Chris
Established Forum Member
Posts: 490
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by Chris on Sept 20, 2020 11:05:38 GMT
Peter, thank you very much for sharing this example. Stacking has definitely improved the image quality of your moon shot. Also, thank you for sharing your article about stacking which I just downloaded. I am learning some new things from the forum all the time. (Your 11th post from the top) photoshopelementsandmore.com/thread/6031/median-stacking-reduce-noise. As you correctly mention in your tutorial, almost all photographic images have some noise... and stacking is an effective way to reduce it without blurring detail. I have seen some very impressive deep sky star shots that would have not been possible without stacking. I am still learning about moon photography. But generally, noise has not been the biggest issue for me. My greatest worry is getting the manual focus right and avoiding camera shake with a long lens. If the moon is high in the sky and bright, I typically use a manual focus 500 mm lens with a self timer and mirror lockup (or live view) iso 100, 1/250 sec, f8. Then I tweak in PS elements. Kind regards Chris |
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 20, 2020 15:02:15 GMT
I am far from knowledgeable on the subject. The initial question was tripod or handheld. Just like panorama sets, HDR sets, and other bracketed sets of photos, it is best to use a tripod, but most programs that merge/stack bracketed sets have the ability to align handheld images; there is usually a check-box near the first step to inform the program to use the handheld algorithm. Whatever the reason for bracketed sets, if I think that a bracketed set would be advantageous and happen not to have a tripod at the moment, I steady myself as best I can and take the brackets anyway; I don't let the lack of the tripod keep me from doing so. In most cases, the lack of the tripod does not seem to affect the end result, at least to my eye. I use free CombineZP to focus-stack images; available here: alan-hadley.software.informer.com/I learned about it here: www.photography-forum.org/threads/focus-stacking-with-combinezp.56324/>>> On EDIT: More Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CombineZ |
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Post by Inspeqtor on Sept 26, 2020 12:00:19 GMT
Peter,
Thank you for posting in my thread. I never got an email saying anything was added to my thread. I came to PE&M for another reason and was surprised to learn I had something new here.
You said:
That sentence is a bit confusing to me. I do see in your comparison the right image is sharper than the left image and indeed does look significantly better. What I think you are saying is your right image has 10 shots stacked, your left image is a single shot with no stacking?
Did you use a star tracker to keep the images close to same position in the frame?
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Post by Inspeqtor on Sept 26, 2020 13:42:11 GMT
Woah! Now that I posted the above post, NOW I see there are two more posts, one my Chris, anther by Buckskin. Chris, Which camera body do you use, and does it have focus peaking in the menu? My older Canon 60D does not have it. When I would take moon shots I could spend 2+ hours taking photos wondering all along just how good are my shots? Last year I was able to upgrade to the Canon 90D. At the time I did not know the 90D had focus peaking, or even what focus peaking was! Now I do not spend 2+ hours, I can be done in 20 minutes! If you do not have focus peaking, I do hope you can save up some $$$ to upgrade to a new camera that does have it. I took this last night. This is SOOC (straight out of camera) only thing I did in Elements was to resize the image to 1600 pixels longest side.  Buckskin, I was not aware that it was possible to take hand held shots and put them together for stacking. I thought you would need a tripod AND a star tracker. I have never done any stacking. What program do you use? I do have the iOptron Star Tracker, but it does not work well with a heavy lens mounted to the outfit. I tried using it when we had the partial solar eclipse in August 2017. It did OK, but not great as the sun did bounce around in the frame from shot to shot to shot. I just now re-watched my time-lapse. The sun did stay in the same area really very good thru-out the video but it did bounce around. |
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Chris
Established Forum Member
Posts: 490
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by Chris on Sept 26, 2020 15:17:51 GMT
Inspeqtor. Thanks for posting another excellent moon shot. Very clear and in sharp focus!
I also have the 90D. In live view, focus peaking works with my Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. But focus peaking is really not needed for that lens because the autofocus is instant and works fine. But I prefer to use my 500mm F8 manual focus lens for moon shots to get more reach. Unfortunately focus peaking does not work for that lens, probably because it is not fast enough at F8. But if I tap the live view screen it becomes greatly magnified which is a great aid to nail focus. I always try several attempts to ensure at least one will be a keeper.
Kind regards
Chris
PS. The 90D also has a micro focus adjustment that can be fine tuned for each lens. But that could be the subject of another post.
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Post by Peterj on Sept 26, 2020 15:23:15 GMT
Peter, Thank you for posting in my thread. I never got an email saying anything was added to my thread. I came to PE&M for another reason and was surprised to learn I had something new here. You said: That sentence is a bit confusing to me. I do see in your comparison the right image is sharper than the left image and indeed does look significantly better. What I think you are saying is your right image has 10 shots stacked, your left image is a single shot with no stacking? Did you use a star tracker to keep the images close to same position in the frame?
The image on the left is a single image - the image on the right is a result of stacking 10 images ... one of which is the single image on the left.
The stacked images were captured using my camera's burst mode; the moon does move however barely noticeable during the burst duration (less than 1 minute for this example). Additionally both PSE with Elements+ add on and On1 Photo Raw provide the option to align the image stack.
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Post by Inspeqtor on Sept 26, 2020 17:48:55 GMT
Inspeqtor. Thanks for posting another excellent moon shot. Very clear and in sharp focus! I also have the 90D. In live view, focus peaking works with my Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. But focus peaking is really not needed for that lens because the autofocus is instant and works fine. But I prefer to use my 500mm F8 manual focus lens for moon shots to get more reach. Unfortunately focus peaking does not work for that lens, probably because it is not fast enough at F8. But if I tap the live view screen it becomes greatly magnified which is a great aid to nail focus. I always try several attempts to ensure at least one will be a keeper. Kind regards Chris PS. The 90D also has a micro focus adjustment that can be fine tuned for each lens. But that could be the subject of another post. One thing I forgot to mention about the moon shot I posted above, I used my Sigma 150-600C lens at 600mm and also I had attached my Sigma 2.0 TC so I was really at 1200mm then adding the 1.6 for the 90D takes me to 1920mm Glad to hear you also own the 90D! When you hand focus the manual 500mm does your setup jiggle a lot while touching your lens? Mine sure does. I wish I could have a cement pillar for a tripod!!! I did not know the 90D has micro focus adjust! Thank you for letting me know that! |
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Post by Inspeqtor on Sept 26, 2020 17:52:48 GMT
The image on the left is a single image - the image on the right is a result of stacking 10 images ... one of which is the single image on the left.
The stacked images were captured using my camera's burst mode; the moon does move however barely noticeable during the burst duration (less than 1 minute for this example). Additionally both PSE with Elements+ add on and On1 Photo Raw provide the option to align the image stack.
Peter, Thank you. That is what I thought you meant.  |
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 26, 2020 21:05:04 GMT
I use CombineZP; it is FREE! Look back to my other post for the links. If you guys want moon shots, why not get a T-whatever adapter for your camera and a telescope ? I procured myself a 50-500-lbs Sigma several months ago and am still learning it; I haven't yet tried any lunar photography with it. I already had two 2x tele-extenders that I had been using on a 75-300mm Canon; with both of them stacked behind the 50-500, you can reach out and touch things. I have often wondered if the world in general would not be better off if we were to blast the moon to smithereens and thus not have all this weird and dangerous weather, tides, and such. Would the lack of it pull our orbit closer or push us farther from the sun; or, would it have any effect at all on our orbital position ? |
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 26, 2020 21:13:33 GMT
I did not know the 90D has micro focus adjust! Thank you for letting me know that! This video is about the Canon 7D, but the procedure is the same for all. I like this old boy's no nonsense approach to things. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LDiRmVf2EQBe sure to research this thoroughly before messing around with it; and, also, be sure to select the option for a specific lens only and NOT for all lenses. |
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Post by Inspeqtor on Sept 27, 2020 0:31:14 GMT
I use CombineZP; it is FREE! Look back to my other post for the links. If you guys want moon shots, why not get a T-whatever adapter for your camera and a telescope ? I procured myself a 50-500-lbs Sigma several months ago and am still learning it; I haven't yet tried any lunar photography with it. I already had two 2x tele-extenders that I had been using on a 75-300mm Canon; with both of them stacked behind the 50-500, you can reach out and touch things. I have often wondered if the world in general would not be better off if we were to blast the moon to smithereens and thus not have all this weird and dangerous weather, tides, and such. Would the lack of it pull our orbit closer or push us farther from the sun; or, would it have any effect at all on our orbital position ? CombineZP Did you allow CombineZP to download ALL files? I did and got combinezp.msi and siinst.exe I have not yet opened either one, but I suspect the first one is safe, but wondering about siinst.exe You said above why not get T-whatever, are you referring to the Tele converters/extenders you referred to? Why in the world would you like to blast the moon out of our sky? I do not know if doing that would change our weather or not, but holy cow I LOVE our moon!! It is so beautiful to look at! |
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Post by Inspeqtor on Sept 27, 2020 0:35:26 GMT
I did not know the 90D has micro focus adjust! Thank you for letting me know that! This video is about the Canon 7D, but the procedure is the same for all. I like this old boy's no nonsense approach to things. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LDiRmVf2EQBe sure to research this thoroughly before messing around with it; and, also, be sure to select the option for a specific lens only and NOT for all lenses. Thank you for the video and the warning to research this thoroughly. I will be nervous making any changes to the camera functions hoping I did not do something wrong and make things WORSE! |
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 27, 2020 4:06:31 GMT
I will be nervous making any changes to the camera functions hoping I did not do something wrong and make things WORSE! So long as you are sure to make the adjustments ONLY for the lens that is on the camera, you should be fine. Take good notes as to where things are before and also just how much in what direction you adjusted and you should be able to put everything back like it was should things not work out. The reason that old boy is using a framing square is on account of it being metal, the markings are actually etched in the metal, thus allowing a more positive point of focus; a good steel straight-edge ruler would work just as well so long as the graduations are etched and not just printed. They make neat little pricey pasteboard focus calibrating targets, but I actually think a steel ruler with etched markings would be superior; those flimsy pasteboard targets are going to have a bit of sag, whereas a steel rule is not. You may even find things to be dead-on and no adjustment necessary. |
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 27, 2020 4:38:53 GMT
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 27, 2020 4:47:20 GMT
Did you allow CombineZP to download ALL files? I did and got combinezp.msi and siinst.exe I just looked in my folders and all I got was an executable application file named "combinezp" ; I must not have gotten any zip-files or anything else as I always keep everything together and there is nothing else in that folder. I will have to do a bit of investigating and see if I can figure out what you got. |
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