Moon and Jupiter conjunction

[doug]

Took this image with my Olympus mu last night.... not very good but it`s something.  Just hope that somebody got a better one of this conjunction. The moon is overexposed but you can see the disc of the planet ...... unless it`s my imagination!! 



Doug.

[MarkS]

I managed to get a brief glimpse of it last night but, being Xmas, wasn't going to get the Tak out for a photo.

The moon is overexposed but you can see the disc of the planet ...... unless it`s my imagination!! 

Sorry to tell you this Doug, but the disc of Jupiter is nowhere near that large otherwise you would clearly see the disc with your naked eye.  I think the camera must have been a tad out of focus.

Mark

[doug]

I think you are right, Mark, but it was a very rushed photo. The camera was on autofocus, I don't think it has a manual focus facility. Oh well, I can't win them all.

Doug. (Feeling slightly foolish)

[JohnP]

Still a nice image though Doug and you can get a feel for how close they were.

Well done and hope rose is feeling better,

John.

[Whitters]

Hi Doug, good to see someone got out over Christmas and not get drenched. your image may be a little out of focus but it does record the conjunction and how close the two appeared on Christmas night.

The Moon and Jupiter have been having a merry dance these past three months, I didn't get a shot  this month but managed one on the 28th Nov.



It's a bit of a cheat, it's made from three images, all three are taken with the same camera and lens (300mm) , only the exposure time is changed to best suit the various elements of the subject. The shortest exposure of all for the Moon with Jupiter barely.

Best wishes to you both for 2013

[MarkS]

It's only a slight cheat, but it's a great picture!

Well done.

Mark

[doug]

Nice one, Paul.  That`s why I can`t get decent images ..... 300mm lenses, etc, stacking etc, multiple exposures etc .... oh, well.

It is a really nice image. 

Doug.

[Whitters]

Doug, you don't need a 300mm lens, you will get a good result with what you have you just need to know the tricks. if you can use the auto focus on your camera to focus using the Moon and then turn off auto focus that will help you to take the shots you need, if you can't turn off auto focus then focus on the moon for each shot. The important thing is being able to override the auto exposure this will allow you to take several pictures with different exposures. The trick here is to be able to select the shutter speed you want. I used 1/1000 at f10 ISO 160 for the full moon, then 1/25 for Jupiter disk and 1.3 sec for the moons. You don't have to muck around with the pictures in photoshop, it is equally valid to show all three shots separately to show the elements of each. you should get another chance on the night of the 21st Jan. practice on the moon and Jupiter if we ever get clear nights before then.
Good luck mate.

[The Thing]

Hi Doug,

BTW If you can't control shutter speed and/or aperture you may be able to control exposure compensation - I can on my little Fuji F20 which is quite ancient and cheap. It's usually shown as EV+ -. Changing this will cause the camera to choose a different shutter speed/aperture combination to the usual and so achieve different exposures of the same subject. You may also be able to set the ISO ('sensitivity' to something other than AUTO which will give you even more control.

Let us know what camera you have (make/model), between us we should be able to advise on what to set to what for which subject!

Happy imaging!

Duncan