pointshooter
Well-known member
Legend has it that everyone in the world will eventually pass through Times Square in New York and Trafalgar Square in London. Likewise, every amateur photographer will one day erect a tripod and shoot the moon. Ah, the ubiquitous moon shot (actually a class assignment). Details below.
Camera: T2i (550D)
Lens: EF 75 to 300 mm, sans IS. As we were recently advised here, you have to be “out of your mind” to buy this lens. I saw it for $149 a few months ago, case included, and, well, perhaps the advice has merit, and senility or dementia is finally setting in. Not sure if IS would have helped anyway, after all, the earth kept spinning under my feet and the moon may have moved a tad. At 300 mm (480 mm on a crop body), you have to keep recomposing every few seconds.
File format: RAW
Focal length: 300 mm (480 mm)
Mode: Manual
Shutter: 1/80 sec
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100
White balance: Auto. Should I have used ‘shade’ for the twilight on earth or ‘daylight’ for the moon?
It was a chilly night, and I preferred the warm glow the shade setting provided.
Yes, it was cropped. The moon only fills about 15% the width of the frame at 480 mm.
Post-processing:
1. DPP – cropped to 624 x 935 pixels (2:3), adjusted white balance and saved three TIFs at EV +2, 0, and -2.
2. Photomatix – input EVs above and saved as fused using 0 and -2 EVs.
3. GIMP – rescaled to 2000 x 3000 pixels, unsharp mask, removed some slight chromatic aberation around the moon’s horizon. Found a great GIMP plug-in for this at http://photocomix-resources.deviantart.com/art/Fix-Cromatic-Aberration-95683614 , saved result to JPG.
Observations: It won’t be used by NASA on a future landing, but it makes a nice 4 x 6 print. This is also where the flip-out screen on the T3i would have been a big advantage for live view and tripod work – particularly those of us on the cusp of infirmity.
Best to all.
--
Editor Bob
Camera: T2i (550D)
Lens: EF 75 to 300 mm, sans IS. As we were recently advised here, you have to be “out of your mind” to buy this lens. I saw it for $149 a few months ago, case included, and, well, perhaps the advice has merit, and senility or dementia is finally setting in. Not sure if IS would have helped anyway, after all, the earth kept spinning under my feet and the moon may have moved a tad. At 300 mm (480 mm on a crop body), you have to keep recomposing every few seconds.
File format: RAW
Focal length: 300 mm (480 mm)
Mode: Manual
Shutter: 1/80 sec
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100
White balance: Auto. Should I have used ‘shade’ for the twilight on earth or ‘daylight’ for the moon?
It was a chilly night, and I preferred the warm glow the shade setting provided.Yes, it was cropped. The moon only fills about 15% the width of the frame at 480 mm.
Post-processing:
1. DPP – cropped to 624 x 935 pixels (2:3), adjusted white balance and saved three TIFs at EV +2, 0, and -2.
2. Photomatix – input EVs above and saved as fused using 0 and -2 EVs.
3. GIMP – rescaled to 2000 x 3000 pixels, unsharp mask, removed some slight chromatic aberation around the moon’s horizon. Found a great GIMP plug-in for this at http://photocomix-resources.deviantart.com/art/Fix-Cromatic-Aberration-95683614 , saved result to JPG.
Observations: It won’t be used by NASA on a future landing, but it makes a nice 4 x 6 print. This is also where the flip-out screen on the T3i would have been a big advantage for live view and tripod work – particularly those of us on the cusp of infirmity.
Best to all.
--
Editor Bob
