A day late (yesterday) due to clouds on the closest night (the 21st).
Specific Feedback Requested
As an astro image, it sucks, but it’s what I could do with what I have. Just proves I tried… Thermal turbulence in the atmosphere must have been as bad as it gets. In live view I could see the planets swimming around like they were being reflected off of disturbed water.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: Yes
Canon R5, 600 EF f/4 + 2X + 1.4X at 1680mm, different exposures for the moon, the planets and Jupiter’s moons. The moon was shot about 90 degrees away, and included for scale. Some tedious NR and black point matching not really worth going into. All with LR and PS.
Diane, I know nothing about true astro photography, so I think it’s pretty cool to see this, even if the conditions weren’t perfect. I love the concept of including the moon to anchor the image and play off against the planets.
Considering that you were at 1,680mm, this doesn’t seem that soft to me. I’ll also bet you’re liking the 45 MP on the Canon R5 too !!!
I have only dabbled in Astro photography but I think you did a great job and much better than my attempt the other night that is not even worth posting. I really like that the moon is in the composition for scale and you can see saturns rings and Jupiters moons, very cool!!! Curious at that focal length, what shutter speed did you have to use to not turn the planets into commas?
Diane, this isn’t bad. I never attempt to include the moon, not even as a composite. I didn’t get anything this good, that is for sure. It was nice to see it in person though.
I echo what Ed said. For 1680mm, this is not bad at all and also considering you had 2 converters on the 600. Excellent idea incorporating the moon into the scene. Pretty neat shot for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks everyone! Oddly enough, the two TCs don’t degrade things that much – the biggest penalty is CA, which can’t fully be corrected. The IQ issues here are due to the atmosphere, made worse by the low shooting angle.
