Figured out that stacking 10-15 photos of the same nebula is way better than one long exposure

I spent like 2 years just doing single 5-minute shots of the Orion Nebula and getting so-so results. Then last month I tried taking 12 shorter 30-second exposures and stacking them in DeepSkyStacker. The detail in the dust lanes came out way sharper than any single shot I ever took. Has anyone else noticed a big difference with stacking vs one long exposure?

2 comments

2 Comments

markm271mo ago

Lol right? I wasted like a whole year doing 10 minute singles of M42 and wondering why my star shapes looked like little footballs. Stacking is literally cheating but in a good way. The noise reduction alone is night and day, especially if you dither between frames. I had one buddy who swore by long exposures for years and when I finally showed him my stacked 30-second subs compared to his 8 minute shot he got legit pissed off haha. He wouldn't talk to me for a week but now he's stacking everything. It's one of those things that feels like it shouldn't work that well but it absolutely does.

noahclark1mo ago

Did you try dark frames too? Made a huge difference for me.