Achieving sharp, noise-free images of the night sky using Starry Landscape Stacker

 

 

Lonely Speck is a great resource for astrophotographers whether they are just starting out or have been capturing the night sky for years. One reason the site is so good is because they offer many free tutorials and educational resources, such as a recent video covering how to use the awesome software Starry Landscape Stacker. Starry Landscape Stacker is a piece of software for macOS which allows you to combine multiple exposures into a single low-noise night sky photograph. By utilizing stacking, be it through Starry Landscape Stacker or some other means, you can shoot shorter exposure, higher ISO images and still end up with a sharper, lower noise final photo than you would have if you shot at a lower ISO.

When shooting the night sky, it can be tricky to produce an image that does two very important things simultaneously: freeze the stars in the sky such that they appear tack sharp and be a clean, noise-free shot. These are two competing goals, particularly if you are capturing only a single frame, and you typically have to strike a balance between the two or simply prioritize one goal over the other. By using software like Starry Landscape Stacker, you can achieve both. How do you use this software? Watch the video below to see how it works.

I've been a big fan of Starry Landscape Stacker for a couple of years now and highly recommend any night sky photographer give it a go. It simplifies a complicated process and it helps create great final images. You can download it here. If you don't run macOS, fear not, there is a great PC-only option too, Sequator. Click here for a breakdown of Starry Landscape Stacker and Sequator.

(Via Lonely Speck)