An interesting process and perspective...

[bladekeeper]

Mostly sorta clear here this evening, though there were large swaths of high thins around. Luckily one just departed the Moon with more on the way. I had to act fast before those arrived and the Moon became entangled in the upper reaches of an elm tree.

I plonked the AVX down into my polar alignment divots and saddled the SV102T with the ASI174MC barlowed 2×. I ran off six captures and packed up (along with my full disk cycle capture with the 294).

Back inside, I cranked each 1000-frame SER file through Autostakkert!, stacking the best 10% of frames. As each completed, the stacked image automatically opened up in Registax and I just had to click the Do All button to tighten the frame up with some wavelet action.

Once all those were done, I opened all six up in GIMP to trim the edges off and re-exported as TIFF images. Once done, over to MS Image Composite editor to build the mosaic. Back to GIMP, I opened the composite image up and re-exported that as a TIFF.

In StarTools, I opened that TIFF and reversed the stretch. Then I ran an Autodev, applied a wipe, and then redid the global stretch. In the color module, I accepted the defaults and saved.

A bit of a different perspective on Ye Ol' Luna.

20190909 20_13_28_g4_ap138_stitch 2 by Bryan Gabbard, on Flickr

[Don Quixote]

Oh Boy !
This image is so sharp my eyes are watering, Bryan.

I really like the exposure !

Bravo !

[fatboy1271]

Awesome job Bryan!!!

[Shabadoo]

It's so pretty.

[Thefatkitty]

That's really cool Bryan! The light rays and sunlit sides of some of the craters contrasts well with the dark mares and the in-between colors of everything else. You've got this down to a science! I got a few off tonight but nothing I really liked. Darn weather!

Hope it continues for you,

[Kingofthehill]

That's a beauty...I say it's fake

[Lady Fraktor]

Really nice and crispy Bryan

[Lowjiber]

Just about the time I'm thinking you can't get any better, you pop that one on my eyeballs. Incredible image, Bryan!

"When you stop getting better, you quit being good."

[Juno16]

Yes, that is definitely a cool looking capture. The stark contrast is stunning!

Thanks,
Jim

[bobharmony]

Great detail and sharpness, without going over the cliff. What made you think of throwing this into StarTools? What a great idea!

Bob

[bladekeeper]

Thanks, everybody!

Great detail and sharpness, without going over the cliff. What made you think of throwing this into StarTools? What a great idea!

Bob

Hi Bob!

Well, my initial capture seemed a tad on the green side despite SharpCap's assurance that it was properly color balanced and had a happy histogram. After getting the mosaic done, it still felt a tad on the green side.

I've tweaked color balance on these before in ST, but ST won't offer a color balance on a non-linear image, only the option of adjusting sliders to taste. So I thought I'd see what happened if I unstretched and processed that way. ST happily offered a fun color balance then.

I will continue to tweak and experiment to try to narrow down the dynamic range between darks and lights there to get it a more "natural" level. I've seen some lunar images that appear so natural to my eye but I've never been able to replicate. ST seems to have pointed me down the right path, I'm hoping.

Below is a JPG of the original composite, pre-StarTools:

[Don Quixote]

Thanks, everybody!

Great detail and sharpness, without going over the cliff. What made you think of throwing this into StarTools? What a great idea!

Bob

Hi Bob!

Well, my initial capture seemed a tad on the green side despite SharpCap's assurance that it was properly color balanced and had a happy histogram. After getting the mosaic done, it still felt a tad on the green side.

I've tweaked color balance on these before in ST, but ST won't offer a color balance on a non-linear image, only the option of adjusting sliders to taste. So I thought I'd see what happened if I unstretched and processed that way. ST happily offered a fun color balance then.

I will continue to tweak and experiment to try to narrow down the dynamic range between darks and lights there to get it a more "natural" level. I've seen some lunar images that appear so natural to my eye but I've never been able to replicate. ST seems to have pointed me down the right path, I'm hoping.

Below is a JPG of the original composite, pre-StarTools:

20190909 20_13_28_g4_ap138_stitch.jpg

Hi Bryan. Is this the one that you think looks green ?

[Bigzmey]

Great capture Bryan! Love sharpness and contrast.

[OzEclipse]

Nice one Bryan. The detail really pops out at you.

Thanks for sharing

Joe

[bladekeeper]

Hi Bryan. Is this the one that you think looks green ?

Yessir, it does appear a tad on the seasick side to me.

I may be influenced over the past week by the ASI294MC with the l-eNhance filter. Those are probably leaning toward the blue. I've not really noted the green with the ASI174MC before.

A transient phenomenon, if you will.

Thanks Andrey and Joe also!