Not sure if this is the thread I post this on...
I am new to nightscapes but am becoming quite frustrated with the noise in my photos. I usually shoot in AWB Faithful.... with the in-camera NR turned off as most internet sites I have read suggest this. I am using a Canon EOS 60Da with a Samyang 14 mm f2.8 manual lens (the eclipse moon was taken with the Canon camera at prime focus on a Meade LXD55 10" SN F4). The ISO for the night scapes ranges from 1000-1200 for 20 secs. Sometimes 3200 and once 5000 for 3 secs (just to see the result) I know that the higher ISOs introduce noise.
I only have Adobe Light Room, Deep Sky Stacker and Star Trails de to process. In Light Room, I use the Luminance tab to reduce noise. Does anyone have suggestions for a program to use to reduce noise and process the photos within a limited budget? Or where I might be going wrong. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Have added some of my shots...
Last edited by Gnat; 10-01-2015 at 11:09 PM.
Reason: the images uploaded but didn't attach :)
I just downloaded Topaz and Noise Ninja. Out of both, Topaz is the easiest and appears to work really well. I haven't tried it with too many example but the ones I have used it on are looking really good. Although Photoshop will become a very expensive piece of kit after a while.
Definitely, the more subs you can stack, the less noise you will end up with, but more importantly, if you are not taking darks then it is essential
that you enable in camera long exposure noise reduction and high ISO
noise reduction. Unless you are shooting in extremely low ambient
temperatures you need darks; whether they are taken separately, or automatically by the camera is irrelevant. The main reason that most imagers recommend taking separate darks is that it saves a lot of imaging time. Using in camera noise reduction the camera will automatically take a dark sub of the same duration as your light sub, thereby halving your available imaging time. One advantage of in camera
noise reduction is that you know that the ambient temp for the light and dark exposures will be the same.
I don't recall whether you can stack in Lightroom, but if not you can download Deep Sky Stacker. [it's freeware].
raymo
Last edited by raymo; 11-01-2015 at 09:58 PM.
Reason: more text
I shoot in RAW and JPEG. Have not taken darks yet. Will read up on it. How many do you take? As I don't have Photoshop, can I stack in Light Room?
You can get a plugin for Lightroom called enfuse. Their is a standalone version that is free and a plugin that works within Lightroom. Great for stacking or layering several images to get a more even exposure etc... Here is the link to the site about the plugin and links to download. The plugin for Lightroom will cost you $5 Aust and is well worth it... http://www.photographers-toolbox.com...s/lrenfuse.php
The free standalone works fine, but I like the plugin for Lightroom better..
Hope this helps.... I love your images.... Very nice!