Rendering extreme HDR images like this involves lots of choices. A 20+ stop stacked image must be rendered for displays or prints with 0.1% of that dynamic range.
My prior "blue sky" image was rendered to optimize visibility of the prominences and the blue color of the sky. This limited the dynamic range for the corona from above and below. The image was also more closely cropped to increase the visibility of the prominences.
Every yes is also a no to something else. Here is the same image with those optimizations turned off and the corona more fully visible.
This HDR composite of the 2024-04-08 18:52 UT total solar eclipse shows both the corona and 5 prominences. It was made combining images from two different camera telescope setups from Little Rock, Arkansas.
The corona data was taken with 18 HDR exposures from 0.8 to 1/320 sec with a Sony a6300 crop sensor mirrorless camera and a William Optics RedCat 250/51mm f/5 Petzval refractor.
The solar disk and prominence data was taken with a Questar1280/89mm, f/15, telescope and Sony a7iii. 4 1/30 sec exposures stacked for noise reduction. The RedCat data was upscaled in Topaz Gigapixel AI and rotated to match thedata from the Questar.
Dynamic range was allocated to show the twilight blue sky color, the inner to mid corona, and the bright prominences clearly.
Alignment, HDR compositing, and final exposure adjustments were all done in Photoshop. The corona was sharpened with radial unsharp masking.
Original image replaced with one that corrected a small alignment error that affected some of the prominences and brings out the chromosphere and a bit more of the corona.
Tags: Astronomy Moon Questar Sony a6300 Sony a7 iii William Optics RedCat 51 Sun Solar Eclipse Total Solar Eclipse
Image of the Solar Corona as an 18 image HDR composite with exposures ranging from 0.8 sec to 1/320 sec taken with a Sony a6300 crop sensor mirrorless camera and a William Optics RedCat 250/51mm f/5 Petzval refractor. With crop the quivalent focal length is about 490mm.
High thin clouds during totality made it difficult to bring out the corona, but radial unsharp masking worked well. All stacking and other processing done in PS. Nice to have a couple of dim stars from Pisces in the shot.
Tags: Astrophotography William Optics RedCat 51 Vixen Polarie Star Tracker Total Solar Eclipse
Skies were clear from first to last contact during the total solar eclipse in Little Rock. This image of solar prominences and the silhouette of the lunar southern highlands was made with a Questar 1280/89mm, f/15, telescope and Sony a7iii. 4 1/30 sec exposures stacked for noise reduction.
Tags: Questar Sony a7 iii Total Solar Eclipse
Magee Beach shot from the Aransas Pass South Jetty. iPhone 15 Pro Max. Topaz upscale.
Tags: iPhone 15 Pro Max Sunset