Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanJones
Nice work !
I'm inspired seeing what you can do with multiple short exposures as it seems that's what I'm going to have to stick to with my equipment. Definitely given me a bench mark to aim for  |
Thank you Ryan.
Certainly short captures hide poor polar alignment and usually gives reasonably sharp photos.
I started short captures to get the job done but it really surprises me what you can produce with this approach.
I dont know if you know about dithering but if you move the frame slightly between captures, say a star width or two, this helps greatly with noise..if your polar alignment is poor you sortta do it automatically... try some darks 10 to 20, which are just shots with the lens cap on...
Try to get an hours worthof light frames and I bet you will surprise yourself.Throw out ones that are off or tell Deep Sky Stacker to stack say 80% or whatever you think the portion a good captures are...I often force it to do 100% if the captures seem reasonable.
Stacking takes a while.
I dont know if you have any processing software but you can download Gimp for free which helps improve what comes out of Deep Sky Stacker...
Go into clours and try a fiddle with levels and curves, brigtness and contrast and the colour adjustment tool...that will get you started.
Take time to get the focus right, use a mask and the blow up preview on your camera to make sure it is as good as you can get it..even take a couple of shots with the mask to examine focus.. set the camera to 30 seconds and check it after the first five minutes to make sure all is going well...dont be like me thinking it was on 30 seconds having dinner whilst ti ran only to find I had not taken it off bulb.
In the "old Days" I would often take up to 30 shots adjusting focus....not like that with these new masks but make the effort in that area.
And most of all post your efforts so we here can enjoy your work.
alex
raymo
