to manual and tweek the focus. You'll need to have a lot of patients because of how many test shots you're going to have to take. Make the focus adjustments in very small increments around the infinity mark, yes, your lens can go beyond infinity. Also, keep your camera in manual mode, adjusting your F/stop and shutter speed till you find a 'sweet' spot for the exposure. Don't rely on the camera's meter, even in spot mode, there is just too much contrast in lighting.

 

As far as this image is concerned. The focus was really close, if not on mark for the lens and camera's auto system. Don't try to over crop and magnify it. One thing amature astronomers learn the hard way is to not over magnify the targets. The full moon is the worst for detail at any maginfication, just look in my port and you'll see what I mean. Try taking the original raw file from this image and maginfy it till the shadows of the are defined but not softened. The actual image of the moon might end up half it's present size but will look much more solid than it does above.

 

As far as that previous comment, it just rattles my chains to see someone that has never taken a successful astro shot slam someone that did try to make it. Astro-photography is frustrating and demanding enough without getting slamed early on. Just keep trying and practicing, you'll get it, I promise. I also promise you that it will get so frustraiting sometimes you'll want to throw the camera across the room and pull your hair out, just remind yourself that if it were too easy, then it wouldn't be worth it.

Hey Brian I see you managed to get some Eclipse shots on 2-20-08 as I did ! You had posted over at my Portfolio that maybe we would get lucky, seems both of us made out well that night. Jump on over to my Portfolio in (Night Shots) to see a few of the captures I got of the Eclipse. I haven't posted a lot of good ones I got since I have over 400 shots to go thru (I was outside for 4 hours in 15' weather freezing my you know what off) but I managed to get just about every phase of the moon that night. I have to get them together and make a nice transition phase collage together like Tony did. Glad you made out that night too, I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about moon shots again !