Hi Peter, Sequator is a great stacking tool, even tough I would recommend to shoot the foreground separate from the sky and merge both parts, you´ll get a way better and sharper foreground.
This is a superb tutorial, with clear concise dialogue at an even pace, and a good soundtrack too! Glad you avoided the hype I see in too many YT videos. What was the music Peter? Cheers and thanks from Montréal!
Thank you for this video! I have recently started astrophotography and have been having lackluster stacking results. Your suggested settings in Sequator are helping!
Sequator doesn't seem to work for me... It either looks the same as a single frame, or it "stacks" them with the accuracy of a toddler. Meaning it doesn't align the stars at all. Dunno, considering it is a pretty simple program, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. I do like the freeze ground feature... if it stacked the stars for me. Gotta try Pixinsight and see if it has a similar function.
Gracias Peter, muy pero muy útil tu vídeo, te lo agradezco muchísimo, eres de lo poco y nada que realmente muestra intenciones de enseñar sobre el tema, que hay en la red. Saludos de Chile
I like that you showed people how grainy photos are caused by not enough light rather than a high ISO, but I think a more fair comparison would have been two images at ISO 40,000 and one 15 second shot vs one 60 second shot. It doesn't really exemplify that ISO doesn't matter much for these shooting scenarios when you shoot at ISO 1600 for the long exposure image. Just some minor constructive criticism. But overall, great video, and looking forward to see more!
Don't you need to maintain the EV? If shutter speed changes by 5 stops you would need to change the ISO by 5 stops to maintain the overall EV. If you only change the shutter speed by 5 stops the will be much brighter effectively eliminating the stars and milky way
@@wallytuescher2175 In the video, Peter is making the point that it is shutter speed and aperture, not ISO, that is affecting how noisy a photo is. He's using the desert floor as an example. In the 15-second, ISO 40,000 shot, it's very noisy and has color mottle. In the 60-second, ISO 1600 shot, it's not nearly as noisy. I'm merely suggesting to do both example images, one 15 seconds and one 60 seconds, at the same ISO to highlight that it's not ISO affecting it. In order to make the exposures even, one could raise the 15-second exposure by two stops in LR to match the exposure of the 60-second image. So, yes, you do need to maintain the EV for a fair comparison, but that's easily done in LR what I'm suggesting
Great tutorial, good job! Amazing pics aswell. This will definitely be handy for elevating my astrophotography to the next level next season! Oh and if you happen to see this Peter, would you mind sharing the playlist for this video maybe?, It's amazing!
One major step to clarify: disable all noise reduction before outputting your original images and bringing them into your stacking software. Otherwise you're throwing away a ton of information hidden in that noise.
I'm looking forward to doing some deep space object and Milky Way shoots over the next few weeks. I got the Pentax K1 which has a built in AstroTracer allowing 5 minute exposures of stars without an external tracking device.
My fiance and I both have Pentax Cameras. She has a K-1 and I just got a KP. Both cameras perform amazingly well whit astrotracer. 10/10 can recommend!
The closer you are to the celestial pole with your composition, the longer you can go without trails. The Milky Way is at the celestial equator, which means the 500 rule won't give you sharp stars because of faster apparent stellar motion. If you take some dark frames, that will help but I don't know if Sequator supports it. Starry Landscape Stacker does.
Stacking allows you to brighten up the pixels, while reducing the noise at the same time. However, in your stack of the milky way, I did not see the image become bright at all, or the details to be more clear, even though it did reduce noise. Any explanation for that?
Correct. That's why I recommend finding a nearby location to setup the star tracker without any big foreground elements in the way. If you take both photos in the same exact spot, then you'll have a big blurry foreground to deal with. This makes blending much more difficult. However, if you move 20 feet backwards in this case, you could have a completely clear sky for the tracked shot.
Incredible video, very glad TH-cam recommended this! I'm somewhat new to the astrophotography scene and have been thinking of investing in a startracker for the past few months, I think I might have to now, wow!!! And those images at the end, OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
Thanks for the great lesson and tips on stacking. The star tracker looks like it provides the best foreground detail with longer exposures and amazing results. Thanks and take care. Mahalo and Aloha.
So if you use a sky tracker/guider, it is going to cause the foreground to rotate as well in the images. How do you account for that? Will stacking software automatically adjust it? In the case with Sequator, freeze ground I assume?
Hey. Do you have any good solutions how to blend such a foregrounds with a lot of details sticking into the sky? With long exposures they get blurred both sides (because tracker moves with the sky) but in the nature they are smaller ;) that's the only downside I always get troubles with.
Would the result be different if I stack the images before the editing, or should I rather stack the images after the adjustments in Lightroom? I always stack the images before doing any adjustments.
Always do: 1.step: images acquisition 2.step: images calibration 3.step: images stacking and normalization 4.step: image final editing and sharpening, Lightroom fiddling, exporting for the web.
If you had everything manually set in-camera, you could stack your RAW photos. A lot of people online recommend stacking RAW images too. Personally, I think that's a bad idea (at least for Milky Way photography). If you stack the RAW data, then no color noise reduction will be applied. In my experience, this will become a major problem after the stack. You should get much better results if you do your basic edits in Lightroom first. This would allow you to fix any vignette, chromatic aberration, white balance inconsistencies, exposure problems, etc... Lightroom should also apply the color noise correction automatically to every photo. Then you can save the RAWs as 16/bit TIFF files. Finally, stack those TIFFs in Sequator or StarryLandscapeStacker. I'd recommend trying both approaches on the same set of images (stack the RAWs, and stack the edited TIFFs), so you can see the difference in the final stacked images.
Oh my gosh! the thumbnail is what made me click - I'm literally 25 mins away from the Toadstool Hoodoos!! This is so inspiring, though. I've been looking at different lenses and stuff, would love to improve my photography and videography and since I'm out in the desert, I'd love to capture the stars...
With gathering more light with longer shutter speeds using a star tracker, do you get more color in the stars and gases than when stacking 10-20 shorter shutter images?
Thanks for all the great info. I'm going to attempt my 1st milky way shot this weekend. No tracker or intervalometer and in bortle class 4 on the east coast. Hopefully I can get something to work lol.
@@PeterZelinka thanks for the info. I have the kit 18-55mm lens, 50 mm 1.8 and 28-75mm 2.8. Which does you think I should try 1st? Hopefully I can get a chance to try tonight. It's super cloudy and rainy.
Wait, so you said (in your opinion I'll assume) that photo stacking is cleaner than using a star tracker but you use the star tracker still? Is stacking so clean that the final results look over produced? Also, I have never understood the point of stacking more than 5 images unless you are not only stacking for light values but focus as well in the case you have a subject closer to you that can't be achieved in focus when focusing at Infiniti for the sky. Another time when shooting skyscrapers I needed a 3rd value focus for the name of the skyscrapers because the letters were not clean during long exposure they were blown out. Thanks for your time doing these videos, I'll check out some of your other videos.
Thank you for this Peter. Besides being interested in trying a Milky Way photo, I want to bracket indoor real estate photos (and basically everything!) and merge them. I tried to subscribe to photoshop and Lightroom, but I couldn't get them installed for love or money, so I'm wondering if this software will help me.
I recommend reading the article. True, she is in French. There is a much more accurate formula for calculating exposure. It takes into account pixel size and sensor resolution in general: "Règle NPF - calcul du temps de pose sans filé d'étoiles"
Not a lot of videos like this explaining the difference between star tracking, stacking, or just single shot without tracker. Pretty well explained too.
Hi Peter, first of all great video! I noticed that all of the presented images are taken at quite dark locations. But due to the lockdown still going on at the moment in Europe I can't travel far. Does a sky tracker also improve the details in the milky way in more light polluted areas (Yellow areas on dark site finder)? Are light pollution filters, clear sky filters here of any use? Any tips for shooting in those areas? Thanks a lot for your support.
When I'm back in Ohio I live in a yellow zone. The star tracker doesn't really do much for light pollution. But you'll still be able to get a cleaner image. Light pollution filters can help, but often they don't do that much (especially at a wide angle). Although it depends what filter you use.
For light pollution correction, I will first slightly shift the colour temp towards the blue side as Peter demonstrated in the LR's Develop Module or in Adobe Camera RAW in PS, then follow that up inside Photoshop CS-6, using the Colour Balance adjustment (Image->Adjustments->Colour Balance). I click on the box Preserve Luminosity, select Midtones, then shift the first slider towards Cyan to -9, the second slider towards Magenta to -3, to remove some of the green cast, and then the third slider towards the Blue to +24, to remove the yellow cast. I repeat for the shadows. Note that I vary these settings depending upon the shoot location, and if my camera is facing towards a distant city, or north, where I have relatively low light light pollution. This tool will remember the last setting used, so if you have a lot of similar images, just click OK and continue on. You can also automate this using Photoshop's Automator (File->Scripts->Image Processor) if you have tens or a couple hundred images to apply it to. Here's a sample image of Comet Neowise from my IG page, taken in the countryside in Lancaster, Ontario (just outside a yellow zone) about 90 km/55 miles west of Montreal (metro population 4 million) where I applied some NR. instagram.com/p/CC6HBOHn8_E/ Hope this helps! Cheers, Frederic in Montréal. instagram.com/frederic_hore/
When you use crop sensor then you need to square the crop factor as what matters is the surface of each pixel. For example if you turn on apsc mode on a FF camera it will be the same squared conversion. Like 42 megapixel a7r3 is 18 megapixel in apsc mode. Also the rule of 500 400 300 does not account the megapixels. I usually use the following formula: 6000 divided by (megapixels * focal length * crop factor squared).
Since I have Pentax cameras I ordered the astro tracker GPS unit for $160.00 it can give me a 5 minute exposure for little money by tracking the night sky with the in body Stabilization unit on the camera the cameras come with the software built in it will also stack in camera also if I do multiple exposures
They'll just blur out. Sometimes clouds can make for a more interesting photo too. Especially when you've taken dozens of photos on clear nights, they all start to look the same.
Thanks for the video Peter. I believe Sequator is pronounced " see' qway tor" like equator with an "s" in front. I've used the program myself with good results. Good tips!
Peter, this would have been more accurately illustrated if you did not change the ISO, only the Shutter Speed (Time). Of course, you would have gotten a "Cleaner" image using a Lower ISO setting as you did. But leaving the ISO at 40,000 and increasing the Time or Shutter Speed would have better illustrated a Cleaner Image with the Additional Light. Also, a good trick to help minimize noise at Higher ISO settings is to Over Expose you Image about a Stop, and when you process it you have to now make it Darker, thereby Compressing the Exposure which helps make the Noise less noticeable. When an Image is Under Exposed, and you Lighten it in processing, you are Expanding the Exposure, thus making the Noise more noticeable.
I've been testing photo stacking with the comet. If I stack 150 pics, I get really good results. But, if I stack 300, it's amazing. I wouldn't recommend stopping at 20 pics. Take as many as you can possibly get. The more pics you stack, the better the signal to noise ratio will become, giving you a cleaner, more detailed final image.
@@mariokladaric4746 The camera is on a tripod. That's it. No tracking or anything like that. Then I use a remote control to operate the shutter. If I know the comet is going to move from left to right across the sky, I'll have it start more on the left side of the field of view, and let it move across as I'm taking all the pics. Doing it this way means you can't use much more than a 70mm lens. You need to leave the shutter open for about 4-5 seconds to get enough light in, and being zoomed in too much will result in star trails.
If u take the AF one, there is a Focus issue in dark light so it is not recommended. If u take manual focus one, u wont be able to put filters on it. Thats the dilemma
weird I have to use 1 sec exposure to avoid startrails on 34mm cropsencor camera. But you do 20 seconds? Btw I had to use 400 shot 1 sec picture to get a decent image
Great channel. Well explained 👌🏼 What would you say is better. A foreground stacked with a program (several 15 sec) or a longer exposure for the foreground which is then blended with a stacked sky?
Can you do the same photo stacking technique in Photoshop? I ask because I work from a tablet and don’t have access to Starry Landscape Stacker or Sequator.
Unfortunately not. It will not be able to align photos, especially at 14-24mm. If you had a 35 or 50mm lens, you could probably stack and align up to 20 images though. There's a lot less movement and distortion at 35-50mm, so the software has an easier time.
Can someone tell me the BEST astrophotography lens that can mount a Canon like Canon T8i or Canon 90D? I heard of IRIX 15mm f/2.4 as well as Rokinon? Any suggestion of the BEST lens that is amazing in all aspects that can take nice shots of the Milky Way as well as Orion Nebula?
Hey Peter, thanks for the video. I am interesting of how you blend your long exposure foreground image and images taken with tracker, since the foreground will be rotating when tracker is on. I can get some OK result with painting mask in sequator but wondering if there is other tips? Thanks!
I cover that process in-depth in my Astro Post Processing Course on my website. We use luminosity masks to quickly create a clean blend, even if there are a lot of trees or bushes.
Hi Peter, Great video, I have a question on the Star tracker. The image your taking with the tracker, is it at the same location that your foreground image is taking or do you have to take it at another location with no distraction or subject matter blocking the horizon. something I noticed on the video that you didn't show the star tracking image before you showed it stacked onto the foreground image. Cheers
Great Video Peter! Qq: for the Utah shot, how did you blend the foreground so cleanly on a 4 minute exposed sky? Didnt the blur of that rock jutting into the sky region leave dark blurry blobs after you replaced it with a non tracked FG?
That will happen if you take both photos in the same place, which I don't recommend. I usually move the tripod to a nearby spot without any big foreground elements in the frame and shoot my tracked image
Great review of stacking vs tracking. quick question, is there a method to polar align if you can't see polaris? I use PS Align Pro for my Sky Watcher Star Adventurer but if I am in the canyons i can't always see the north star. if I use a wide angle lens, can I "wing" and try to get close enough and maybe only track for 1 min vs 4 min?
Sunny Hwang You don’t need to be super accurate while using such a wide lens. If you can get the North Star anywhere into the circle on the polar scope it will be good enough.
As Kyle mentioned below, you don't have to be that precise when shooting ~14mm. In the past, I would just aim the star tracker North, try to get the North Star centered over the top, verify the latitude was correct on the base, and begin shooting. However, I always had the north star visible for this rough alignment. If you are down in a canyon, you'd be in for a much more difficult challenge. Then again, if you are only going for a 60 second exposure, you could probably pull it off!
Hi guys, for someone who is starting out what brand of camera would you recommend? i use Sony a7 iv for landscape photos can I use Sony a7 iii modified for astro? is Sony ok or it has to be a Canon?
After looking over the specs for that camera, it could work! You may find the 24mm focal length equivalent is a bit narrow though. It would be hard to fit a nice foreground and sky in the same composition (at least out here in Utah, we've got a lot of big foreground elements) I'd also recommend shooting in RAW, so you have much more flexibility when editing. It looks like you can go all the way to 60 second exposures too, which is good.
Thanks for the video. One thing I don't understand: the reason stars leave a trail is because the Earth rotates so the longer the exposure, the longer the trail. So how does the focal length also affect that trail length?!? Thanks.
The more focal length you have, the faster you'll notice star trails For example, I notice star trails after just 4 seconds at 100mm. However, I can shoot up to about 15 seconds at 14mm before I notice star trails.
@@PeterZelinka thanks for the reply. But why is that?!? If the trail is formed by the earth's rotation, my understanding is that only time will affect the length of such trails. Unless here it's just an issue of zooming in so the trails are enlarged and viewed sooner???
@@rafisaar Right, it's like with anything else. If you view a fast moving object from far away, it doesn't appear to be moving very fast. However, if you zoom into that object, it will quickly fly out of the frame. If you were to zoom into the moon at 600mm, you would be able to see it moving through the frame. But you can't see the moon moving with your naked eye, since your field of view is so large.
Hi Peter, I've been thingking of doing astrophotography and getting the course, but right now I only have my backyard to shoot, i live in New York so I'm not sure if i can still take decent photos and I only have nikon z6 plus 50mm 1.8s
You can use www[dot]lightpollutionmap[dot]info to find the darkest spots near your location. And don't worry about your setup: with an 50mm f1.8 you could capture some amazing details from the milky way. It of course captures only a small part of the night sky, but having a closeup is also really nice ;)
It's worth a shot! The light pollution may obscure most of the detail in the Milky Way or nebulae in the night sky, but you never know until you try! You've got a great setup to start with. I'd recommend the photo stacking method too. Rather than take just 1 exposure, try 20 - 50 exposures. You can then stack them together and try to reduce any grain in the photos.
Hey Peter great video as always! I've learned so much from you over the last year or so. I finally got my star tracker (Skywatcher Star Adventurer pro) and have been having fun with it taking images of things like Orion Nebula and Milky Way. In the future, I'd love to see a short video on balancing those trackers with the heavier tele lenses like 70-200. I feel like when I try and balance my tracker AFTER having to polar align, it moves while attaching the extension arm enough to really impact image at say, 200mm. Not sure if there is a technique or not to keeping things in alignment while having to attach that heavy arm. Anyhow, I had a question for you. When I have used Sequator in the past and even recently I always run into this same problem. I use Lightroom to batch edit like you say before for basic adjustments then I save as TIFFs and reopen in Sequator. When I do this and this is where the problem is, it always changes the color of the image. So, if my LR edit was what I wanted and I take it into Sequator it changes it purple. I was curious if you had any ideas/input as to why it does. Should the output color profile be RGB from LR when I save as TIFF? Does Sequator only recognize one color profile? Should I be converting the original to 8 bit before saving as TIFF? It' a HUGE problem which is why I never use it and go to Photoshop to stack instead even though it's more work. Thanks for all you do as we appreciate it. Great instructionals. Cheers from Florida.
I've never really had that problem, though rarely I will notice a slight color shift. I use sRGB and both 8 bit and 16bit Tiff files, depending on the image. I also don't use Lightroom for the initial edits, maybe that is somehow altering the process slightly.
The odd thing to me is, and I have watched many many Milky Way processing videos, none of the videos who recommends Sequator touches on the fact that it does not support the ProPhoto colour space. For example, you use the sRGB colour space, which is the most limited of all colour spaces. That is part of the reason why your stars are just white blown-out dots and contain no colour, even though many stars actually do have colours. The best and easiest solution most likely would be if as many people as possible kindly ask the developer to incorporate support of the ProPhoto colour space.
Recently I just create my first milky way timelapse video shooting with a single smartphone, that's really a enjoyment when done it. I'd like to try this application and stack a single picture.
thank you brother
I hope for you higher levels of knowledge and wisdom in this kingdom of THE MOST SERIOUS
Hi Peter, Sequator is a great stacking tool, even tough I would recommend to shoot the foreground separate from the sky and merge both parts, you´ll get a way better and sharper foreground.
One of the best tutorials on amateur astrophotography!
Thank you, Peter. Very informative - I also appreciate your speaking voice. It allows me to focus, absorb, and process everything better. 🙏🏻
One of the best and informative videos about a specific Topic of photography i ever witnessed - awesome!
Peter Zelinka is the man! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience!!
Great tutorial. Going to Colorado to shoot some stars, will be first time. Shoot Nikon and use a Mac so I am hopeful it will all work.
This is a superb tutorial, with clear concise dialogue at an even pace, and a good soundtrack too!
Glad you avoided the hype I see in too many YT videos.
What was the music Peter?
Cheers and thanks from Montréal!
I also want to know soundtrack. This video is good for going to sleep, that soundtrack and explanation
Thanks Peter. Astro beginner here. Hoping to get something this summer that improves upon last summer's average results. These tips will help.
Thank you for this video! I have recently started astrophotography and have been having lackluster stacking results. Your suggested settings in Sequator are helping!
I really appreciate your amazing videos
Listening to Mirror's Edge Catalyst soundtrack in background is refreshing :-) Thank you for your nice tutorial!
Catalyst soundtrack is so relaxing
gotta love that implementation of the mass effect OST
I'm Japanese.
Milky way in Japanese is "Ama no gawa(天の川)" .
This means "River of the sky"
(天＝sky, 川＝river)
I'm Chinese.
Milky way in Chinese is "银河" .
This means "River of silver"
(银＝Silver, 河=river)
@@jxmai7687
Oh, wait. ginga(銀河)/銀(silver)河(river) ) in Japanese is "Galaxy".
Then, what do you say Galaxy in Chinese?
@@japanesefolkstories811 Galaxy 星系 but many people think Milky way is same as Galaxy, that is way be mix up in writing.
Thank you for sharing what it means!
So interesting, in Turkish it means Saman-yolu Galaksisi which translate as Straw-road Galaxy. Now I am wondering how it translates in other languages
Thank you!!! what a great way to easy understand this video. you did explained that well.
Sequator doesn't seem to work for me... It either looks the same as a single frame, or it "stacks" them with the accuracy of a toddler. Meaning it doesn't align the stars at all. Dunno, considering it is a pretty simple program, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. I do like the freeze ground feature... if it stacked the stars for me. Gotta try Pixinsight and see if it has a similar function.
Gracias Peter, muy pero muy útil tu vídeo, te lo agradezco muchísimo, eres de lo poco y nada que realmente muestra intenciones de enseñar sobre el tema, que hay en la red. Saludos de Chile
I like that you showed people how grainy photos are caused by not enough light rather than a high ISO, but I think a more fair comparison would have been two images at ISO 40,000 and one 15 second shot vs one 60 second shot. It doesn't really exemplify that ISO doesn't matter much for these shooting scenarios when you shoot at ISO 1600 for the long exposure image. Just some minor constructive criticism. But overall, great video, and looking forward to see more!
Don't you need to maintain the EV? If shutter speed changes by 5 stops you would need to change the ISO by 5 stops to maintain the overall EV. If you only change the shutter speed by 5 stops the will be much brighter effectively eliminating the stars and milky way
@@wallytuescher2175 In the video, Peter is making the point that it is shutter speed and aperture, not ISO, that is affecting how noisy a photo is. He's using the desert floor as an example. In the 15-second, ISO 40,000 shot, it's very noisy and has color mottle. In the 60-second, ISO 1600 shot, it's not nearly as noisy. I'm merely suggesting to do both example images, one 15 seconds and one 60 seconds, at the same ISO to highlight that it's not ISO affecting it. In order to make the exposures even, one could raise the 15-second exposure by two stops in LR to match the exposure of the 60-second image.
So, yes, you do need to maintain the EV for a fair comparison, but that's easily done in LR what I'm suggesting
Great vid man
Great tutorial, good job! Amazing pics aswell. This will definitely be handy for elevating my astrophotography to the next level next season! Oh and if you happen to see this Peter, would you mind sharing the playlist for this video maybe?, It's amazing!
One major step to clarify: disable all noise reduction before outputting your original images and bringing them into your stacking software. Otherwise you're throwing away a ton of information hidden in that noise.
Great video! Thanks for sharing all these tips
I'm looking forward to doing some deep space object and Milky Way shoots over the next few weeks. I got the Pentax K1 which has a built in AstroTracer allowing 5 minute exposures of stars without an external tracking device.
My fiance and I both have Pentax Cameras. She has a K-1 and I just got a KP. Both cameras perform amazingly well whit astrotracer. 10/10 can recommend!
The closer you are to the celestial pole with your composition, the longer you can go without trails. The Milky Way is at the celestial equator, which means the 500 rule won't give you sharp stars because of faster apparent stellar motion. If you take some dark frames, that will help but I don't know if Sequator supports it. Starry Landscape Stacker does.
Sequator does support dark frames
I really like your videos! Amazing quality and extremely educational! Keep it up Peter.
Stacking allows you to brighten up the pixels, while reducing the noise at the same time. However, in your stack of the milky way, I did not see the image become bright at all, or the details to be more clear, even though it did reduce noise. Any explanation for that?
That mass effect background music 👌
Interesting and well produced tutorial. One question, where’s the music coming from?
The heavens !!
Nice video Peter, I dont have a star tracker yet but this this is compelling for these type of shots.
For the toadstool photo, would tracking leave a big blurry thing cause the toadstool sticks out a lot?
yes, I think that's why he took two four minute exposures, one with the tracker and one without and then layered them together
Correct. That's why I recommend finding a nearby location to setup the star tracker without any big foreground elements in the way.
If you take both photos in the same exact spot, then you'll have a big blurry foreground to deal with. This makes blending much more difficult. However, if you move 20 feet backwards in this case, you could have a completely clear sky for the tracked shot.
Well done Peter, as a newbie to night photograph this has been very helpful.
Incredible video, very glad TH-cam recommended this! I'm somewhat new to the astrophotography scene and have been thinking of investing in a startracker for the past few months, I think I might have to now, wow!!! And those images at the end, OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
Thanks for the great lesson and tips on stacking. The star tracker looks like it provides the best foreground detail with longer exposures and amazing results. Thanks and take care. Mahalo and Aloha.
So if you use a sky tracker/guider, it is going to cause the foreground to rotate as well in the images. How do you account for that? Will stacking software automatically adjust it? In the case with Sequator, freeze ground I assume?
Great job and good learning from you Peter!
How much patience you have, well done thanks.
Nice info, very helpful.
Hey. Do you have any good solutions how to blend such a foregrounds with a lot of details sticking into the sky? With long exposures they get blurred both sides (because tracker moves with the sky) but in the nature they are smaller ;) that's the only downside I always get troubles with.
Would the result be different if I stack the images before the editing, or should I rather stack the images after the adjustments in Lightroom? I always stack the images before doing any adjustments.
If the WB is off on one of the images it might fuck up your colors. E.g. your last 4 shots were at astronomical twilight where the sky changes color
Always do:
1.step: images acquisition
2.step: images calibration
3.step: images stacking and normalization
4.step: image final editing and sharpening, Lightroom fiddling, exporting for the web.
If you had everything manually set in-camera, you could stack your RAW photos. A lot of people online recommend stacking RAW images too. Personally, I think that's a bad idea (at least for Milky Way photography).
If you stack the RAW data, then no color noise reduction will be applied. In my experience, this will become a major problem after the stack.
You should get much better results if you do your basic edits in Lightroom first. This would allow you to fix any vignette, chromatic aberration, white balance inconsistencies, exposure problems, etc... Lightroom should also apply the color noise correction automatically to every photo. Then you can save the RAWs as 16/bit TIFF files. Finally, stack those TIFFs in Sequator or StarryLandscapeStacker.
I'd recommend trying both approaches on the same set of images (stack the RAWs, and stack the edited TIFFs), so you can see the difference in the final stacked images.
@@PeterZelinka
Ok thanks for the response. I definitely have to try both methods.
Oh my gosh! the thumbnail is what made me click - I'm literally 25 mins away from the Toadstool Hoodoos!! This is so inspiring, though. I've been looking at different lenses and stuff, would love to improve my photography and videography and since I'm out in the desert, I'd love to capture the stars...
Brilliant Video Pete I have lots to think about
With gathering more light with longer shutter speeds using a star tracker, do you get more color in the stars and gases than when stacking 10-20 shorter shutter images?
Great vid! What kind of lens are you using? :)
I would not recommend exporting your single exposures as JPG before stacking, since JPG will loose data and reduce quality of the input to sequator
Great point! Saving in 16/bit TIFF is the way to go, but for space reasons I was just using JPEG for this video.
Just watched your Neowise editing photo and now watching this. Trying to get into Milky Way photography this year, and this is quite helpful.
Thanks for all the great info. I'm going to attempt my 1st milky way shot this weekend. No tracker or intervalometer and in bortle class 4 on the east coast. Hopefully I can get something to work lol.
Good luck! Keep it simple: relatively short exposure for sharp stars, wide open aperture, high ISO!
@@PeterZelinka thanks for the info. I have the kit 18-55mm lens, 50 mm 1.8 and 28-75mm 2.8. Which does you think I should try 1st? Hopefully I can get a chance to try tonight. It's super cloudy and rainy.
Thanks, Peter, that was fantastic, very helpful
Thanks for the right click shortcut in sequator. I’ve just been resetting when I mess up
For me.personally this kinda video helped me more than any of ur video coz I am beginner...and this is best video for beginner
Wait, so you said (in your opinion I'll assume) that photo stacking is cleaner than using a star tracker but you use the star tracker still? Is stacking so clean that the final results look over produced? Also, I have never understood the point of stacking more than 5 images unless you are not only stacking for light values but focus as well in the case you have a subject closer to you that can't be achieved in focus when focusing at Infiniti for the sky. Another time when shooting skyscrapers I needed a 3rd value focus for the name of the skyscrapers because the letters were not clean during long exposure they were blown out. Thanks for your time doing these videos, I'll check out some of your other videos.
Thank you for this Peter. Besides being interested in trying a Milky Way photo, I want to bracket indoor real estate photos (and basically everything!) and merge them. I tried to subscribe to photoshop and Lightroom, but I couldn't get them installed for love or money, so I'm wondering if this software will help me.
I recommend reading the article. True, she is in French. There is a much more accurate formula for calculating exposure. It takes into account pixel size and sensor resolution in general:
"Règle NPF - calcul du temps de pose sans filé d'étoiles"
Photopills have NPF section as well. Click on the cluster of stars icon.
Excellent. Looking forward to more astrophotography tips.
Very helpful! Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the video :) what's the music in the background? It's very relaxing
Not a lot of videos like this explaining the difference between star tracking, stacking, or just single shot without tracker. Pretty well explained too.
Do you have course for southern hemisphere?
Hi Peter, first of all great video!
I noticed that all of the presented images are taken at quite dark locations. But due to the lockdown still going on at the moment in Europe I can't travel far. Does a sky tracker also improve the details in the milky way in more light polluted areas (Yellow areas on dark site finder)? Are light pollution filters, clear sky filters here of any use? Any tips for shooting in those areas? Thanks a lot for your support.
When I'm back in Ohio I live in a yellow zone. The star tracker doesn't really do much for light pollution. But you'll still be able to get a cleaner image.
Light pollution filters can help, but often they don't do that much (especially at a wide angle). Although it depends what filter you use.
@@PeterZelinka Thanks a lot for the reply 👍
For light pollution correction, I will first slightly shift the colour temp towards the blue side as Peter demonstrated in the LR's Develop Module or in Adobe Camera RAW in PS, then follow that up inside Photoshop CS-6, using the Colour Balance adjustment (Image->Adjustments->Colour Balance). I click on the box Preserve Luminosity, select Midtones, then shift the first slider towards Cyan to -9, the second slider towards Magenta to -3, to remove some of the green cast, and then the third slider towards the Blue to +24, to remove the yellow cast. I repeat for the shadows.
Note that I vary these settings depending upon the shoot location, and if my camera is facing towards a distant city, or north, where I have relatively low light light pollution. This tool will remember the last setting used, so if you have a lot of similar images, just click OK and continue on. You can also automate this using Photoshop's Automator (File->Scripts->Image Processor) if you have tens or a couple hundred images to apply it to.
Here's a sample image of Comet Neowise from my IG page, taken in the countryside in Lancaster, Ontario (just outside a yellow zone) about 90 km/55 miles west of Montreal (metro population 4 million) where I applied some NR. instagram.com/p/CC6HBOHn8_E/
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Frederic in Montréal.
instagram.com/frederic_hore/
When you use crop sensor then you need to square the crop factor as what matters is the surface of each pixel. For example if you turn on apsc mode on a FF camera it will be the same squared conversion. Like 42 megapixel a7r3 is 18 megapixel in apsc mode.
Also the rule of 500 400 300 does not account the megapixels. I usually use the following formula: 6000 divided by (megapixels * focal length * crop factor squared).
Do you change the exposure by changing the ISO? Or do you change your shutter time?
Since I have Pentax cameras I ordered the astro tracker GPS unit for $160.00 it can give me a 5 minute exposure for little money by tracking the night sky with the in body Stabilization unit on the camera the cameras come with the software built in it will also stack in camera also if I do multiple exposures
A big thank you from Seattle. Another fantastic video😎🌌!
Hi that looks great. But what if there are clouds?
They'll just blur out. Sometimes clouds can make for a more interesting photo too. Especially when you've taken dozens of photos on clear nights, they all start to look the same.
Thanks for the video Peter. I believe Sequator is pronounced " see' qway tor" like equator with an "s" in front. I've used the program myself with good results. Good tips!
You're probably right haha
Who cares
Thoughts on a wide angle fish eye lens with no AF? Ive always had trouble adjusting focus with no star tracker.
Peter, this would have been more accurately illustrated if you did not change the ISO, only the Shutter Speed (Time). Of course, you would have gotten a "Cleaner" image using a Lower ISO setting as you did. But leaving the ISO at 40,000 and increasing the Time or Shutter Speed would have better illustrated a Cleaner Image with the Additional Light. Also, a good trick to help minimize noise at Higher ISO settings is to Over Expose you Image about a Stop, and when you process it you have to now make it Darker, thereby Compressing the Exposure which helps make the Noise less noticeable. When an Image is Under Exposed, and you Lighten it in processing, you are Expanding the Exposure, thus making the Noise more noticeable.
great stuff mate, love your simple practical tutorials 🤘🏼🤘🏼
I've been testing photo stacking with the comet. If I stack 150 pics, I get really good results. But, if I stack 300, it's amazing. I wouldn't recommend stopping at 20 pics. Take as many as you can possibly get. The more pics you stack, the better the signal to noise ratio will become, giving you a cleaner, more detailed final image.
Thanks for the info, just one small question... Do you use any self rotating tripod, or do you follow it manually or even take the same angle shots ?
@@mariokladaric4746 The camera is on a tripod. That's it. No tracking or anything like that. Then I use a remote control to operate the shutter. If I know the comet is going to move from left to right across the sky, I'll have it start more on the left side of the field of view, and let it move across as I'm taking all the pics.
Doing it this way means you can't use much more than a 70mm lens. You need to leave the shutter open for about 4-5 seconds to get enough light in, and being zoomed in too much will result in star trails.
What about light painting?
thank you youtube for recommending this channel to me
Sir may I ask a question, nikon z6 samyang 14mm is it a good combination for the Milky Way
If u take the AF one, there is a Focus issue in dark light so it is not recommended. If u take manual focus one, u wont be able to put filters on it. Thats the dilemma
Thank you for sharing your expertise.
Looking forward to your 'I've Brought A Goto' video.
weird I have to use 1 sec exposure to avoid startrails on 34mm cropsencor camera.
But you do 20 seconds?
Btw I had to use 400 shot 1 sec picture to get a decent image
Hi there! I am new to this and will be using Sony a7 iii. What lens is recommended for that?
For Milky Way photography, I normally recommend ~14mm. The Sigma 14-24mm usually does a nice job, and should work on Sony
Thanx for a great video and very pedagogical!
Love your tutorials
Great channel. Well explained 👌🏼 What would you say is better. A foreground stacked with a program (several 15 sec) or a longer exposure for the foreground which is then blended with a stacked sky?
Can you do the same photo stacking technique in Photoshop? I ask because I work from a tablet and don’t have access to Starry Landscape Stacker or Sequator.
Unfortunately not. It will not be able to align photos, especially at 14-24mm.
If you had a 35 or 50mm lens, you could probably stack and align up to 20 images though. There's a lot less movement and distortion at 35-50mm, so the software has an easier time.
Awesome diy mang 🤙
Can someone tell me the BEST astrophotography lens that can mount a Canon like Canon T8i or Canon 90D? I heard of IRIX 15mm f/2.4 as well as Rokinon? Any suggestion of the BEST lens that is amazing in all aspects that can take nice shots of the Milky Way as well as Orion Nebula?
Photo stacking in Photoshop??
Hey Peter, thanks for the video. I am interesting of how you blend your long exposure foreground image and images taken with tracker, since the foreground will be rotating when tracker is on. I can get some OK result with painting mask in sequator but wondering if there is other tips? Thanks!
I cover that process in-depth in my Astro Post Processing Course on my website. We use luminosity masks to quickly create a clean blend, even if there are a lot of trees or bushes.
Hi Peter, Great video, I have a question on the Star tracker.
The image your taking with the tracker, is it at the same location that your foreground image is taking or do you have to take it at another location with no distraction or subject matter blocking the horizon. something I noticed on the video that you didn't show the star tracking image before you showed it stacked onto the foreground image. Cheers
Great Video Peter! Qq: for the Utah shot, how did you blend the foreground so cleanly on a 4 minute exposed sky? Didnt the blur of that rock jutting into the sky region leave dark blurry blobs after you replaced it with a non tracked FG?
That will happen if you take both photos in the same place, which I don't recommend. I usually move the tripod to a nearby spot without any big foreground elements in the frame and shoot my tracked image
Great review of stacking vs tracking. quick question, is there a method to polar align if you can't see polaris? I use PS Align Pro for my Sky Watcher Star Adventurer but if I am in the canyons i can't always see the north star. if I use a wide angle lens, can I "wing" and try to get close enough and maybe only track for 1 min vs 4 min?
Sunny Hwang You don’t need to be super accurate while using such a wide lens. If you can get the North Star anywhere into the circle on the polar scope it will be good enough.
As Kyle mentioned below, you don't have to be that precise when shooting ~14mm. In the past, I would just aim the star tracker North, try to get the North Star centered over the top, verify the latitude was correct on the base, and begin shooting.
However, I always had the north star visible for this rough alignment. If you are down in a canyon, you'd be in for a much more difficult challenge. Then again, if you are only going for a 60 second exposure, you could probably pull it off!
Can you do this on a entry level camera like d5600? Do you already have similar video?
yes you can
Hi guys, for someone who is starting out what brand of camera would you recommend? i use Sony a7 iv for landscape photos can I use Sony a7 iii modified for astro? is Sony ok or it has to be a Canon?
if you already have the sony, just use those, they're fine for it.
Can I do photo stacking on a chromebook
Is any of this possible is i use a Panasonic fz2000?
Also i don't know what the crop factor is on it,the internet is giving a lot of different answers
After looking over the specs for that camera, it could work! You may find the 24mm focal length equivalent is a bit narrow though. It would be hard to fit a nice foreground and sky in the same composition (at least out here in Utah, we've got a lot of big foreground elements) I'd also recommend shooting in RAW, so you have much more flexibility when editing. It looks like you can go all the way to 60 second exposures too, which is good.
@@PeterZelinka thanks a lot,it can do bulb mode to 2 minutes as well
Thanks for the video. One thing I don't understand: the reason stars leave a trail is because the Earth rotates so the longer the exposure, the longer the trail. So how does the focal length also affect that trail length?!? Thanks.
The more focal length you have, the faster you'll notice star trails
For example, I notice star trails after just 4 seconds at 100mm. However, I can shoot up to about 15 seconds at 14mm before I notice star trails.
@@PeterZelinka thanks for the reply. But why is that?!? If the trail is formed by the earth's rotation, my understanding is that only time will affect the length of such trails. Unless here it's just an issue of zooming in so the trails are enlarged and viewed sooner???
@@rafisaar Right, it's like with anything else. If you view a fast moving object from far away, it doesn't appear to be moving very fast. However, if you zoom into that object, it will quickly fly out of the frame.
If you were to zoom into the moon at 600mm, you would be able to see it moving through the frame. But you can't see the moon moving with your naked eye, since your field of view is so large.
How does a star tracker affect the foreground?
It'll completely blur out. You'll always need two exposures now, one tracked sky and one static foreground
Hi Peter, I've been thingking of doing astrophotography and getting the course, but right now I only have my backyard to shoot, i live in New York so I'm not sure if i can still take decent photos and I only have nikon z6 plus 50mm 1.8s
You can use www[dot]lightpollutionmap[dot]info to find the darkest spots near your location. And don't worry about your setup: with an 50mm f1.8 you could capture some amazing details from the milky way. It of course captures only a small part of the night sky, but having a closeup is also really nice ;)
It's worth a shot! The light pollution may obscure most of the detail in the Milky Way or nebulae in the night sky, but you never know until you try! You've got a great setup to start with.
I'd recommend the photo stacking method too. Rather than take just 1 exposure, try 20 - 50 exposures. You can then stack them together and try to reduce any grain in the photos.
Peter Zelinka thank you very much man! I’m gonna give it a shot. I just need to learn the correct settings in shooting 20-50 exposures
Hey Peter great video as always! I've learned so much from you over the last year or so. I finally got my star tracker (Skywatcher Star Adventurer pro) and have been having fun with it taking images of things like Orion Nebula and Milky Way. In the future, I'd love to see a short video on balancing those trackers with the heavier tele lenses like 70-200. I feel like when I try and balance my tracker AFTER having to polar align, it moves while attaching the extension arm enough to really impact image at say, 200mm. Not sure if there is a technique or not to keeping things in alignment while having to attach that heavy arm. Anyhow, I had a question for you. When I have used Sequator in the past and even recently I always run into this same problem. I use Lightroom to batch edit like you say before for basic adjustments then I save as TIFFs and reopen in Sequator. When I do this and this is where the problem is, it always changes the color of the image. So, if my LR edit was what I wanted and I take it into Sequator it changes it purple. I was curious if you had any ideas/input as to why it does. Should the output color profile be RGB from LR when I save as TIFF? Does Sequator only recognize one color profile? Should I be converting the original to 8 bit before saving as TIFF? It' a HUGE problem which is why I never use it and go to Photoshop to stack instead even though it's more work. Thanks for all you do as we appreciate it. Great instructionals. Cheers from Florida.
I've never really had that problem, though rarely I will notice a slight color shift. I use sRGB and both 8 bit and 16bit Tiff files, depending on the image. I also don't use Lightroom for the initial edits, maybe that is somehow altering the process slightly.
The odd thing to me is, and I have watched many many Milky Way processing videos, none of the videos who recommends Sequator touches on the fact that it does not support the ProPhoto colour space. For example, you use the sRGB colour space, which is the most limited of all colour spaces. That is part of the reason why your stars are just white blown-out dots and contain no colour, even though many stars actually do have colours. The best and easiest solution most likely would be if as many people as possible kindly ask the developer to incorporate support of the ProPhoto colour space.
i will try this for my Samsung phone, I'm sure it works fine.
Regarding the 500 rule. It is more accurate with Film, but with Digital you have to go 1 stop Faster Shutter Speed, or now known as the 250 rule
Good point! I hate the 500 Rule. I personally use the 200 Rule for shape stars
Excellent.
Hi do you recommend a certain tracker?
I generally recommend the iOptron SkyGuider Pro, although they tend to have some QA problems.
Recently I just create my first milky way timelapse video shooting with a single smartphone, that's really a enjoyment when done it. I'd like to try this application and stack a single picture.