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Post by Peterj on Oct 3, 2022 15:14:36 GMT
I wonder if your friend was thinking about image averaging?
To average several images, load all the individual photos as layers. Keep the bottom layer at 100% opacity. Reduce the layer above it to 1/2 opacity (50%). Go to 1/3 (33%) opacity for the next layer up. Then 1/4 (25%), 1/5 (20%), 1/6 (17%), and so on.
Anyway, it is easy to do and maybe the results will be more pleasing than any one of the originals.
Tom, I will ask him about this. Thank you for thinking of this! I believe that image averaging as described is sometimes called noise stacking ... in any case Elements+ has a noise stacking option. |
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Post by Inspeqtor on Oct 4, 2022 5:11:25 GMT
I wonder if your friend was thinking about image averaging?
To average several images, load all the individual photos as layers. Keep the bottom layer at 100% opacity. Reduce the layer above it to 1/2 opacity (50%). Go to 1/3 (33%) opacity for the next layer up. Then 1/4 (25%), 1/5 (20%), 1/6 (17%), and so on.
Anyway, it is easy to do and maybe the results will be more pleasing than any one of the originals.
Tom, I will ask him about this. Thank you for thinking of this! I asked him about your thoughts, he said this: |
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Dan T
New Forum Member
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Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by Dan T on Oct 4, 2022 22:47:10 GMT
Unless you have multiple images with different parts of the moon in focus - focus stacking will not make the final image look sharper. The video that Andrei used he had some dew drops/rain drops on a string or something similar so he was able to get within inches of the dew drops. With the moon being 238,000+ miles from the earth that is going to be impossible to do with the moon so I am guessing his technique will not work at all The Elements+ Focus Stacking script will still work but with the focus distance of the moon being so large and even at f/4, for example, the DOF (depth of field) will be near enough to infinity so the benefits of focus stacking might be minimal in this case. I would expect any of the reputable AI sharpening apps to be able to sharpen up moon shots that are fairly close to tack sharp sooc. I haven't used focus stacking for moon shots in the past but your thread here is inspiring me to experiment with it the next time I photograph the moon. The way I would go about it is this: 1. Set up camera on a tripod as usual using the longest focal length I have, 600mm (960mm eq) 2. Using live view, zoom in the max I can to fill up the frame with the moon, manually focus at the center of the moon and take a shot. 3. Repeat step 2 manually setting focus at other locations of the moon (like the rim etc) and take shots. 4. Focus Stack the series of photos using Elements+. If you don't have Elements+ you could manually blend the images together using layer masks after aligning the images. |
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Post by Peterj on Oct 4, 2022 23:37:28 GMT
Here's a link to Noise Stacking including comparisons: Elements, Photoshop, Light Room, & On1 |
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Post by Inspeqtor on Oct 5, 2022 3:06:51 GMT
Dan T, Thank you for your help You mentioned the lens being at f/4.... my Sigma 150-600 Contemporary when the lens is at 600mm the f/stop is f/6.5 When I take pictures of the moon I ALWAYS add my Sigma 2.0 tele-extender which doubles the power to 1200mm which then the f/stop becomes f/13 Here is a picture I took just 3 hours ago, I have done nothing to the picture, this is SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera) This is at ISO 400 Shutter Speed 1/125s f/13  |
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Dan T
New Forum Member
Posts: 5
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by Dan T on Oct 5, 2022 3:42:32 GMT
Dan T, Thank you for your help You mentioned the lens being at f/4.... my Sigma 150-600 Contemporary when the lens is at 600mm the f/stop is f/6.5 You're welcome and sorry I wasn't clear. The f/4 I mentioned was just an example, not referring to any specific lens, while trying to highlight that even with a relatively largish aperture the DOF is still near enough to infinity when photographing the moon. Smaller apertures (larger f-numbers) will produce an even larger DOF when everything else remains constant. I'd be pretty happy with both of your photos. Nice photos!  |
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Post by Inspeqtor on Oct 5, 2022 5:14:21 GMT
Peterj,
I thank you for this, but... charts like this I hate to say it I really do not understand what they are saying or meaning.
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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 Oct 20, 2022 16:26:05 GMT
Charles, thank you very much for sharing another excellent moon picture!
As has already been mentioned, focus stacking will not work with the moon. It's so far away, that if it's correctly focussed, then it will ALL be in focus. Your friend is referring to image stacking to reduce noise. This is useful when taking deep sky photos. The noise is average and will cancel and clean up the image of the stars and galaxies.
However, the moon is quite a bright object, and when correctly exposed at iso 100, noise should be minimal. To reduce noise, it would be a lot easier to use an AI noise reduction on the raw file (eg. Topaz denoise AI) But of course image stacking will also work.
Kind regards
Chris
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