D70/Capture/PSE3 Moon Shot Help Needed...

[Roger Arrant]

After seeing some great moon shots here I revisited a few (3) that I took back in May when I first got my TC-17E II. They were shot RAW, mode II, hand held w/ the D70, 70-200 VR, and the TC-17. When I view these in NV, or NC, zoomed to 100% they look fine. They are (to me) very sharp.

I see images posted at 100% "crop" and I'm not sure how that is done. The only way I could figure to do it was, (in NC) zoom in at 100%, and select the entire window with the crop tool. I'm sure that even if that is actually a 100% crop that I am probably going around my elbow to get to you know where.

I then used a touch of USM, then saved as TIFF (because I wanted to convert to sRGB in PSE3 for posting on the web). Also saved as jpg with same results. When I view these in NV, NC, or even Windows viewer they look fine, but when I open them in PSE3 they look rough pixelated (sp?), with weird colors in them. Why do you suppose this is?

I have not been able to read a whole lot about processing as I'm still trying to understand the camera settings. If anyone has time (no hurry) to point out a few basic steps to get me from the RAW shots to a 100% crop, and the basic PP work in NC/PSE3 needed to get them presentable then I would be very grateful.

Peace!
Roger

 

[motorsportnut]

I had the same ??? about 100% cropping and got these answers

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1030&message=14773173

--
To iterate is human, to recurse divine.

 

[Roger Arrant]

Thanks for the reply! Based on BA's great post it looks like I may be doing the 100% crop correctly as long as the window is an actual full view of the 100% zoom. I still don't understand why a 100% crop from NC would look so bad when opened in PSE3. My problem is that being involved with music and electronics is I know that if I don't really understand the basics that I'm really just faking it. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Peace!
Roger

 

[Roger Arrant]

Here is one of the pics that I mentioned to see how it shows up here.

D70, 70-200 VR, TC-17E II, hand held, 100% crop (I think).



Peace!
Roger

 

[Jay J.274007]

Rodger, you have a lot of detail in that picture, looks real nice with a little bit of PS adjustments...



cheers!
jj

 

[Roger Arrant]

Wow, Jay that is great. I figured it could use some PP, but back to the main reason for my post, when I load the image with PSE3 it looks really bad. It looks all pixelated with deep purple colors in the darker areas. I'd really love to know why, and also how you were able to make it "pop" as they say. Thanks for your efforts on my behalf.

Peace!
Roger

 

[Jay J.274007]

Hello Roger

My initial guess would be shadow area type noise, color space and who knows what. If you'd like email me the raw file and I'll take a look to see if the same things show on my monitor (calibrated etc...)

The quick and sloppy adjustments I did to your pic were via the PS CS2 Shadow/Highlight selections adding in some mid tone contrast and reducing the color correction from that same adjustment page. After that I changed the endpoints on the Lightness channel via a Curves adjustment while in Lab Mode. I was attempting to pull out the darker tones of the Mare Serenitatis & Mare Tranquillitatis and recover some of the details in the highlights of the really bright edge areas. I think overall it boils down to I was attempting to get some more contrast to those spots that could show some detail.

cheers!
jj

Wow, Jay that is great. I figured it could use some PP, but back to
the main reason for my post, when I load the image with PSE3 it
looks really bad. It looks all pixelated with deep purple colors in
the darker areas. I'd really love to know why, and also how you
were able to make it "pop" as they say. Thanks for your efforts on
my behalf.

Peace!
Roger

 

[Roger Arrant]

Thanks for the explanation JJ. I will need to seek out a course or maybe some books that explain the basic elements of processing. I have a bunch now but they tell you to click here and click there but don't get into what is really going on as you do it. I realize that it is way beyond the scope of this (or any) forum top get down to the level of someone that doesn't fully understand the basics. The questions in my head remind me of those old car radios,,, when you push one button down, it just causes another one to pop up ;^) Thanks again for your help.

Peace!
Roger