天王星 ALPO-Japan Latest

Uranus Image 2011/01/21(UT)

Stanislas Maksmowicz,David Gray
S.Maksmowicz,D.Gray

Stanislas Maksymowicz (305mm cassegrain)
You may compare with the observations performed on 17th.

[Stanislas Maksymowicz  Ecquevilly,France]

David Gray (415mm Dall-Kirkham)
I have been trying a new approach with computerising my Uranus (and Venus) drawings. I can never get a really satisfactory scan here. A lot of the very subtle shadings, that I greatly wish to convey, get lost in the process and too much time is spent trying to get the scan 'restored' to the original aspect, and then end up getting stressed and unhappy with an image that might look right but feels 'unclean' due to all the messing! So I thought I may as well draw/copy these planets directly in Corel Draw / Photo Paint X4. This has took a bit of practice as some of the diffused features end up coming out contoured; but I see there is a Smart-Blend function in X4 that largely eliminates this and preserves the features too. I use a very smooth white paper (Xerox Colotech+ printer paper). Even so the scanner always finds the grain/texture and loses the finer shadings with these planets. After all there is no such grain/texture visible from here on the planets; even if it may perhaps have a certain aesthetic appeal otherwise!

[David Gray: Spennymoor Co. Durham,United Kingdom]
ALPO-Japan Latest Uranus Section
2011/01/30
2011/01/17