Use a Bahtinov Mask for Sharp Focus
A Bahtinov mask can help you achieve a sharp focus for your astrophotography images. This process is an essential step of any deep-sky astrophotography session. With so much time and effort put into your polar alignment and autoguiding accuracy, it would be a shame to spoil a photo due to poor focus. Over the years, I've had my fair share of deep-sky astrophotography focus mishaps. In many cases, I did not realize how bad the focus of my image was until I attempted to process the final image. You can avoid this unfortunate circumstance by using a simple tool that effectively confirms…
Manual Stacking in Photoshop for Reduced Noise
Even without a tracking mount, your astrophotography images can benefit from manual stacking in Photoshop. This method involves aligning exposures and combining them into a master composite. It can make a big impact on your astrophotos by reducing noise and improving the signal-to-noise ratio. The images used in the example were captured using a camera lens in place of a telescope. A wide-angle lens can be a tremendous way to photograph a large area of the night sky at once, rather than zooming in on a deep sky object. [caption id="attachment_4045" align="aligncenter" width="7…
Forgotten Light Frames
While digging though some old folders on Adobe Bridge, I stumbled across some unprocessed, 300 second light frames of the Flaming Star Nebula from November 2013! When you are desperate to get out and image a new target, this is like hitting gold. I was originally looking for my raw files of the Pacman Nebula, which I feel is in desperate need a new process. (Those stars look pretty rough) I found a folder labelled "Flaming Star - 5 Min Lights". I never processed this image! The Flaming Star Nebula is a colorful collection of glowing gas and dust lit…
Essential Image Processing Video Tutorial
This video may change the way your shoot and process astro-images forever. It covers the few simple steps needed to create an ultra high-resolution master frame with a high signal-to-noise ratio. This tutorial covers the capturing, processing and production of gorgeous wide-field astrophotography images using a camera lens or small telescope. If you are a DSLR imager like me, many of the techniques you'll see demonstrated in this video will make their way into your capturing and processing workflow. Even if you focus more on deep-sky imaging with a large telescope, there is…
How To Take Pictures of Stars & Night Sky
If you are wondering how to take pictures of stars and the alluring wonders of the night sky, look no further. In this article, I'll share an absolute, bare-bones approach for capturing a spectacular photograph of the stars above the one below. This includes covering which camera to use, the exact camera settings I recommend, and the right conditions for a successful photo. I'll also cover some of the next steps to consider for night sky photography, including recommended light pollution filters, and an introduction to star trackers. Anyone with access to a DSLR camera an…
