kaiblack•8d agoMost Upvoted

I used to think stacking 10 photos was enough for deep space shots

For years I stuck with taking maybe 10 to 15 frames of a nebula and calling it good, thinking more was just extra work for a tiny gain. Then last month, I decided to push my rig on the Orion Nebula from my backyard in Phoenix and just let it run for a full three hours, collecting over 200 subs. The difference when I stacked them all was insane. The noise floor dropped so much that I could pull out faint dust clouds I never even knew were in my frames before. It completely changed my view on what my basic DSLR and tracker could actually capture. I learned that patience and just collecting more light is the single biggest upgrade you can make, way more than any new filter or piece of gear. Has anyone else had a moment where they realized they were just not taking enough exposures?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaretj408d ago

Wow, that is EXACTLY what happened to me with the Pleiades! I was so sure my 20 or so frames were fine until I saw a friend's stack of over 100. I went back and gathered way more data, and the faint nebulosity just APPEARED out of the noise. It's like @elizabeth_ramirez said, it makes the faint stuff pop from nowhere. You're totally right that patience is the best gear upgrade. I just leave my setup running all night now whenever I can. The difference it makes is not small at all, it's the whole picture.

elizabeth_ramirez8d ago

Oh man, that hits home. I had the same thing happen when I finally tried a longer shoot on the Andromeda galaxy. All that extra data just makes the faint stuff pop out of nowhere. It's a total game changer for sure.

xenah128d ago

Yeah, that's the real magic of longer exposure times. What was the biggest surprise you found in the faint details, like new dust lanes or just way more stars? I'm always torn between adding more time on a target I already have or moving to something new.