A buddy at the star party said my stacked images were too noisy - he was right

Been doing astrophotography for about a year with my old Canon T3i. Last month at a meetup in Flagstaff, this guy I'd never met glanced at my laptop screen and said "you're clipping the histogram too hard on the dark side." I was so annoyed at first. But he showed me his workflow, and I was stacking with like 30 frames instead of 120. Started taking way more subs and doing darks and flats properly. First clear night after that, my Andromeda shot was night and day better. Anyone else get a tip that stung at first but made your photos way better?

2 comments

2 Comments

gonzalez.anna29d ago

@evanfox your intervalometer tip reminds me of how I taught my dog to sit still during nail trims by giving him treats after every single clip, same idea.

evanfox1mo ago

The part about clipping the dark side is real, but you gotta watch the light side too. I did the same thing at first, cramming everything into the middle of the histogram. What really helped me was getting a intervalometer for my old camera so it can take like 200 subs automatically without me touching it. Once I bumped up the darks and flats, that noise just melted away. Sounds like you are on the right track now.