New Layering Tech For Old Lunar Image

[Hankmeister3]

Looking through some archival lunar images from 2018, I came across this frame out of a string of about 25 frames I grabbed of this region of Luna on 8/18/2018. I captured them using a SW SkyMax 180mm f/15 Maksutov. I believe it was at prime focus though I could be remembering wrong. I don't remember using eyepiece projection to nab this string of lunar images. Exposure was 1/8 second at ISO 400 using my unmodified Canon EOS 77D DSLR. Shot in monochrome mode in hopes of maximizing sharpness.

Single-frame images, no filters.

First photo is full-frame with four layers. Lots of tonal, contrast and luminance tweaks as well as unsharp masking, despeckling and a bit of Gaussian blur to smooth out the grain.

Second photo is about a 2.5X crop of the frame above with two more layers of unsharp masking and a final round of tonal tweaks and despeckling. The way I remember it, it was a pleasant enough night under Pickering 4 skies so there was a bit of upper atmosphere roiling but not so severe that lunar imaging was next to impossible. However, I believe I was fortunate to be able to grab this image in view of the fact I only grabbed 25 frames or this region of the Moon and this was best of the lot. The other fifty or so images which followed, despite refocusing several times never measured up to the first 25 frames. Seeing conditions must have shifted for the worst. I believe my main mission that night was trying to capture some acceptable images of Jupiter. Mission fail on that one.

[bladekeeper]

These look very nice, Henry!

[Hankmeister3]

Thanks, Bryan. I think my relative success with this particular lunar image wasn't the excellence of the original capture (actually, it kinda sucked), but somehow, after using a lot of tone/contrast/luminance and unsharp masking in the various layers I generated, it resulted in putting some pop into this image capture.

BTW, I like fast scrolling through a series of planetary or lunar images on my desktop and watch the images squirming all about due to atmospheric turbulence. It's like watching a video of what we're up against when viewing these solar system objects through miles of thick atmosphere. It's a tutorial of how capturing and stacking so many frames can often yield outstanding lunar and planetary images, especially as one sees the occasional "sharper image" surface now then while viewing these sequences in fast succession.

[Thefatkitty]

Henry, those really do look good! I'd love to apply what you've done on some (OK, all ) of my lunar images. The contrast and detail are great!

Nicely done and all the best,

[Dragonsfire]

Looking good

[Hankmeister3]

Henry, those really do look good! I'd love to apply what you've done on some (OK, all ) of my lunar images. The contrast and detail are great!

Nicely done and all the best,

Thank you, Mark. I reprocessed the full-frame version and succeeded in removing or diminishing the gray speckles which were in some abundance in the dark shadow regions of this lunar image. I assume these gray spots were some by-product of my attempts to "flatten the image" by greatly reducing the tonal contrasts between the terminator and the more brilliantly lit inland areas. I'll post the "new and improved" image below.

I think I've pretty much maxxed out PhotoStudios capabilities to increase the dynamic range of normally very contrasty lunar images as well as sharpening smaller details through sometimes reckless use of the unsharp masking feature of my software. I'm not too experienced in the discipline of lunar imaging like bladekeeper and other more accomplished lunar and planetary APers, but I am pleased with the improvements I've been able to make with a so-so single-frame image using ArcSoft's PhotoStudio. Yepper, the learning curve still stretches before me!

[Don Quixote]

Nice X and V henry.

[Hankmeister3]

Mark, can you point out the "X and V" you're talking about? I hadn't heard of that with regard to the Moon.