· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Astrophotography and Sketching >> Sketching Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 | 2 | (show all) Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland First ever go at Saturn       #2990062 - 03/18/09 07:05 AM Attachment (83 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I haven't done much planetary sketching (my sum total of experience being 2 or 3 Mars sketches), but here's my first go at Saturn. Seeing was good, but not excellent. 385X was never sharp, 325X was sharp perhaps 10% of the time, and 235X was sharp perhaps 75%. I'm a fan of image scale, and so used 325X for the bulk of the work with 235X also used. Tethys, which appears just off the rings, was quite difficult, even though it is intrinsically brighter than Dione (a bit farther off on the same side), which was easy. Rhea appears on the other side of Saturn. Mimas was between Tethys and Dione, but was not seen on this occasion. I'm not a huge fan of colored filters, but I did try out a red (25A), which was too dark, and a yellow (K2), which increased the contrast of the banding a miniscule amount but made Tethys much easier to pick out. (Anyone know the Wrattan mapping of K2? Is that 8, 11, 12, or 15?) Cheers, -- Jeff. Post Extras:       JayinUT I'm not Sleepy Reged: 09/19/08 Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Jeff Young]       #2990174 - 03/18/09 08:51 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Jeff, I like your capture of the bands and of the moons. I also really like that your sketch captures the angle of Saturn in the scope right now. Post Extras:       frank5817 Postmaster Reged: 06/13/06 Loc: Illinois Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: JayinUT]       #2990485 - 03/18/09 12:07 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Jeff, Excellent sketch of mighty Saturn and its moons. I find the green filters help on the surface belts. Years ago I did a lot of photomicrography and my K2 yellow microscope filter is an 8. Frank Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: frank5817]       #2990525 - 03/18/09 12:32 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks, Jay and Frank! It looks like K2 <-> #8 is a well-defined mapping. I found this: http://www.redisonellis.com/wratten.html , which includes some additional mappings (such as K1, X1 and X2). Cheers, -- Jeff. Post Extras:       CarlosEH Postmaster Reged: 01/19/05 Loc: Pembroke Pines, Broward County... Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: JayinUT]       #2990531 - 03/18/09 12:37 PM Attachment (66 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Jeff, I think that your first observation is outstanding as you have captured much detail over the globe and have drawn the approximate width of the rings (things easily missed on an initial observation). You should be very proud of this observation. I have taken the liberty to play with your observation in Photoshop. I darkened the backgrounds, adjusted levels, and filled in spots of the drawing. I hope that you like it. I look forward to your future observations. Carlos Post Extras:       Dr Morbius Post Laureate Reged: 02/06/07 Loc: ManorvilleNY-but not for long Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: CarlosEH]       #2990560 - 03/18/09 12:50 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Nice job with the photoshop Carlos - took a nice sketch and notched it up a bit. Sort of a photo like feel to it. Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Dr Morbius]       #2992177 - 03/19/09 08:53 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Carlos -- Wow, inverting the background really does bring out the shading on the disk better. I tried that with my first Mars sketch about 18 months ago, but could never get the right "softness" to the planet's edge after the invert. The crispness doesn't seem nearly as out of place with Saturn, though, where the composition already has some very hard edges around the ring system. I might have to play around with Photoshop a bit more.... Cheers, -- Jeff. Post Extras:       markseibold Carpal Tunnel Reged: 01/19/08 Loc: Portland Oregon Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Jeff Young]       #2992672 - 03/19/09 02:13 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Jeff Nice first attempt at Saturn. Nice to see the rings open up again. I'll have to take a look again soon. You seemed to have gone through a similar progression with the solar system as I did. My very first serious pastel sketches were actually of Mars [2003 ~ 2005] before that strange abstract of a solar prominence I did [seen Oct 14~16 2006 in Spaceweather.com's front page.] It was a long time between that Mars to Solar sketch progression. Then I was doing only the sun for two years straight until I rediscovered the moon here in CN. Carlos imparted some good refinements here too with Photoshop. I have never yet sketched in black/grey graphite on white paper, then invert the image. I know it is working in negative image and I would find it dyslexic for me. Or I guess it becomes an exercise for some to learn from. Did you mention the size of your sketch? I cannot remember if you stated ever working to a larger format other than the 9" X 12" Art again tablets. I know it is not for some as they may find it an overwhelming commitment to do a 19" X 25" but working in large format art will allow a tremendous amount of more detail. Or they become large artworks to eventually display; another consideration I ponder all too often now. I look forward to seeing your next sketch-work, Mark Post Extras:       CarlosEH Postmaster Reged: 01/19/05 Loc: Pembroke Pines, Broward County... Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: markseibold]       #2994527 - 03/20/09 02:33 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Jeff, I started out with an excellent observation. I look forward to your future observations. Carlos Post Extras:       darkstar528 Postmaster Reged: 03/06/07 Loc: Hodgenville, Kentucky, USA Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: CarlosEH]       #2994603 - 03/20/09 03:30 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   WOW! That's great Jeff, I can see well enough to make out the rings, but it's monotone in my EP, no details...Great job!!!!! Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: darkstar528]       #2994790 - 03/20/09 05:19 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Mark -- No, my deep sky sketchbook is much smaller -- roughly 5" x 8". The disk was drawn with a €2 coin (somewhere between the size of a US 50-cent piece and a US quarter). It's possible I'd get enough detail on Jupiter to make a larger format worthwhile, but on Saturn even the little sketch captures everything I could see. Cheers, -- Jeff. Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Jeff Young]       #2994792 - 03/20/09 05:20 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks, Carlos and Stephen! What scope are you using for dark sky, Stephen? -- Jeff. Post Extras:       Tommy5 Carpal Tunnel Reged: 03/28/04 Loc: Chicagoland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Jeff Young]       #2995018 - 03/20/09 07:32 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Very realistic Saturn sketch, good detail on the bands thanks for posting. Post Extras:       mike bacanin Carpal Tunnel Reged: 03/19/07 Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Tommy5]       #2996907 - 03/21/09 07:02 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Jeff, That's an excellent first saturn sketch, thanks for posting, i've enjoyed checking it out! Mike Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: mike bacanin]       #2997616 - 03/22/09 07:25 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks, Tommy and Mike! -- Jeff. Post Extras:       kraterkid Post Laureate Reged: 03/07/05 Loc: Jacumba, California Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Jeff Young]       #3038842 - 04/11/09 09:42 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Wonderful sketch Jeff! And to think you were lamenting your Planetary sketching skills in a post some while back. Great job! Post Extras:       dweller25 Pooh-Bah Reged: 08/30/07 Loc: Lancashire, UK Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: kraterkid]       #3039269 - 04/12/09 06:37 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   That's a very realistic drawing Jeff. Nice scope too - is it a 16" F10 ??? Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: dweller25]       #3039291 - 04/12/09 07:22 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks Rich and dweller! Oddly I didn't do much planetary between my lamenting and that one -- but lots of practice on deep sky and solar seems to have paid off even in the planetary department. Yes, the scope is a 16" f/10 Mak-Cass. Cheers, -- Jeff. Post Extras:       Dee scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 03/12/06 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Jeff Young]       #3042912 - 04/14/09 07:32 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Jeff Great to see the detail on the planet body , nice capture. Dee Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Dee]       #3043328 - 04/14/09 12:02 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks, Dee! -- Jeff. Post Extras:       Bill Weir Carpal Tunnel Reged: 06/01/04 Loc: Metchosin (Victoria), Canada Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Jeff Young]       #3043648 - 04/14/09 02:59 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   That's nice Jeff. Personally, I like the preprocessed version better. Never seen brown sky before, that is except when I was in down town Bangkok at rush hour. ; ) Myself, I will blacken the background but I'm out of practice with the lasso tool. Gotta work on that. Bill Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn [Re: Bill Weir]       #3044838 - 04/15/09 06:51 AM Attachment (52 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Encouraged by Carlos' and Bill's results I decided to have another go at processing this one. (Geez, I feel like a real imager now. I might even call the original my "data set". ) Anyway, the planet's disk was fairly easy, but the rings were a real bear. After finally getting the rings into shape I squashed the disk at bit at the poles to more faithfully protray what I viewed (the "data set" was sketeched within a coin outline, which is of course more round than Saturn). Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn (new images) [Re: Jeff Young]       #3047281 - 04/16/09 02:53 PM Attachment (37 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I like the inverted version, but the planet is a bit too overpowering at that level of contrast. So I got rid of the "field not to scale" disclaimer and resized the planet to true field size: Post Extras:       Jeff Young Post Laureate Reged: 08/04/05 Loc: Ireland Re: First ever go at Saturn (new images) [Re: Jeff Young]       #3047287 - 04/16/09 02:55 PM Attachment (37 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   But you loose a lot of the detail at that size (or at least make it harder to see). This last one is sort of a tweener: Post Extras:       Pages: 1 | 2 | (show all) Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 1 registered and 10 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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