20111005 The Moon Waxing Gibbous 68% of Fullmoon

Hello smart astrophotographers out there!

Please could you just give me some thoughts/comments what is your first

impression of this detail of sky in Oct 2011 - is it too sharp? - the moon is

not a beauty in a "close-up"?

Made with Canon 7D handheld with EF300 f/2.8 @f/2.8 1/640 exposure from

the surface of the moon.

Thanks a lots!

Best Regards, Charl

Hi Charl,

Technically, your lens setting are fine, using the 300mmm at F/2.8. Your exposure is fine.

I would suggest using the Canon matched 2X converter and a tripod next time.

The post processing has distorted all but the gross features of this phase of the moon.

The color is not balanced, unless you shot this through some polluted  sky condition or a heavy fog or low altitude.

 The contrast should be much greater, too.

Here is an example of what my Leica 280mm F/4 APO does on the moon.

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=12817813

Best Regards,  Mike

It does appear to be over-sharpened, that is my first impression.  My second impression is that it appears to have been enlarged, the telltale interpolation texture and loss of detail is reminiscent of Genuine Fractals.

1/640 is super-fast and unnecessary.  There's no indication of ISO but I would reduce my aperture from f/2.8 to f/4 (I know Mike and I differ, philosophically, on this) and then reduce my ISO until I was in the neighborhood of 1/250 and, even though it's not strictly necessary with that shutter speed, I'd use a tripod to ensure a stable platform.  There's quite a bit of noise in the black portion of your photograph, undoubtedly amplified by the enlargement.

The photo illustration I've included represents a comparison between your shot and one I took a couple months ago of approximately the same phase.  Both images are 100% representations of each other.  As you can tell, the Lunar disc appears similarly sized even though I was using a 400mm lens while you were using a 300mm, that is my basis for theorizing that you have enlarged. Mine was shot at 1/250th of a second at f/16 (way too small of an aperture!) at ISO 400 on a Canon 40D so same crop factor as your 7D. Ideally, I could have taken this same photograph at 1/250 f/8 ISO 100 and achieved the same result without the diffraction caused by such a small aperture.

I don't think this is a bad photograph.  On the contrary, I think it's a worthy artistic representation. If that was your intent then please ignore all of our technical mumbo-jumbo and create to your heart's content.  If, however, you were hoping to accurately depict the Moon then experiment with the suggestions offered by Mike and I.