The moon in colour

StewartR

StewartR

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Stewart
Edit My Images
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I thought I'd try boosting the colours in my recent moon photo. Although we usually see the moon as monochrome, it does actually have some faint colours because of variations in the chemical composition of the rocks, and it is possible to bring them out if the photo has enough detail. The colours I have here correspond pretty well other images I've seen (for example here), so I'm confident that these are real colours and not just artefacts of my processing.

18238772_1650663341625571_7564337911713840344_o.jpg
 
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Mark Johnson said:
Very detailed shot, excellent.

Unsure about the colours tho.............
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Unsure in what way?

If it's the authenticity then I can assure you that they are genuine colours, in the sense that they were recorded by my camera without any filters, and all I've done here is boost the vibrance and saturation in Lightroom.

If it's the aesthetics that you're not comfortable with, then sure, I agree with you. I much prefer the monochrome version I posted a couple of weeks ago.
 
StewartR said:
Unsure in what way?

If it's the authenticity then I can assure you that they are genuine colours, in the sense that they were recorded by my camera without any filters, and all I've done here is boost the vibrance and saturation in Lightroom.

If it's the aesthetics that you're not comfortable with, then sure, I agree with you. I much prefer the monochrome version I posted a couple of weeks ago.
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I am unsure the colours look good, or for that mater are correct.

You are certainly far more expert at these things than I am, but I have not had these effects before after taking many moon shots. I think if you boost the saturation and vibrance, there maybe all sorts of effects kicking in. But then I usually try and make the images into b/w :-(, and do the opposite to you.

You might have inspired me to do the same, I will look through some my moon shots and play with the saturation............:)
 
Mark Johnson said:
I am unsure the colours look good, or for that mater are correct.
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Ooh, I certainly don't think they look good. It was just an experiment. But I think they are genuine, because they correspond pretty closely with the colours I've seen when other people have tried the same thing (for example here).
Mark Johnson said:
I usually try and make the images into b/w :-(, and do the opposite to you.
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So do I usually. I have some form (1, 2, 3, 4 ) in the B&W moon department.
 
Mark Johnson said:
I am unsure the colours look good, or for that mater are correct.
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What you expect the Moon to look like is your reference
image of the Moon and in this I agree with you, Mark, this
moon don't look at all familiar (colour wise).

OTOH, we observe the world, the universe, with the very
narrow band of "visual light" at our sensory disposal igno-
ring the whole lot of the electromagnetic spectrum.

In the early days of my training at the science department
of the university I studied at, I discovered part of the cool
gizmos that rendered possible some access to an extended
observation of the spectrum. Then, the images could only
be recorded but the show could not be seen "live".

The collected captures had something "out of this world"
quality to them… so I understand you discomfort. :cool:
 
I quite like it. It's a variation from the regulation mono shots we see. And if that's what it's really like then why get upset?
 
Here is a colour version you might find interesting both visually and technically.
https://beta.1x.com/gm80

GIancarlo Melis
This is the result of the mosaic of many lunar images (232 shots) that were obtained during a whole year (2013-2014). Images was taken in different moon phases, then merged with Photoshop. Colors on the Moon are dominantly controlled by variations in iron (red) and titanium (blue) content. With multiple saturation boost operations we can see this colors. Colors that are imperceptible to the naked eye. To create the image I used three different digital SLRs, and a monochrome camera on a Newton 200mm aperture and 1000mm focal length, and a Maksutov Cassegrain 90mm aperture and 1250mm focal length.
 
Lovely image, well done indeed :)
 
GreenNinja67 said:
Impressive, I always thought the moon was "monochrome".
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Me too.

Although I do like the hilarious posts on Facebook when someone posts a picture of a blue moon or a pink moon, thinking those terms actually refer to its colour!


Steve.
 
Yes well I think the Op has a point in the fact that we (!) only see the moon in a human spectrum of light. By that I mean we only see certain parts of the spectrum. Examples include insects and flowers, underwater colour or lack of it, etcetera.

We , certainly myself, look up at the moon and just see this black white and grey disk in the sky. So I kinda guess that's my reference as K says.

So Stewart (duh)(Funny name :-0)) has a point about rock colour. Whether Stewart is correct about that I am unsure, as I have never seen any scientific writings about the possibility.

By the way, no-one is upset, its called discussion and presentation of view points, like what the forum is here to provide (duh)???
 
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