It won't be very long before we have software you'll be able to drop your audio in to and it will edit you video "So"s and "ummms" right out. Better yet, statistically analyze your use of words in general and call out my repeated word. I should invent that!!!
Very impressive image. I once made a stack with 300 single images, each 1.6 seconds without motor drives. Of course the result with these short exposures wasn’t very perfect but I was impressed by the huge galaxy that after stacking appeared.
Ive just had to re-watch this as I kept missing one vital part in my dss and that was the flat bias... kept getting a rather squashed final image... Now I've done it right I can actually see my 55mins of data on the Pinwheel Galaxy... Thanks for the great video... Helped me no end...
Really informative video. Good for an absolute beginner with astro stacking. Will actually have a go now that I have a rough idea of what I'm actually supposed to do..
Thanks so much! This is exactly what I needed. It also works as a great reference to turn to when several months have passed since my last stacking session and I forget how to use DSS.
Sir i have a problem in opening my images in DSS I captured M31 using my telescope and mobile phone camera The jpeg images are opening on dss It is showing "can not open multiple files from this folder" Please help sir🙏
Your tutorial is very helpful, thank you for taking the time. I am having trouble understanding why so many flats, darks, and bias frames are necessary because I assume that they should all be identical and as such how do multiple such frames add value to processing the final product?
The frames won’t always be identical, but will be very similar. It’s about making sure you have enough frames to create a good master file for each of the calibration frames. By adding more frames you build a pattern which will create a better master file to subtract from your light frames
@Tacklebuster Noise is an error that happens right in a camera senzor. It´s caused mainly by "jumping electrons" between pixels due to not enough light, long exposures (more electrons) or a temperature of a senzor. The biggest problem is that its RANDOM, so for eliminating this error in postprocess, you need more than one sample to make "noise model" and a clean image.
Wow, what a result. I've got the DeepSkycamera app on the phone, will this be suitable for this type of photo, or can I just use the phone camera in Raw mode?. Regarding the exposure times, I am not sure it I can get to 2 mins with the phone. What settings were the flat frames taken with? I've only got a 6" Dobsonian will I struggle with this type of photography? I've read that without being able to track this won't work.
very good tutorial, i was having problems figuring out how long my light exposures should be, i was using 4 seconds thinking that when i stack them it would be a much longer exposure and the details would come out, your scores are much higher than mine, obviously due to the long exposure times, i just took shots of Great Orion Nebula last night, stacking them now, but they are only 2 seconds each... I am learning thanks to people like you who are willing to share!
Hi, just watched your tutorial, quick question, you are using Raw CR2 files from a Canon camera, I thought this did not work in DSS. When I try stacking in DSS with Canon Raw I just end up with no image just a grey preview screen, I even converted the CR2 raw files to DNG and same thing, any ideas would be gratefully received?
DSS definitely accepts CR2 files. I’ve been using it for years along with lots of others. I’m not sure what you mean by a grey preview screen. If you email me a screenshot I’ll see if I can help: nick@astroexploring.com
Would be interested in seeing the final post-Photoshop image if you started with your original single shot image WITHOUT the stacking to compare to your final image presented here. THAT would show the improvement made by using DeepSkyTracker. Also, do you have a second video showing how you processed your image in Photoshop? That is where the magic takes place. Good stuff in your vid!
really excellent step by step, especially for a person brand new to this discipline....A question, should you see this? How do you manage a 120 second exposure (500 rule) ?
Thanks for the video! I'm a bit confused, the image at 17:39, is it "stacked" (output of DeepSkyStacker)? Image at 18:19, is it after some post processing in Photoshop (or any other software)?
I live in a high light polluted city and I was trying to capture a star in canis majoris on photo. After stacking it looked like without any light pollution. I only use a smartphone and a 60/700 refraktor telescope. Thanks for your video it helped a lot.
Wanted to ask you, I have an old camera used alott Nikon D3400 having Shutter count almost around 140,000. So it does generate soo much of noise in final image so which frames should I take more Darks or Biases to reduce noise, generally I take 20 of all. Also I'm from bortle 6 was planning on Andromeda at 300mm so taking 2 min exposure turns entire image into almost white photo, will that work out I mean is it good photo???
@@HrithikSharmahr hi, you have to cover a lens with some white, uniform material like a white t-shirt, then use a uniform source of white light, such as a smartphone screen set to max. brightness and then make photos of this flat white pictures, using automatic settings in your camera. In fact I've had some problems with "flats" and not always use them, as sometimes they spoiled my pictures. Maybe I've set sth wrong in DSS. Please let me know if you managed to prepare good "flats" and they worked well for you
This is to stack image files for deep sky astrophotography. What files do you have for your spectra? Are they individual image files that you’re looking to stack together?
Unfortunately, I dont have a star tracking mount yet and my images are on a old micro 4/3 camera that has a lot of noise even at lower ISOs so I didn't really get very good data of Orion before stacking. I dont know if deep sky stacker was detecting the noise as stars as the star count went very high even though there wasn't many stars in the image even at high thresholds. also got an error whatever I did saying only on frame could be stacked? Gonna try again when I get a better camera. This tutorial did help a lot though. Didn't know bias or light frames existed before this.
Hi! I found you on Sunny's Page and wanted to check out your channel and spread some positive vibes! I hit the 👍 button, best of luck with your channel!
I dont have the 1st world money needed to get into astrophotography proper, but I took 20 burst photos of m43. Is there anything I can do with them? I know that is silly to even ask but might as well.
I don’t have a Mac so I’ve never used them but I know of Starry Sky Stacker and SiriL that you could try. Not sure if they cost any money but hopefully not!
So can I do the supporting images like the next day? I had captured some really great Andromeda images (240 x 7). I’d like to see how much better it’ll look now with all the support images…
Hello why it suddenly stopped my deepskystacker but my previous stacking is working fine i hope for your reply and i hope you will give me answers to fix it
Hi, I got a message that AdLib something does not support my Canon EOS 2000D. Is there a problem with my camera or DSS itsel? I'm using the latest version. It happens during Star Detection. I'm on a win10 64 bits system.
Hi there great vid! So I’ve got a Nikon d3100 kicking around I was thinking about using with my skymax 127 az-gti will this work? I see you selected about 30 images to stack...was that 30 x 2 minute long exposures? Sorry for the silly question I’m all new to this! Many Thanks.
Yes it was 30x 2 minute exposures. You could certainly try using the skymax and I’m sure you’ll achieve some reasonable results. However I think you’ll reach the limitations of that quite quickly. Really you need an EQ mount but there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t give it a go. Just make sure you get the right adapters etc
Thank you so much Nick. I have followed Trevor Jones at Astrobackyard but I wanted to say what you have shared have been helpful as well. Thanks and keep up the great work. Clear skies! Narrie
@@AstroExploring I haven't been back to the UK since 2018. I try to get there every year. I plan on being back in April 2022 (Kent, Berkshire. Anywhere near you?)
Great Video! I will need to figure out how to make 'flats' and 'bias' frames, but I'm sure there are other videos on that. I watched your video because I saw that you were stacking raw (CR2) files and the stacking software treats these as 'gray' as opposed to RGB. I've seen other UA-cam videos suggest converting the raw images to TIFF so as to avoid getting a 'gray' stacked image. Your stacked image came out like mine, 'gray' and then a miracle occurs in post process in Photoshop and your M31 has color. I would love to see a follow on video (as I suspect a good many of your followers would as well) how you've recovered the color in post. Thanks in advance!
He says in the vid. For flat, take a picture of a cloud free sky in the day, and for bias, take a picture with the lens cap on with the same iso as your light frame and reduce the shutter speed all the way down
My DSS output is completely black, with a very thin sharp line all the way to the left of the hist. I think so thing is wrong with my darks. What I don't use them, there is actual visible data, then it disappears and is un-processable.
I was wondering I don't have a motor tracking mount for my Newtonian do you know how to get good long exposures with out blur from the earth's rotation. How did you take these photos of Andromeda. Nice video by the way!
You can’t do long exposures without a tracking mount as you’ll get star trails. You can do a lot of short exposures and stack them but you won’t be able to do long exposures
Hi Nick, I’m quite a novice when it comes to astrophotography. If I wanted to stack data of the same object from serval nights of imaging would I stack the data and calibration shots from each individual night and then stack the stacked images with each other after or just select them all together and stack it all together? Thanks. Joe
Thanks for this video, it is helpful. A couple of questions (for anyone). I managed to get 25 great light frames of Andromeda from a beautiful dark sky location but we were then hit by a sudden rain storm which meant I had to quickly dismantle everything and wasnt able to finish the lights and couldn't get any of the calibration frames (I could have taken bias but by the time I had sorted everything I didnt think of it). I have some old frames but they are all different settings and when I stacked I think they caused some issues with my image. What is the best way to get hold of the right data? Just get some random shots using the same settings? Wait until I can set everything up and get data closer to the conditions of that night? Am I buggered already? Second question, when I load my light frames in DSS to check them, they are very red and seem to have far less detail in them than if I open the image from the DNG file. Is that normal?
@@AstroExploring I was talking about the DSS Autosave, before the next step on Ps. The Default result after stacking is always pretty dark. Your too at the beginning. Than you save a pretty bright image, before processing in Ps.
What filters are you using? I often use the Optolong L-eNhance with my DSLR and stack them altogether. If you want to stack images with filters with images without filters then it might be worth doing them as 2 groups and blending them together in post-processing
A little rambling in the beginning got me a bit confused. When you open your pictures at 3:46 of the video, are these your RAW shots of the galaxy? The confusing part is that you state you "processed these before". Do you mean you process the image first in say Lightroom or Photoshop and then bought them into DSS? Should you just bring in RAW images first without pre processing? May I suggest that you just stick to the "How" to do it and not include the "Why" you do it. That's what the other videos you make are for. Going off an these tangents make it a little confusing and just prolongs the video.
Thanks for your feedback. I always like to explain why we do something as I know I like to have that level of detail but I appreciate it prolongs the video. Processed these before was a poor choice of words, I merely meant that I’d inspected each image to ensure the stars were sharp and that there were no plane trails going through them
What's the process of getting from the raw photo file to the checkable list? You went thru that kind of fast and I cant see how you did that part. Thanks.
@@AstroExploring Right at the beginning when you are selecting your FIT files. You select them and then something happens and they end up in the bottom with check boxes next to them.
So when you’ve opened them, there is an option on the left hand side of the screen that says “check all”. That will check all of the images 🙂 hope that helps
Yeah sorry I forgot to mention this on the video! You’ll need a remote shutter release cable to achieve longer exposures. Set your camera to bulb and then set the exposure time on the remote shutter. There should be one linked in the description but if not you can get them on Amazon for about £15
Sadly using my calibration frames for your light frames won’t work because you will have different read noise/dust spots etc to me. I’m hoping to have some free data on my website at some point for people to download and play with
Anyone know about DDS Live? It's an alternate program described on the DSS site but no link anywhere that I can find. I searched for an hour with no luck.
There’s a thing called star tracker which moves the camera at the same speed as the earth rotates but in the opposite direction so it follows the stars 🤓 another technique is to re position your camera manually each time your target gets off centered 🤔
@@louismilone6812 well I mean, you take short exposures(check about 500/600 rule) and then when the camera is not taking a picture then you move it so your target is in frame again🧐 and you need a tripod of course for these kind of photos, and also an intervalometer but it’s not extremely necessary since your camera comes with a built in one
@@louismilone6812 I don’t know if Nick has any tutorial about this but anyway, I recommend you checking Nico Carver from NebulaPhotos. He has full length workflow covering deep sky photography without a tracker
Hi there. Great video thanks, especially your explanation of darks, flats, bias etc. You’ve explained how to take darks, but could you tell me how the others are produced please. Thanks.
Thanks Paul! I used a portable tracking mount and a small telescope for these pictures. The Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer and the Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED in this case, with my DSLR attached. Finding Andromeda is quite easy because it’s next to a couple of really bright stars in the Andromeda constellation so once you’ve found those you know you’re not far away. I use an app on my phone as a rough guide to know where to point. I have lots of videos on my channel explaining this so feel free to take a look at those 🙂
@@AstroExploring not sure if youve done this before but after your video helped me i figured id share a trick i learned the other day. If you have the app "star tracker" or any app that uses your phones gyro Place your phone flush against the lense and then aim the lense like that. If you make another video could be a life saver for us amateurs lol it was for me. Made finding the direction much easier. Thanks again for the video!
In the recommended settings there’s an option for if your images come out looking grey. Have you tried changing that? Also, have you opened the image up in Photoshop (or other software) after it’s stacked? Sometimes DSS shows a grey image but when you open PS and do an initial stretch the colour comes out
Flat Darks are not needed if you’re using Bias frames like I did. You can use either Flat Darks or Bias but not both. I have another video explaining each type of calibration frame 🙂
@@AstroExploring: Nick: I think you may have inadvertently created a niche Catchphrase spin-off here, just for Astro geeks; you could call it 'What's the Constellation'...I'd definitely watch that on TV. :-)
i actually have a question for you! if i take flats, bias and light frames one day, and the next night is cloudy, will those frame shots be good for another night?
Here’s the general rule of thumb: darks are temperature sensitive so they can be reused if the temperature of your camera sensor is the same. Flats rely on the same focus, so if you haven’t taken down your rig and had the dust cap on then they can be reused. Bias frames can be reused for a few months before needing to take again 🙂 I actually have a video on calibration frames on my channel which explains more 👍🏻
Thanks for this video, very informative and the only updated video on the software ive found. I'm extremely new to Astro photography and i found this to be quite helpful. thanks.
I'm new to this. But I'm gonna be using a telescope. It would be awesome if you did a video exactly like this but using a telescope. How to get the dark frames and etc. Thanks alot.
Hi Jonathan, I used a telescope to take the image you see in the thumbnail. I have a video showing how to take calibration frames, and also a guide on my website (which has the video embedded). Check it out here: astroexploring.com/how-to-take-dark-frames-1 the guides for taking Flats and Bias frames are on separate pages
@@AstroExploring oh wow!! Awesome man. Your videos are very lamen, meaning I actually understand what you're saying. Thanks alot. I'm gonna 100% check them out. I've got a star adventurer pro and a 90mm SVBONY refractor with the optical lenses for astrophotography. If this rain ever stops finally I might actually get to try it out. Thank you again
Been through a lot of these videos. Can you just tell me why they dont line up the images? They cant all be perfectly the same and lined up. The program should be able to take a few moon shots and give me.one perfect image. Thank you
Hi Marc. Are you trying to stack moon images in DSS? Just to clarify, DSS can’t stack moon images. If that’s what you’re trying to do then I have another video showing how to stack moon images using AS!2
![A Full Guide on DeepSkyStacker [Astrophotography Stacking Software]](/img/n.gif)
Sorry for saying 'so' about a million times!
It won't be very long before we have software you'll be able to drop your audio in to and it will edit you video "So"s and "ummms" right out. Better yet, statistically analyze your use of words in general and call out my repeated word. I should invent that!!!
Rob Fowler hey if you invent it, I’ll definitely have a use for it! 😂
@@Robert08010 It's possible with today's technology.
@@Robert08010
That will um be awesome
"sorry" starts with "so" so sorry u said it again
Very impressive image. I once made a stack with 300 single images, each 1.6 seconds without motor drives. Of course the result with these short exposures wasn’t very perfect but I was impressed by the huge galaxy that after stacking appeared.
I'm just getting started with astrophotography, this video helped a lot!
Glad to hear it!
Ive just had to re-watch this as I kept missing one vital part in my dss and that was the flat bias... kept getting a rather squashed final image... Now I've done it right I can actually see my 55mins of data on the Pinwheel Galaxy... Thanks for the great video... Helped me no end...
I’m getting ready to dip my toes in DSLR astro-photography and your videos are extremely useful. Thank you for this.
Really informative video. Good for an absolute beginner with astro stacking. Will actually have a go now that I have a rough idea of what I'm actually supposed to do..
Can you please tell me the procedure to click bias files, flat files please?
Thanks so much! This is exactly what I needed. It also works as a great reference to turn to when several months have passed since my last stacking session and I forget how to use DSS.
14:44 but what if it still uses half of the images when I set it to 100%?
After stacking? What's next? Is there a follow-up video?
Sir i have a problem in opening my images in DSS
I captured M31 using my telescope and mobile phone camera
The jpeg images are opening on dss
It is showing "can not open multiple files from this folder"
Please help sir🙏
Your tutorial is very helpful, thank you for taking the time.
I am having trouble understanding why so many flats, darks, and bias frames are necessary because I assume that they should all be identical and as such how do multiple such frames add value to processing the final product?
The frames won’t always be identical, but will be very similar. It’s about making sure you have enough frames to create a good master file for each of the calibration frames. By adding more frames you build a pattern which will create a better master file to subtract from your light frames
@Tacklebuster Noise is an error that happens right in a camera senzor. It´s caused mainly by "jumping electrons" between pixels due to not enough light, long exposures (more electrons) or a temperature of a senzor. The biggest problem is that its RANDOM, so for eliminating this error in postprocess, you need more than one sample to make "noise model" and a clean image.
I m a beginner and I would like to know that do we need to record video for stacking instead of taking photo?
Can you show us how to post process andromeda please? I have so much data in my image but just can’t get all of it out
Wow, what a result. I've got the DeepSkycamera app on the phone, will this be suitable for this type of photo, or can I just use the phone camera in Raw mode?. Regarding the exposure times, I am not sure it I can get to 2 mins with the phone. What settings were the flat frames taken with?
I've only got a 6" Dobsonian will I struggle with this type of photography? I've read that without being able to track this won't work.
very good tutorial, i was having problems figuring out how long my light exposures should be, i was using 4 seconds thinking that when i stack them it would be a much longer exposure and the details would come out, your scores are much higher than mine, obviously due to the long exposure times, i just took shots of Great Orion Nebula last night, stacking them now, but they are only 2 seconds each... I am learning thanks to people like you who are willing to share!
We all start somewhere 🙂 glad you liked the video
You use an equatorial mount to get those initial 2 min exposures?
Hi, just watched your tutorial, quick question, you are using Raw CR2 files from a Canon camera, I thought this did not work in DSS. When I try stacking in DSS with Canon Raw I just end up with no image just a grey preview screen, I even converted the CR2 raw files to DNG and same thing, any ideas would be gratefully received?
DSS definitely accepts CR2 files. I’ve been using it for years along with lots of others. I’m not sure what you mean by a grey preview screen. If you email me a screenshot I’ll see if I can help: nick@astroexploring.com
Would be interested in seeing the final post-Photoshop image if you started with your original single shot image WITHOUT the stacking to compare to your final image presented here. THAT would show the improvement made by using DeepSkyTracker.
Also, do you have a second video showing how you processed your image in Photoshop? That is where the magic takes place.
Good stuff in your vid!
really excellent step by step, especially for a person brand new to this discipline....A question, should you see this? How do you manage a 120 second exposure (500 rule) ?
Thanks! I used a tracking mount to keep the object in view. Checkout the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer, really great bit of kit 👍🏻🔭
Thanks for the video!
I'm a bit confused, the image at 17:39, is it "stacked" (output of DeepSkyStacker)? Image at 18:19, is it after some post processing in Photoshop (or any other software)?
Yes the first image is the stacked output from DSS and the second image is after using Photoshop. Hope that helps
@@AstroExploring Thank you for the clarification.
Thanks mate. Great video. I myself made a similar video except tried to fit everything under 1 minute. Phew, that was a challenge.
I live in a high light polluted city and I was trying to capture a star in canis majoris on photo. After stacking it looked like without any light pollution. I only use a smartphone and a 60/700 refraktor telescope. Thanks for your video it helped a lot.
Glad you found it useful!
Wanted to ask you, I have an old camera used alott Nikon D3400 having Shutter count almost around 140,000. So it does generate soo much of noise in final image so which frames should I take more Darks or Biases to reduce noise, generally I take 20 of all. Also I'm from bortle 6 was planning on Andromeda at 300mm so taking 2 min exposure turns entire image into almost white photo, will that work out I mean is it good photo???
I haven't really got how to take these "flat" photos, but now I know what they and the other ones are for. Great tutorial, thank you!
I couldn't understand, please let me know how to click flat frames
@@HrithikSharmahr hi, you have to cover a lens with some white, uniform material like a white t-shirt, then use a uniform source of white light, such as a smartphone screen set to max. brightness and then make photos of this flat white pictures, using automatic settings in your camera.
In fact I've had some problems with "flats" and not always use them, as sometimes they spoiled my pictures. Maybe I've set sth wrong in DSS. Please let me know if you managed to prepare good "flats" and they worked well for you
@@michakubisz535 thank you so much for letting me know, gonna try this tomorrow
@@HrithikSharmahr great, good luck with that :) I think the key is not to overexpose "flats" so they don't affect your night sky photos too much
When you say 2 minute exposure, is that how long you recorded?
whats flat frames precious?
Can I do this method if I have recorded a spectra of a planetary nebula?
This is to stack image files for deep sky astrophotography. What files do you have for your spectra? Are they individual image files that you’re looking to stack together?
Thank you for the tutorial, that’s one Excellent image, I would be so proud of that if it were mine!
Bruno S
How would I change the Gray bit images into color? My images always turn out Black & White, and that Saturation tool has got to be the worst
Unfortunately, I dont have a star tracking mount yet and my images are on a old micro 4/3 camera that has a lot of noise even at lower ISOs so I didn't really get very good data of Orion before stacking. I dont know if deep sky stacker was detecting the noise as stars as the star count went very high even though there wasn't many stars in the image even at high thresholds. also got an error whatever I did saying only on frame could be stacked? Gonna try again when I get a better camera. This tutorial did help a lot though. Didn't know bias or light frames existed before this.
Is it possible to stack jpeg images taken with a mobile phone?
So is it one long two minute exposure and then a bunch of quick photos of the galaxy that are then stacked with the dark and flats???
They’re a collection of 2 minute exposures with calibration frames
@@AstroExploring so you had to keep tracking Andromeda as it moved? I’m a newbie and I have a Dobsonian so would have to track manually
Yeah I used a tracking mount (HEQ5) it would be hard to do a 2 minute exposure with a dob manually tracking
Hi! I found you on Sunny's Page and wanted to check out your channel and spread some positive vibes! I hit the 👍 button, best of luck with your channel!
Very kind, thank you!
I dont have the 1st world money needed to get into astrophotography proper, but I took 20 burst photos of m43. Is there anything I can do with them? I know that is silly to even ask but might as well.
It appears DSS is only available for windows. Do you know of a similar product for the Mac OS? Thanks!
I don’t have a Mac so I’ve never used them but I know of Starry Sky Stacker and SiriL that you could try. Not sure if they cost any money but hopefully not!
So can I do the supporting images like the next day? I had captured some really great Andromeda images (240 x 7). I’d like to see how much better it’ll look now with all the support images…
Is that work with mobile
Nice video, but I wonder, how I would generate those flat frames. Do I need to do that in Photoshop?
Flats are taken using your camera and telescope. I have a video called Calibration Frames Explained which should help you
@@AstroExploring thank you👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you for this I’m just starting and this helped a lot
Stunning !
Hello why it suddenly stopped my deepskystacker but my previous stacking is working fine i hope for your reply and i hope you will give me answers to fix it
I’m not sure I understand what you mean. Is DSS crashing halfway through stacking?
@@AstroExploring yes 😢
Have you tried updating to the latest version? A new version was released recently. How many images are you stacking at a time?
This works with pictures taken with cellphones?
Yes DSS will work with JPEGs from a phone too
Nice and very useful. Thanks for sharing
Hi, I got a message that AdLib something does not support my Canon EOS 2000D. Is there a problem with my camera or DSS itsel? I'm using the latest version. It happens during Star Detection. I'm on a win10 64 bits system.
I don’t think it’s supported yet. Download Adobe DNG converter and change them to DNG files and that should sort the problem out
Hi there great vid! So I’ve got a Nikon d3100 kicking around I was thinking about using with my skymax 127 az-gti will this work? I see you selected about 30 images to stack...was that 30 x 2 minute long exposures? Sorry for the silly question I’m all new to this! Many Thanks.
Yes it was 30x 2 minute exposures. You could certainly try using the skymax and I’m sure you’ll achieve some reasonable results. However I think you’ll reach the limitations of that quite quickly. Really you need an EQ mount but there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t give it a go. Just make sure you get the right adapters etc
Thank you so much Nick. I have followed Trevor Jones at Astrobackyard but I wanted to say what you have shared have been helpful as well. Thanks and keep up the great work. Clear skies! Narrie
Thanks so much Narrie!
@@AstroExploring I haven't been back to the UK since 2018. I try to get there every year. I plan on being back in April 2022 (Kent, Berkshire. Anywhere near you?)
Hi. How do I take a flat frame? You told us the results of a flat frame but not how to take it.
Thanks!
I have another video on my channel explaining how to take all calibration frames
Very nice video. I’m just getting started in DSO imaging
Great Video! I will need to figure out how to make 'flats' and 'bias' frames, but I'm sure there are other videos on that.
I watched your video because I saw that you were stacking raw (CR2) files and the stacking software treats these as 'gray' as opposed to RGB. I've seen other UA-cam videos suggest converting the raw images to TIFF so as to avoid getting a 'gray' stacked image. Your stacked image came out like mine, 'gray' and then a miracle occurs in post process in Photoshop and your M31 has color.
I would love to see a follow on video (as I suspect a good many of your followers would as well) how you've recovered the color in post.
Thanks in advance!
He says in the vid. For flat, take a picture of a cloud free sky in the day, and for bias, take a picture with the lens cap on with the same iso as your light frame and reduce the shutter speed all the way down
Did you take 37 exposures each at 2 minutes ?
I am assuming you used a tracking system ?
If not , what were the details of each exposure ? Thank you
he definitely used a tracking system
My DSS output is completely black, with a very thin sharp line all the way to the left of the hist. I think so thing is wrong with my darks. What I don't use them, there is actual visible data, then it disappears and is un-processable.
still being batterd by a storm here in the UK....
Great stuff. Thanks!
I was wondering I don't have a motor tracking mount for my Newtonian do you know how to get good long exposures with out blur from the earth's rotation. How did you take these photos of Andromeda. Nice video by the way!
You can’t do long exposures without a tracking mount as you’ll get star trails. You can do a lot of short exposures and stack them but you won’t be able to do long exposures
@@AstroExploring I have trouble finding finding things like andromeda, any tips?
Thankyou this video helped a lot
Hi Nick, I’m quite a novice when it comes to astrophotography. If I wanted to stack data of the same object from serval nights of imaging would I stack the data and calibration shots from each individual night and then stack the stacked images with each other after or just select them all together and stack it all together? Thanks. Joe
gonna learn and do from this , cheers :)
i try to do the same but the image is not exposed.
Thanks for this video, it is helpful.
A couple of questions (for anyone).
I managed to get 25 great light frames of Andromeda from a beautiful dark sky location but we were then hit by a sudden rain storm which meant I had to quickly dismantle everything and wasnt able to finish the lights and couldn't get any of the calibration frames (I could have taken bias but by the time I had sorted everything I didnt think of it).
I have some old frames but they are all different settings and when I stacked I think they caused some issues with my image. What is the best way to get hold of the right data? Just get some random shots using the same settings? Wait until I can set everything up and get data closer to the conditions of that night? Am I buggered already?
Second question, when I load my light frames in DSS to check them, they are very red and seem to have far less detail in them than if I open the image from the DNG file. Is that normal?
Just go to the same spot another day, and take with the same settings
I think it's beautiful. But how you get from the first, complete dark Autosave to the brightest one?
You need post processing software like Photoshop/APP/PixInsight/GIMP to name a few 🙂
@@AstroExploring I was talking about the DSS Autosave, before the next step on Ps. The Default result after stacking is always pretty dark. Your too at the beginning. Than you save a pretty bright image, before processing in Ps.
Do you stack subs using filters separately and then add them to the (light stack) or do you stack them along with (light stack) ?
Are you talking about using a mono camera with filters? If so then you should stack them separately
@@AstroExploring I use a Cannon 600d DSLR. Are filters a waist of time ??
What filters are you using? I often use the Optolong L-eNhance with my DSLR and stack them altogether. If you want to stack images with filters with images without filters then it might be worth doing them as 2 groups and blending them together in post-processing
A little rambling in the beginning got me a bit confused. When you open your pictures at 3:46 of the video, are these your RAW shots of the galaxy? The confusing part is that you state you "processed these before". Do you mean you process the image first in say Lightroom or Photoshop and then bought them into DSS? Should you just bring in RAW images first without pre processing? May I suggest that you just stick to the "How" to do it and not include the "Why" you do it. That's what the other videos you make are for. Going off an these tangents make it a little confusing and just prolongs the video.
Thanks for your feedback. I always like to explain why we do something as I know I like to have that level of detail but I appreciate it prolongs the video. Processed these before was a poor choice of words, I merely meant that I’d inspected each image to ensure the stars were sharp and that there were no plane trails going through them
@@AstroExploring Thanks for the fast reply and keep up the great work.
What's the process of getting from the raw photo file to the checkable list? You went thru that kind of fast and I cant see how you did that part. Thanks.
Hi Scott. Can you clarify which checkable list you mean?
@@AstroExploring Right at the beginning when you are selecting your FIT files. You select them and then something happens and they end up in the bottom with check boxes next to them.
So when you’ve opened them, there is an option on the left hand side of the screen that says “check all”. That will check all of the images 🙂 hope that helps
That's after what I'm asking about. Sorry. I guess I'll have to mess with it. I did it once and forgot.
I figured it out. It was just pushing enter that I was missing. Seems like a small step but if you don't know it its maddening.
Great tutorial, i will try out these techiques for post processing my captures of Messier 31 & 33.
Thanks for this video. I have one silly question . How do you take 2 minutes exposure with dslr . I thought 30 seconds is the max in every camera
Yeah sorry I forgot to mention this on the video! You’ll need a remote shutter release cable to achieve longer exposures. Set your camera to bulb and then set the exposure time on the remote shutter. There should be one linked in the description but if not you can get them on Amazon for about £15
Could you share FLATS/DARKS/BIAS is it possible to use these calibration pictures taken from other people cameras?
Sadly using my calibration frames for your light frames won’t work because you will have different read noise/dust spots etc to me. I’m hoping to have some free data on my website at some point for people to download and play with
and they have to be taking at the same temperature as your lights, very important
Thanks! Very helpful tutorial
Anyone know about DDS Live? It's an alternate program described on the DSS site but no link anywhere that I can find. I searched for an hour with no luck.
When I downloaded DSS it also installed DSS Live and I have an icon on my desktop for it. Not sure if that’s still the case though
What setup did you use? Lense? Camera? Cool picture
This was taken with the Skywatcher 72ED, modified DSLR and Star Adventurer
One question,I'm just starting photography and would like to know how do you get to do 20 photos of the same sky if every minute the stars are moving?
There’s a thing called star tracker which moves the camera at the same speed as the earth rotates but in the opposite direction so it follows the stars 🤓 another technique is to re position your camera manually each time your target gets off centered 🤔
@@astrophemeris2958 thanks for the advice but it's impossible to move the camera manually
@@louismilone6812 well I mean, you take short exposures(check about 500/600 rule) and then when the camera is not taking a picture then you move it so your target is in frame again🧐 and you need a tripod of course for these kind of photos, and also an intervalometer but it’s not extremely necessary since your camera comes with a built in one
@@louismilone6812 I don’t know if Nick has any tutorial about this but anyway, I recommend you checking Nico Carver from NebulaPhotos. He has full length workflow covering deep sky photography without a tracker
@@astrophemeris2958 ok thanks for the advice
Hi there. Great video thanks, especially your explanation of darks, flats, bias etc. You’ve explained how to take darks, but could you tell me how the others are produced please. Thanks.
Hi Roger. If you go on my channel page you’ll see I have a video explaining each type of calibration frame and how to take them 🙂
Using version 4.2.0..... hehe...
Joking aside, nice video... actually quite helpful.
Are your links in description affiliated? I'd be willing to make a purchase through your links if so!
Hi Phil, yes the links are affiliated 🙂 thanks so much!!
Great vid. It's helped a lot with my stacking. Cheers.
Brilliant. Really clear. Could you explain how you actually take each photo please.hoe did you find Androneda?
Thanks Paul! I used a portable tracking mount and a small telescope for these pictures. The Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer and the Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED in this case, with my DSLR attached. Finding Andromeda is quite easy because it’s next to a couple of really bright stars in the Andromeda constellation so once you’ve found those you know you’re not far away. I use an app on my phone as a rough guide to know where to point. I have lots of videos on my channel explaining this so feel free to take a look at those 🙂
@@AstroExploring not sure if youve done this before but after your video helped me i figured id share a trick i learned the other day.
If you have the app "star tracker" or any app that uses your phones gyro
Place your phone flush against the lense and then aim the lense like that.
If you make another video could be a life saver for us amateurs lol it was for me.
Made finding the direction much easier.
Thanks again for the video!
@@HR91360 Thanks for the tip. would love to see that in a video . Does it find the pole or just Polaris?
im so excited
is there any way to stack images on a smartphone?
No there’s no way to stack images on a phone. You’ll need a computer with DeepSkyStacker or Sequator
@@AstroExploring oh ohk
How did you edit it?
In Photoshop. I have a couple of tutorials in my channel
Im not exactly sure all the gear you used for these, what would they be? Excellent video
I used a DSLR, small refractor telescope (Sky-Watcher 72ED) and the Star Adventurer to capture these images
Great video but when I stack my raw final result is alway gray (b&w). How do I get colour? If I try stacking TIFF files, it gives me an error
In the recommended settings there’s an option for if your images come out looking grey. Have you tried changing that? Also, have you opened the image up in Photoshop (or other software) after it’s stacked? Sometimes DSS shows a grey image but when you open PS and do an initial stretch the colour comes out
You covered Darks, Flats, Bias and Light Frames. You did not cover Dark Flat frames? Are those not needed? thnx in advance.
Flat Darks are not needed if you’re using Bias frames like I did. You can use either Flat Darks or Bias but not both. I have another video explaining each type of calibration frame 🙂
@@AstroExploring Thank You .
16:45 "Say what you see!, Say what you see!" - Roy Walker (Catchphrase)
Loved Catchphrase back in the day!
@@AstroExploring: Nick: I think you may have inadvertently created a niche Catchphrase spin-off here, just for Astro geeks; you could call it 'What's the Constellation'...I'd definitely watch that on TV. :-)
I think you’re on to something here! I’ve seen worse shows on TV!
i actually have a question for you! if i take flats, bias and light frames one day, and the next night is cloudy, will those frame shots be good for another night?
Here’s the general rule of thumb: darks are temperature sensitive so they can be reused if the temperature of your camera sensor is the same. Flats rely on the same focus, so if you haven’t taken down your rig and had the dust cap on then they can be reused. Bias frames can be reused for a few months before needing to take again 🙂 I actually have a video on calibration frames on my channel which explains more 👍🏻
Great tutorial, very useful and very informative ! Thx for sharing, clear skies !
Thank you!
Thanks for this video, very informative and the only updated video on the software ive found. I'm extremely new to Astro photography and i found this to be quite helpful. thanks.
You’re welcome, glad you found it so useful!
Great video. Helped me get started in stacking. Thank you
No problem!
Hello sir,
where did you take this picture? in the city?
I live in Bortle 4 skies
The new DSS update has made it impossible to stack DSLR images.
thx for simple explanation
How do you export the image?
It auto saves in the folder where you store your light frames be default. It creates an Autosave.tiff file
Thanks for sharing
How to take flats?? I am confused....
I have another video called Calibration Frames Explained which will help you out Check it out here: ua-cam.com/video/hz7ryk4qDrg/v-deo.html
I'm new to this. But I'm gonna be using a telescope. It would be awesome if you did a video exactly like this but using a telescope. How to get the dark frames and etc. Thanks alot.
Hi Jonathan, I used a telescope to take the image you see in the thumbnail. I have a video showing how to take calibration frames, and also a guide on my website (which has the video embedded). Check it out here: astroexploring.com/how-to-take-dark-frames-1 the guides for taking Flats and Bias frames are on separate pages
@@AstroExploring oh wow!! Awesome man. Your videos are very lamen, meaning I actually understand what you're saying. Thanks alot. I'm gonna 100% check them out. I've got a star adventurer pro and a 90mm SVBONY refractor with the optical lenses for astrophotography. If this rain ever stops finally I might actually get to try it out. Thank you again
Thanks a lot!
I’ve been taking pictures of the sky for about 2 weeks and I just now found out about all of this, is this program on Mac?
Unfortunately you can’t get this on a Mac. There is a program called Starry Sky Stacker that is available on Mac though
Instructive video, thx for posting!!
You’re welcome 😊
Been through a lot of these videos. Can you just tell me why they dont line up the images? They cant all be perfectly the same and lined up. The program should be able to take a few moon shots and give me.one perfect image. Thank you
Hi Marc. Are you trying to stack moon images in DSS? Just to clarify, DSS can’t stack moon images. If that’s what you’re trying to do then I have another video showing how to stack moon images using AS!2
@@AstroExploring thanks I'll look at that video. I'm still in the learning stages, photographing moon, Saturn, jupiter,.
No problem, just wanted to check 🙂 there’s a lot to learn in this hobby! ua-cam.com/video/HuONUWoIVeM/v-deo.html here’s the link
Thanks, I played with the settings but ended returning all to default
My DSS stack turns out completely black with one or 2 stars, like your image before the blocks revealed the galaxy.... What the heck