My best moon shot so far

[parish]

It was quite low in the sky - about 25-30deg elevation I would guess.

C&C most welcome.

Canon EOS400D, Sigma 70-300 DG APO lens, 1/20 @ f/14, ISO100, 300mm

This is the original.

And this is with a bit of tweaking of the contrast and levels plus a bit of sharpening in Aperture

I have a couple of questions.

Why is the moon out of focus with the lens set to infinity - even at f/14? I would have thought that 250,000 miles would be near enough infinity, especially when you take into account DoF?

How do people bring out the colour, or colourize, photos of the moon? I guess that the quality of the original image has a bearing on it; maybe the above shot isn't good enough?

 

[EOS_JD]

It's not oof it's slightly blurry from (believe it or not) subject motion and maybe some camera shake?

Moon shots are much better at much faster shutter speeds. At that subject distance your aperture won't make any difference so shoot at max aperture (is it f5.6)? This would give a SS around 1/125 or thereabouts. Still you would need a very steady tripod.

 

[mehraj]

It's not oof it's slightly blurry from (believe it or not) subject motion and maybe some camera shake?

Moon shots are much better at much faster shutter speeds. At that subject distance your aperture won't make any difference so shoot at max aperture (is it f5.6)? This would give a SS around 1/125 or thereabouts. Still you would need a very steady tripod.

Is it really subject motion?? I think its just the irregular light reflections. (Something like, shots in the deserts, heat waves ...)

 

[cosmix3]

Would say you need to up the shutter speed to help with it, as said it could be subject motion (is amazig how quick it moves), or if you didnt use a remote release that can have an effect on it, for brining out colour you could try this site,

http://www.colormoon.pt.to/

 

[jgs001]

At that elevation, it's going to be fairly early in the evening, so the ground is still shedding heat, which will make a big difference to the seeing (atmospherics), if you could zoom in real close, the moon will look like jelly wobbling on a plate as bits and pieces come into and out of focus. Add to that, last night, at least through Sussex and it looks like Kent, there was a layer of high mist causing all sorts of issues, last night was a long way from being ideal. Clear skies after rain appears to be best.

Also, you'd get an idea for just how fast it does actually move across the sky, as you can see the craters move through the FOV in short order. I was shooting last night with my Skymax (1300mm) and using the 10x liveview to focus, and it was taking about 15 seconds for a crater to go the long way across the LCD screen.

The second is better. I'd say get the highest shutter speed you can, whilst keeping the ISO at minimum, so set the lens to wide open or thereabouts. Having said that with my Skymax fixed focal ratio of f12.5 (objective 102mm, focal length 1300mm) I've got to use about 1/20 to hit a decent exposure, and mounting it all on my redsnapper tripod, I'm getting decent results without subject movement in, so you ought to be ok...)

I know with both of my lenses, infinity is (amazingly) a little bit further than infinity (not quite sure how that really works ....) but if I set the focus ring to the stop, the moon and stars are not in focus.

You will really struggle to get colour coming through at a focal length less than 600mm, the details just aren't enough and it looks somewhat rough. To really get the colour out, you want at least 1000mm. In Aperture, I've taken to pushing the Vibrancy slider all the way to the right, then pushing the Saturation up to almost the same level.

 

[parish]

Thanks for all the feedback :thumb:

It's not oof it's slightly blurry from (believe it or not) subject motion and maybe some camera shake?

Moon shots are much better at much faster shutter speeds. At that subject distance your aperture won't make any difference so shoot at max aperture (is it f5.6)? This would give a SS around 1/125 or thereabouts. Still you would need a very steady tripod.

Would say you need to up the shutter speed to help with it, as said it could be subject motion (is amazig how quick it moves), or if you didnt use a remote release that can have an effect on it, for brining out colour you could try this site,

http://www.colormoon.pt.to/

I think you've misunderstood me (or I'm misunderstanding your replies). It's not the shot I posted I was referring to re. being OOF, it was when I was looking through the viewfinder with the focus set to infinity the moon was OOF, but backing off a bit from infinity brought it into focus - I was using manual focus for these shots.

As for upping the shutter speed, I take on board what you say but after doing some tests with my lens it showed to be very soft at large apertures which was why I was aiming for the f/10 - f/14 range. The moon being so low in the sky meant it wasn't as bright so shooting when it's higher in the sky would probably allow faster SS at these apertures.

At that elevation, it's going to be fairly early in the evening, so the ground is still shedding heat, which will make a big difference to the seeing (atmospherics), if you could zoom in real close, the moon will look like jelly wobbling on a plate as bits and pieces come into and out of focus. Add to that, last night, at least through Sussex and it looks like Kent, there was a layer of high mist causing all sorts of issues, last night was a long way from being ideal. Clear skies after rain appears to be best.

Actually, it was taken at 02:25 BST so very cool, although i know what you mean about heat haze.

The second is better.

If you mean the second shot I posted; they are the same shot - the first is from the camera, the second with some PP.

I know with both of my lenses, infinity is (amazingly) a little bit further than infinity (not quite sure how that really works ....) but if I set the focus ring to the stop, the moon and stars are not in focus.

I've been thinking about this since posting and wonder if it's due to the light being refracted by the Earth's atmosphere causing the light rays to be striking the lens at an angle that would suggest the object being closer - rather than parallel (or near as damn it) that they would be from such a distant object?

You will really struggle to get colour coming through at a focal length less than 600mm, the details just aren't enough and it looks somewhat rough. To really get the colour out, you want at least 1000mm. In Aperture, I've taken to pushing the Vibrancy slider all the way to the right, then pushing the Saturation up to almost the same level.

Thanks for the advice

 

[EOS_JD]

Thanks for all the feedback :thumb:

I was using manual focus for these shots.

This could be the problem. Why not Auto? It's not a difficult subject to focus on.

As for upping the shutter speed, I take on board what you say but after doing some tests with my lens it showed to be very soft at large apertures which was why I was aiming for the f/10 - f/14 range. The moon being so low in the sky meant it wasn't as bright so shooting when it's higher in the sky would probably allow faster SS at these apertures.

I think these apertures are just too small. The lens would probably perform better at f8 but f5.6 should still be fine. Faster SS is imperative. A little sharpening would cure the softness at your max aperture.

I've been thinking about this since posting and wonder if it's due to the light being refracted by the Earth's atmosphere causing the light rays to be striking the lens at an angle that would suggest the object being closer - rather than parallel (or near as damn it) that they would be from such a distant object?

Not sure about that.

 

[Dangermouse]

I like it ...its better than any of my attempts

 

[parish]

This could be the problem. Why not Auto? It's not a difficult subject to focus on.

All my previous attempts have seemed OOF so I thought I'd try manual this time - although it didn't make much/any difference so I'll go back to auto in future.

I think these apertures are just too small. The lens would probably perform better at f8 but f5.6 should still be fine. Faster SS is imperative. A little sharpening would cure the softness at your max aperture.

Thanks for the advice - I'll try this next time, not tonight though unless it clears, there's thick cloud atm.