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Subtitles
00:00:00
if you've captured some images with your00:00:02
color camera like a DSLR and you want to00:00:05
harness the power of image stacking for00:00:07
a better image this video is for you00:00:09
deep Sky stacker or DSS is a free00:00:12
windows-based software that has stood00:00:14
the test of time and continues to be a00:00:17
great resource for astrophotographers in00:00:20
this video I'll go over the dead simple00:00:22
process of stacking your deep Sky asttr00:00:25
photography images in deep Sky stacker00:00:27
so you can get your first success00:00:30
stacked image for this tutorial I'm00:00:32
going to use some images I took back in00:00:34
2022 with my mirrorless Canon EOS ra00:00:37
camera and a ronon 135 mm lens I didn't00:00:41
use any filters but I did use a star00:00:43
tracker to take long exposure images00:00:46
using my intervalometer I think that00:00:48
this is a relatable project for many00:00:49
people getting started in asttr00:00:51
photography if you've never stacked your00:00:53
Astro images before I think you'll find00:00:55
that deep Sky stacker is a game changer00:00:58
and that the results are pretty reli if00:01:00
you want to learn even more about this00:01:02
process you can check out my image00:01:03
processing guide in the description00:01:05
let's get into it we'll start by opening00:01:07
deep Sky stacker this is the latest00:01:09
version00:01:11
5.1.5 and the first thing you want to do00:01:13
is open picture files so you can just00:01:17
navigate to your00:01:19
images that you want to stack in my case00:01:22
this is the north americ nebula captured00:01:25
with a roken on 135 mm lens and a DSLR00:01:29
and we'll select all of those and put00:01:32
them into deep Sky stacker to kind of00:01:34
see the quality of each one deep Sky00:01:37
stacker is great for that so I'll put in00:01:40
my light frames and it will tell me I00:01:42
have 109 light frames they're00:01:44
pre-checked right now we can click on00:01:46
the individual files to see a brief00:01:49
preview of them we can also see00:01:51
information like the resolution the iso00:01:55
setting I used and the exposure length00:01:58
don't be alarmed if you see a bit of a00:01:59
weird exposure length it's these are 100:02:02
minute and 30 second exposures captured00:02:04
with in00:02:05
intervalometer uh it's showing slight00:02:08
variation in those values which is not00:02:11
anything to worry about we'll also pick00:02:12
our dark files so if you're familiar00:02:15
with calibration frames those can be00:02:17
helpful for for stacking your final00:02:20
image it looks like in this case because00:02:22
I was out camping with my DSLR and lens00:02:25
and a star tracker I wasn't uh capturing00:02:29
flat frame and bias in this case but I00:02:31
did take some dark frames with the lens00:02:33
cap on so we've got all of those and we00:02:36
can see that they all match up in terms00:02:37
of exposure length and gain which is00:02:40
great and that kind of stuff will stand00:02:42
out as you go along the image files here00:02:45
so at this stage we can go ahead and uh00:02:48
register the pictures so we'll click00:02:51
check all and then register checked00:02:54
pictures so uh we don't want to stack00:02:56
them yet uh we can leave this automatic00:02:59
detection of hotct pixels on and just in00:03:01
the advanced here maybe the SL slider00:03:03
probably starts at about 10% and you can00:03:05
compute the number of detected stars and00:03:08
all this means is these are the number00:03:10
of stars that DSS is going to use to00:03:12
register and align these pictures so we00:03:14
have way too many here 26,000 it's not00:03:17
that it's a bad thing it was just going00:03:18
to slow this process down so if I move00:03:21
that up to about 60% it's going to00:03:24
detect less Stars the threshold is00:03:26
increased and 4,000 is plenty enough so00:03:29
will still register properly but without00:03:32
using too much where it's going to take00:03:33
a long time so you can adjust this to uh00:03:36
balance out speed and um accuracy so we00:03:40
won't mess with the stacking settings or00:03:42
anything yet we are just uh registering00:03:44
the pictures and through this00:03:46
registration and Alignment process we'll00:03:48
see even more information about our00:03:51
light frames including a very useful00:03:53
score category DSS has finished aligning00:03:57
and registering these images our light00:03:59
frame00:04:00
and we now see a score associated with00:04:04
all of the frames so our best score here00:04:06
we can sort it by clicking on the column00:04:09
our best score is about00:04:11
34,500 and if we scroll down our worst00:04:14
score is00:04:16
18,000 so as I click those you can see a00:04:19
preview image and there really isn't a00:04:22
whole lot of difference to the eye but00:04:25
because of this Advanced scoring feature00:04:27
we can see things like Star side size00:04:30
number of stars the sky background all00:04:32
to get a better idea of the quality of00:04:35
our light frames and ideally for an00:04:37
image stack you want to stack stack only00:04:39
your best light frames so what we can do00:04:42
we could manually go through and see the00:04:44
subtle differences in star size so this00:04:47
is full width half maximum a star00:04:49
measurement size and the smaller the00:04:51
better we can see number of stars you00:04:53
know normally more stars means you were00:04:55
in better focus to get every Star in the00:04:58
field and then the sky back ground the00:05:00
higher number here the brighter that Sky00:05:02
background is so if you're shooting in a00:05:05
light polluted area and you're getting00:05:07
closer to the light Dome you'll see that00:05:09
Sky brightness value go up or if the00:05:11
moon comes out all those little things00:05:13
so a darker sky is best based on all00:05:16
that information I think we can safely00:05:18
just get rid of the worst few frames00:05:22
based on our score feature here so I've00:05:24
already deselected anything below 28,00000:05:28
again you really wouldn't see much of a00:05:30
difference between the the one right on00:05:33
top of it and this one by the eye but we00:05:36
know it's just a little bit worse so00:05:38
just to make our stack a little bit00:05:39
better I've removed the the bottom six00:05:42
or seven image frames so you may remove00:05:45
more than that but everything looks good00:05:47
here and we can move on to stack checked00:05:50
pictures so everything that's checked is00:05:52
going to be a part of our image stack00:05:55
when we do that in the stacking steps00:05:57
dialogue box here we can see um our00:06:00
total estimated exposure time will be00:06:02
about 2 hours and 30 minutes which is00:06:04
pretty decent um we are not using any00:06:07
flat or bias files so we're getting a00:06:09
warning there saying that we should have00:06:11
used those and then the uh we're just00:06:14
using a standard mode and we go into the00:06:16
stacking settings here you'll see I have00:06:18
a Mode called enable two times drizzle00:06:21
on this is something you may want to use00:06:23
especially if you're under sampled it00:06:25
will double the resolution of your image00:06:27
by kind of connecting the pixels between00:06:29
the the the data um in this case just to00:06:32
make things quicker I'm going to leave00:06:34
it off but that's a feature you might00:06:36
want to explore using I just know that00:06:38
the processing time for the stack is00:06:40
going to take quite a bit longer00:06:42
everything else I've got at the default00:06:43
settings here the standard mode for00:06:45
stacking we've got the Kappa Sigma00:06:47
clipping um algorithm which is good for00:06:50
removing uh star Trails or not star00:06:53
Trails satellite Trails airplanes stuff00:06:55
like that the things that you actually00:06:57
want to average out and remove so we'll00:06:59
keep all of that the00:07:01
same and then using the recommended00:07:04
settings here we've got everything set00:07:05
to the default pretty well and you can00:07:08
kind of match these settings if you want00:07:09
to get a similar to result as me if00:07:12
you're using a you know a DSLR color00:07:15
camera like this okay so I'm going to go00:07:17
ahead and click okay and this is going00:07:19
to take a few minutes we're actually00:07:21
doing the image stacking in the00:07:23
calibration using those dark frames now00:07:26
okay this is the exciting part so DSS00:07:28
has finished stacking the image you get00:07:31
a preview image here of we can see the00:07:34
North American nebula and the Seda00:07:36
region nearby and we can also see at the00:07:39
top that our total exposure time is 200:07:41
hours and 31 minutes we've used 10100:07:45
frames um the it's it's exported this00:07:48
file autosave do Tiff which I'll show00:07:50
you where to find in a minute and then00:07:52
also at the bottom here you can see00:07:54
these sliders that are just begging you00:07:57
to mess around with you do not want to00:08:00
play with the image at all any further00:08:01
in deep Sky stacker as far as we're00:08:04
concerned we've used this program to its00:08:06
Max and from here we'll want to take the00:08:08
image into Adobe Photoshop or pixon site00:08:11
or wherever you do your post processing00:08:14
it's done its job of creating this00:08:15
master file so like I said it's00:08:18
autocreated this this autosave do Tiff00:08:20
file and where you'll find that is if00:08:23
you open up uh we'll open it up in00:08:26
Photoshop00:08:29
and if we see where we kept our light00:08:31
frames there should be a a new uh file00:08:34
in here called autosave in the same00:08:36
folder as your light frames that's the00:08:38
default spot it puts it in so I can open00:08:40
it up here in00:08:43
Photoshop and there it is there and now00:08:46
we can do all of the fun stuff with uh00:08:49
you know color calibration and00:08:51
sharpening and and all that great stuff00:08:54
not that I'll get into a full-on00:08:55
Photoshop tutorial here but the main00:08:57
thing you'll want to do right out of the00:08:59
gate if if you're using Photoshop is to00:09:01
go change the mode to a 16bit image and00:09:05
then in the drop- down here for the00:09:06
method change that to exposure in gamma00:09:09
now you've got an image you can actually00:09:11
work with uh adjusting curves and levels00:09:14
and all that fun stuff so you have a00:09:16
real starting point here for your master00:09:19
image and just because it's bothering me00:09:21
this color cast here I'll show you how00:09:23
quickly you can get rid of that we're00:09:24
just going to use the set grade point00:09:26
and now we have a a more uh natural00:09:29
looking image it's a real starting point00:09:32
um but deep Sky stacker has created this00:09:34
great intermediate file for me to00:09:36
process further so hopefully that was00:09:38
useful to00:09:39
you thanks for watching guys I hope that00:09:42
was useful if you want to practice your00:09:44
image stacking I've included a link to00:09:46
the exact files I used for this tutorial00:09:49
in the description for you to try out00:09:51
you can also join the newly created00:09:53
Astro backyard Discord group through00:09:55
patreon this is a great place to learn00:09:57
from others and hang out with an Engaged00:10:00
group of imagers until next time clear00:10:03
skies00:10:05
[Music]Description:
If you've captured some images with your color camera - like a DSLR, and want to harness the power of image stacking for a better image, this video should help. Deep Sky Stacker - or DSS, is a free Windows-based software that has stood the test of time and continues to be a great option for astrophotographers. RESOURCES: Practice Data: https://astrobackyard.com/dss-practice-files/ Processing Guide: https://astrobackyard.sellfy.store/p/0zsyyq/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/realastrobackyard FOLLOW ME: Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/unsupportedbrowser Twitter: https://twitter.com/astrobackyard Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unsupportedbrowser
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