Moon image taken last Night. Notice the colours!

I took this image last night of the moon (May4, 2009).

The moon is pretty bright and I wanted to try to give it its natural colours by reducing gamma correction,

I think it looks pretty good.

Taken using a SCT 8 inch telescope at prime focus with a canion rebel xt 350d

I know some people are of the opinion the moon is gray, this is a misconception. The moon has lots of different colours as can be seen in this image.

Picture was taken in raw mode using the camera's white balance. By reducing gamma its possible to get the moon's true colours which gives it better definition.

This will also work for many moon images from other sources.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/81fb49223c6f.jpg[/atsimg]

Regards,

edited for spelling and grammer.

[edit on 5/5/09 by marsorbust]

I was under the impression that the moon was just a dull gray--glad that I was proved wrong! What an amazing sight!

Thanks for sharing that!

Nicely done! The color balance seems to be perfect in your image. I don't know why, but with my canon 400d I can't seem to get the balance just right like that, even using the camera's auto white balance setting. Perhaps it's because I'm using registax or because I usually shoot in jpg mode for the moon.

Raw mode is highly recommended!

Its really easy to get the gamma right also. gets rid of that washed out look.

This is a good image if you are not looking for detail.

Transparecy was pretty poor last night.

Glad you guys loked it.

Cheers

Nice shot

It almost looks as if there is a metallic surface under the grey rocks that is being exposed

Very nice!

The darker circles look like the Mickey Mouse silhouette.

reply to post by marsorbust


Stunning moon shot MOB! You perfectly captured the sheer majesty of our moon. Nice job!

IRM

Here's one I took a few weeks ago.

Taken with Canon 20d with Nikon - EOS converter and 600mm f4 Nikon lens.

Just to give you an example of an un-edited colour version.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b0837d8adbc8.jpg[/atsimg]

Most probably cropped because of size.. The full size image can be found in my images..

Originally posted by marsorbust
Raw mode is highly recommended!

I agree, and I always shoot raw for deep space photography, but do you have a solution for using RAWs with registax or do you just have to use jpgs? I guess I could just shoot both, but that's a space hog.

reply to post by UKWO1Phot


Wow that is a good picture the colours stand out beautifully.I took a video of the moon myself two days a go just using my sony handycam and 6" reflecting telescope.please see below.Or click this link to watch in full-screen www.youtube.com...




[edit on 5-5-2009 by tarifa37]

Just beautiful. Hope you do more in the near future.

Very clear and would make a good screen saver.

Hi Ngchunter.. I've never used registax, so can't really comment.

If you can get a copy of Photoshop it has a built in program for Canon RAW format so you can load it into either bridge or PS and adjust at will. Like you say though the image sizes are rather large (I think 20+ meg each on my 20d). Get a couple of big cards and shoot away..

If anyone wants to use mine it's 1024x768.. Just right click and save as.. As long as you don't try and sell it as yours.. Feel free..

Edited to add use policy..

[edit on 5/5/2009 by UKWO1Phot]

Originally posted by UKWO1Phot
If you can get a copy of Photoshop it has a built in program for Canon RAW format so you can load it into either bridge or PS and adjust at will. Like you say though the image sizes are rather large (I think 20+ meg each on my 20d). Get a couple of big cards and shoot away..

The thing is you can always get a sharper image out of stacking more pictures, and you can always hold more jpgs than raws. Here's a stereoimage of the moon I made - the image on the left is slightly sharper than the image on the right because the left one has a few more images in the stack:
farm4.static.flickr.com...
When doing high magnification video stacking I'll sometimes have 500-1000 images in a single stack, like this:
files.abovetopsecret.com...
Since registax doesn't seem to accept raws I never saw the point in shooting it raw. I think I may shoot raws now for the color and use the jpg stack for luminance.

reply to post by ngchunter


I only use raw mode, and never stack the moon images.

The main reason for stacking is to increase detail as you know, its great for the planets and dso's and anything else that is hard to get the detail from.

The moon is an excellant target without stacking provided the sky is co-operating. If you just want to get a nice colour image of the moon its the easiest thing to do. Take lots of raws, I recommend 20 at least. go through them til you find one that merits working with.

I then take that image into Iranview, (freeware), and adjust the gamma to reduce the glare, voila, the posted image is the result. Sometimes the easiest approach is the best approach. Try it that way and I'm sure you'll be delighted. Also I use the camera's white balance. KISS principle is my favourite way of getting most things done. Of course Murphy's law can enter the scene, but just shew old Murphy away! :>)

I don't use manual mode for the moon, I use Program mode and let the camera due the exposure level. I also use mirror lockup even though my mount is an isolated concrete pier in the observatory. That way your not wasting shots.

After the gamma adjust, just save it as a jpg, and post it here for all to enjoy. With your equipment you will have fantastic results I'm sure.

Oh for stacking I always use K3CCD..for planets, and others for dso.

Your mileage may vary, thats just my preferences for the moon.

Thanks for your most welcome comments.

Regards

Nice info there from you both.. Thanks..

I may try a bit of stacking when the bloody rain and clouds disappear so I'll keep an eye on this thread and post them here..

Usually when I'm skywatching I just shoot 2-3 second exposures every minute or so (or if anything interesting passes). I've never really bothered with the moon until recently.

Well done!!!

Thankfully you come as a back up to my claims on NASA and why they use B&W

Its quite natural that the moon has color.

NASA argues that theres not much to record in color.

I believe it just makes things easier for them to cover up in B&W.

Well done again! Its a beautifull shot.

reply to post by UKWO1Phot


Nice one, you didn't get cheated on the Nikon Lens.

Beautiful detail, especially around the terminator. I can see faint colour in your image also, some faint blue and what looks like a bit of green/brown.

Nice job

Regards

Greyscale does generally have the advantage in resolution, even today. That said, I think this is a bit of a strawman since NASA did take both color and black&white photos:
www.lpi.usra.edu...
Each type has its usefulness, and the color images here are quite beautiful indeed.

[edit on 5-5-2009 by ngchunter]