Spent years stacking astro photos wrong until a pro showed me my error

I used to stack all my nebula shots with deep sky stacker on default settings, thinking more frames was always better. A guy at a star party last spring pointed out I was ignoring flat frames and throwing off all my color calibration. Do you prioritize getting flats every session or just wing it with bias frames like I used to?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookep623d ago

Flats are such a pain but honestly theyre the difference between a stack that looks like it was shot through a dirty window and one that actually pops. I used to think bias frames were good enough too until I saw a side by side comparison of the same data with and without flats. The color cast alone was terrible without them, like a yellow tint you cant fix in post without wrecking the stars. Now I force myself to take flats even if its midnight and I want to pack up, that t shirt method works surprisingly well in a pinch. Once you get into the habit it only adds like 5 minutes to your session and saves you hours of frustration later.

rodriguez.jordan3d ago

Wait, are you saying you skipped flats entirely back then? I mean, I get it, flats are annoying to take and I used to skip them too, but bias frames alone won't fix vignetting or dust motes. That's a whole different problem. You really should grab flats every session if you can, even if it's just a quick set with a t-shirt over the lens. It makes a huge difference in the final stack, especially with color balance. Skipping them is like leaving money on the table after all that effort gathering light frames.