Moon shot first attempt
Jan 30, 2018 11:30:37 #
I have a nikon d7200 with a sigma 70 - 200 f2.8 lens and 2X tele converter. Any suggestions on how I can improve this shot? I am new at this and appreciate all constructive criticism.
Jan 30, 2018 11:44:29 #
Looks like the moon to me. Could be sharper.
To improve, you could use a better lens and no teleconverter.
To improve, you could use a better lens and no teleconverter.
Jan 30, 2018 11:48:35 #
Hi Tom, and Welcome to Astrophotography!
To me, your Moon looks great. But many prefer you make it darker, shows more details.
But whenever I look at the Moon it's a bright white object, so my head expects it to be brighter.
Were you using any filters? Or just exposure and ISO adjustments?
To me, your Moon looks great. But many prefer you make it darker, shows more details.
But whenever I look at the Moon it's a bright white object, so my head expects it to be brighter.
Were you using any filters? Or just exposure and ISO adjustments?
Jan 30, 2018 17:35:31 #
You are on track, but a full or near-full moon is the least interesting to shoot. To get good relief and detail in craters you are better off shooting a crescent moon. In your list of gear you show a Tamron 150-600 mm lens - I wonder why you didn't use that. The longer the reach, the more care you need in keeping the gear steady, but on a solid tripod and using a shutter delay to allow it to settle, you should get good results.
Jan 30, 2018 22:28:32 #
I did not use any filters to take the shot. Some adjustments in lightroom. My longest lens is a sigma 70 - 200 f2.8 which was used for the shot
Jan 30, 2018 22:30:26 #
I totally agree with the comment about better lens and no tele converter. Limited budget and need to work with the existing equipment.
Jan 31, 2018 00:23:27 #
Tom K 66 wrote:
I totally agree with the comment about better lens and no tele converter. Limited budget and need to work with the existing equipment.
I'm not sure where Straight Shooter saw a listing of your equipment but if you do have the Tamron 150-600 by all means use it.
I have that lens and it does a very good job with the moon and also with the Orion Nebula. Tripod and either a remote release or a 2 second delay will help.
That is a pretty large lens.
You will also pull more detail if you bring your exposure down a bit.
Welcome to our dark corner of the hog.
Jim
Jan 31, 2018 00:28:05 #
Thanks Jim, I will try adjusting the exposure. Not sure why Straight Shooter thought I have the Tamron lens. I do not have anything longer than the sigma 20 - 200 f2.8 and the tele converter
Jan 31, 2018 06:38:45 #
I have to agree with the hog posters, "Straight Shooter" and I agree that a full moon offers very little of interest - but a quarter moon shows the sun cascading across the peaks and valleys adding some contrast and interest. Most teleconverters - esp those with a 2x power offer a narrower FOV but they soften the image (I have the Nikon 1.4x ande 2x and both are as useless as tits on a bore hog).....depending on the quality of the lens and tele, you are almost always better off shooting without the tele and crop the pic. Your nikon can handle a 100 percent crop with sufficient pixels to manage post adjustments without artifacts. I wouldn't crop more than 100 unless you have "upsizing" software like "Resize" from "OnOne." OnOne has a robust algorithm that can often get a decent 200 percent crop without artifacts....which is the cheapest way (takes a little work) to narrow the FOV. But - the fun is in the trying and I would guess that this will be the first of many "up" shots. "Up shooting" is both addictive and costly!
Jan 31, 2018 07:13:50 #
danlsmith
Loc: Columbus Ohio
From a post above, If you enjoy taking pictures of the moon and other dark sky items, try this. Use a good firm tripod. Take 10 or more pictures without moving the camera. Then add them together, "stack" them. This greatly increases the sharpness, contrast, and makes the equivalent ISO lower. Stack two pictures taken at ISO 100 and the output image looks like ISO 50. Stack 10 pictures taken at ISO 100 and the output looks like ISO 5!!!. I use a free program called Registax. I have version 6. It is designed for astronomical pictures but also works with any other type of photography, even portraits. Others use different software, I happened to have found Registax, it is a Windows program, it is free, and it does an excellent job. Google for it. ☺
Jan 31, 2018 08:56:28 #
Apologies: I think I misread someone else's gear list for yours.
Jan 31, 2018 09:55:05 #
Tom K 66 wrote:
I have a nikon d7200 with a sigma 70 - 200 f2.8 lens and 2X tele converter. Any suggestions on how I can improve this shot? I am new at this and appreciate all constructive criticism.
With your setup Tom you did excelent work.
Some info on what settings you used would be helpful.
Craig
Jan 31, 2018 10:23:32 #
Jan 31, 2018 14:19:15 #
Tom K 66 wrote:
I took the shot with ISO 100, f8, and shutter speed of 1/100
Those are perfect settings to me , no wonder your shots turned out great.
Craig
Jan 31, 2018 14:59:49 #
Tom K 66 wrote:
I have a nikon d7200 with a sigma 70 - 200 f2.8 lens and 2X tele converter. Any suggestions on how I can improve this shot? I am new at this and appreciate all constructive criticism.
I see "I took the shot with ISO 100, f8, and shutter speed of 1/100" so noise shouldn't be problem but the image does appear to be grainy; not sure why?
The image is also not quite sharp; probably the result of the 2x teleconverter but could be a little out of focus? I'd suggest dropping the 2x teleconverter and, if you want 2x magnification, just do a 2x zoom in Photoshop or a package like PhotoZoom; both software approaches often give better results than a 2x teleconverter.
If you used Lightroom for processing, I'd suggest upping the Clarity, applying a little Luminance Noise
reduction, maybe a bit of sharpening. A full Moon is the least "contrasty" of any Moon and needs a little help to bring out its features.
But a great start on Lunar imaging.
bwa
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