I got a new telephoto lens for Mother's Day. I took the photo you see below last night. Now, I realize it's not even close to perfect, but it is soooooo much better than the moon shots I've taken before. I now want to make it perfect! If you look at the comments left by others, I have had one person offer advice on how to improve this photo. I am welcoming any other advice. Let me add that I know very little about photography and cameras, so explain as if you were telling a 5-year-old. :-) All the information on my camera can be found by clicking on the photo. I want to get this perfect before the full moon on the 17th. Thanks in advance.
What are you using for post-processing? You need to do some noise reduction for a start, which'll get rid of all the weird green/purple/blue speckles which're especially visible towards the shadow.
Well I am certainly no expert here, but when I took a moon shot that I was satisfied with, I used a low iso - 200, fairly large aperature, I did not zoom in on post as you did, and most of the issues may be with post processing, you can get along without a tripod, but for best results, you may want to use one.
I really think the key to shot is processing in post using unsharp mask and that will really make the definition between the moon and the sky less pixelatted, but becareful not to over do it.
Warren would be correct. With less then "top notch" lenses and cameras post processing this kind of shot is very important for sure.
As this is a crop, even w/ 200 ISO you are getting all of the noise that your camera produces. I would absolutely set it on the lowest ISO possible to reduce this.
A tripod is a nice thing to have but the moon is bright enough not to need one if youre getting up to +1/250 shutter speed, but it can still help out a lot b/c you can turn off your IS (Image Stabilization) which can cause noise.
Since you are cropping the shot, i highly recommend shooting w/ the moon framed in as dead center as you can get it, this is the area where your lens will capture the most detail w/ the least amount of CA and distortion.
Im going to assume usage of Photoshop for post work. GIMP is supposed to be a free watered down version, but ive never used it to know if it has the EXACT same features im going to mention. If you cant afford/get PS i would test out GIMP there are A LOT of newbie to advanced tutorials for both GIMP and PS on the web
In post you will want to run FIRST a noise reduction. If you do not have Noiseware Professorial i highly recommend it. Its by far the best noise reduction filter ad-on for PS out there. Lots of control to make sure you dont lose details which is important for this kind of shot especially. The alternative would be using noise reduction sliders in w/e RAW processing software youre using, or PS does have a noise reduction filter too, but im not sure how well it works..
I would then use either a Levels adjustment or a Curves adjustment (Curves is harder to use, but works much better in most cases if you know what youre doing) Judging by this shot, this step may not be quite as important as long as you get your exposure correct which it seems you can do ;]
Lastly, as warren mentioned, run an Unsharp Mask filter in PS.
You will want a Threshold of 1 and you will have to play w/ the Amount and Size sliders to get it looking how you would like it. You will find tho that this step will HIGHLY increase the detail you see in this kind of shot. Very effective.
Sorry for writing a short novel.. hope it helps tho! Shooting the moon is more technical then it is artistic imo, but the shots can look great if you know the technicals [:
I would certainly start by lowering your ISO settings to about 200, maybe even 400.......that will lower the "noise" in the photo......and usa tripod, and your moon shots should come out perfectly
Thank you all for the information. I was planning to use the advice you've given me for another attempt tonight, but it doesn't look like Mother Nature is going to cooperate. Thank you all again for the info. God bless!
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Are you using a tripod?
I really think the key to shot is processing in post using unsharp mask and that will really make the definition between the moon and the sky less pixelatted, but becareful not to over do it.
As this is a crop, even w/ 200 ISO you are getting all of the noise that your camera produces. I would absolutely set it on the lowest ISO possible to reduce this.
A tripod is a nice thing to have but the moon is bright enough not to need one if youre getting up to +1/250 shutter speed, but it can still help out a lot b/c you can turn off your IS (Image Stabilization) which can cause noise.
Since you are cropping the shot, i highly recommend shooting w/ the moon framed in as dead center as you can get it, this is the area where your lens will capture the most detail w/ the least amount of CA and distortion.
Im going to assume usage of Photoshop for post work. GIMP is supposed to be a free watered down version, but ive never used it to know if it has the EXACT same features im going to mention. If you cant afford/get PS i would test out GIMP there are A LOT of newbie to advanced tutorials for both GIMP and PS on the web
In post you will want to run FIRST a noise reduction. If you do not have Noiseware Professorial i highly recommend it. Its by far the best noise reduction filter ad-on for PS out there. Lots of control to make sure you dont lose details which is important for this kind of shot especially. The alternative would be using noise reduction sliders in w/e RAW processing software youre using, or PS does have a noise reduction filter too, but im not sure how well it works..
I would then use either a Levels adjustment or a Curves adjustment (Curves is harder to use, but works much better in most cases if you know what youre doing) Judging by this shot, this step may not be quite as important as long as you get your exposure correct which it seems you can do ;]
Lastly, as warren mentioned, run an Unsharp Mask filter in PS.
You will want a Threshold of 1 and you will have to play w/ the Amount and Size sliders to get it looking how you would like it. You will find tho that this step will HIGHLY increase the detail you see in this kind of shot. Very effective.
Sorry for writing a short novel.. hope it helps tho! Shooting the moon is more technical then it is artistic imo, but the shots can look great if you know the technicals [:
Better? Worse? Thoughts.....