Question for you photogs please

[DizneyNutz]

I was posting on the Moon shot post and came to a question that I knew you guys and gals can answer for me. I shot the moon last night with a little haze on f-8, 400 ISO and 1/500 (IN RAW). I am going to post the original (cropped photo and another cropped photo that was opened in PSE5 and applied the auto fix. The one with the PSE5 auto fix has a lot of what appears to be stars. My question is, are they really stars that PSE5 could recognize in the raw photo or just noise coming off the light haze in the air Thanks in advance from the ROOKIE

 

[AbbysFamily]

Those aren't stars. I'd bet on it. Open each image and zoom WAY in. I think that is the programs way of interpreting the noise.

If you look at a section of moon & sky, there is 'darker spots' on the moon that correspond to the size and frequency of the 'light spot' stars in the sky.

Why this is being interpreted that way, I don't know.

 

[DizneyNutz]

I could not see my way clear to ever believe they were actually stars, but I wanted to hear from someone who knows much more than me. I really figured it was noise off of the haze. Still kinda cool however

 

[boBQuincy]

However, if you really want stars Diard's Universe Creator is a good way to add them:
http://www.diardsoftware.com/index.html

The stars also make very good snow with a little extra work (like motion blur).

 

[MarkBarbieri]

The best proof that those aren't really stars is that some are in front of the moon. In the picture, the moon is ever so slightly not full. In the upper right hand side of the moon there is a small sliver that is in shadow. There are stars in that shadowed section. So unless there are stars in front of the moon, you're not looking at stars.

Another indication is that the "stars" are far too uniform in brightness and color.

 

[ukcatfan]

You cannot see that many stars around the moon unless you have a powerful telescope. I doubt that there is any camera lens that could. Look up at the moon tonight and you will see almost no stars around it. Also, an exposure that could capture that many stars would completely blow out the moon itself.

Kevin

 

[handicap18]

You cannot see that many stars around the moon unless you have a powerful telescope. I doubt that there is any camera lens that could. Look up at the moon tonight and you will see almost no stars around it. Also, an exposure that could capture that many stars would completely blow out the moon itself.

Kevin

This is my thinking as well. Mostly because you state your shutter speed 1/500th. Definately not slow enough to capture any stars that small, especially seeing that the moon in your shot is not "bright". It actualy looks good at that exposure showing some good detail.