Astrophotography is closer to science than art, and there is no such thing as “getting it right in camera.” This means you cannot simply point the camera at the sky and snap away.
Similar to Photoshop in interface and capabilities. Add-ons, including those created for. Picture Frame 1.0 for Mac can be downloaded from our software library for free. The size of the latest downloadable installation package is 456 KB. Our built-in antivirus scanned this Mac download and rated it as virus free. The application lies within Design & Photo Tools, more precisely Viewers & Editors. Another software for Mac users to use is Photo Frames and Pictures Frames for Apple software. It’s available in the iTunes Store for download. Some features for the software include. 40 photo filter effects, photo cropping options, 200 picture frames to choose from, and; photo frame designer.
In astrophotography you cannot avoid post processing your images, so stacking and editing your images serves three main purposes:
Reduce noise and deal with light gradients and vignetting.
Improve signal to noise ratio.
Reveal the faint details in the image.
Image stacking is the technique used to improve the signal to noise ratio, and it is the only noise reduction method that will boost the image details rather than smear them out.
In this article, we will discuss some of the most popular software available for astrophotography image stacking.
Note: Don’t miss the detailed video at the end of this article, It was created to help show you how to quickly start using some of the stacking software mentioned in this article. Click here to skip to our Image Stacking Demo Video.
What Does Stacking Photos Mean?
The concept behind image stacking is simple, but to appreciate how it works, there are a couple of things we have to consider:
A stack can be visualized as a pile of images all stacked one on top of the other;
Each digital image is formed by a set of pixels, all having a certain value: dark pixels will have a lower value than the bright ones;
In the simplest form of image stacking, the pixels values for all images in the stack are averaged to produce a single image.
What is the purpose of stacking photos?
The result is a single image with improved signal to noise ratio, i.e., with better details and lower (random) digital noise and better details.
The scheme below illustrates the concept.
If the considered digital noise affects the pixel values randomly across the stack, then the result of averaging the stack is that the random component of the noise to the pixel value is significantly reduced.
ISO noise and Luminance noise and Chrominancenoise are examples of digital noises that are random.
The image below shows a real-life example from stacking 30 images from my Sony RX10 bridge camera taken at ISO 6400. As you can see, the original images showed a greater deal of noise (grain) than the stacked one.
The More Images You Stack, The Better
The more images you stack, the cleaner the resulting images are, as shown in the comparison below.
While Image stacking creates a cleaner image, it often softens the image: digital sharpening techniques are then used to recover sharp looking details.
Finally, bear in mind that the progression of image quality is not linear.
If stacking 4 images improves the image quality of 50% respect what you got by stacking only 2 images, to improve a further 50% the image quality from stacking 50 images, you may need to stack 300 images or more.
Image Stacking And Movement
If nothing moves between shots, like in the previous real life example, implementing image stacking is very simple: just group the images and average them to smooth out the noise.
With a moving subject, grouping and averaging the images will not only smooth out the noise, but also the subject itself.
This is the same principle for which long exposures of passing traffic and crowd result in a street image without cars nor people.
This effect is amplified with the number of images used, and the moving subject could simply disappear from the stacked image.
To resolve the issue, you have to align the images based on their content before stacking.
Due to image alignment, you may have to trim the edges of the stacked image to get rid of artifacts, but your target will not be lost.
Note that while in theory you can stack images of a static scene taken with the camera on a tripod, in reality, those images will probably differ at the pixel scale due to micro-movements. It is always beneficial to align the images before stacking.
How To Shoot For Exposure Stacking Your Images
Image stacking can be done with any camera and even camera phones and with images in both RAW and JPEG format.
Nonetheless, some things can be done to improve the final result:
Lock the focus, so that the camera will not hunt for it between images. This will also help to keep the focus consistent through the shooting sequence.
Keep the same settings, in particular shutter speed, aperture, and focal length: you don’t want to change the camera field of view during the sequence, nor the brightness of the images or the depth of field.
If you are shooting on a tripod, disable image stabilization. If you want to shoot handheld, do so only for short sequences at very high shutter speed.
Image Stacking In Astrophotography
Related:Astrophotography Software & Tools Resource List
As said previously, image stacking is a standard technique implemented in any astrophotography editing workflow for,
A star field from a fixed tripod.
A deep sky object from a tracking mount.
The Moon handheld.
A starry landscape from a fixed tripod or tracking mount.
Every astronomy image will benefit from image stacking.
List Of Photo Stacking Software For Astrophotography
Here is a list of software used in astrophotography for image stacking.
Adobe Photoshop
Complete Image Editor | Commercial – Subscription Plan Photography Bundle $9.99 / Month | Mac OS X, Windows
Pro
Versatile
Available for Mac and Windows
In bundle with Adobe Lightroom CC, Bridge, Camera Raw, and web space
Many action packs and plugins available for astrophotography
Cons
Subscription Plan only
Can’t be used to calibrate light frames
Stacking capabilities are somehow limited
If you are interested in photography, chances are you know Adobe Photoshop is the standard in the industry and does not need introductions.
With Adobe implementing a subscription plan for their applications, if you are using Lightroom CC for your everyday photography, your plan subscription will also include Photoshop CC and Bridge CC.
And for astrophotography, Photoshop is what you need. Lightroom cannot stack your images nor perform the histogram stretching, two crucial steps in the editing workflow for astrophotography.
In this article, we have already covered in detail how to stack astrophotography images with Photoshop.
Sequator
Deep Sky And Starry Landscape Stacker | Freeware | Windows
Pro
Free
Easy to use
Fast
Suitable for both Starry Landscapes and Deep Sky images
Can create Star Trails
Cons
Windows only
Limited set of options
Not suitable for Planetary astrophotography
Sequator is an easy-to-use and intuitive astrophotography software for stacking both starry landscape and deep-sky images. It can also be used to create star trails.
While not as advanced as other stackers, it nonetheless allows you to calibrate your light frames with dark and flat calibration frames. It also allows you to remove light pollution, reduce noise, and perform other simple tasks on the stacked image.
Starry Landscape Stacker
Starry Landscape Stacker | Commercial, $39.99 | Mac OS X
Pro
Fast
Easy to use
Cons
Mac Os X only
Does not read RAW files
If you are into starry landscapes and you are a Mac user, Starry Landscape Stacker is a must-have.
Easy to use, it allows you to stack and align the sky and the foreground independently by letting you easily mask the sky.
Unfortunately, the software lacks the support for RAW formats, thus forcing you to convert your RAW images in the more heavy TIFF format.
Aside from that, it works very fast and the final image is of good quality. You can also save the sky only, which is useful to further edit the shot in Photoshop or similar editors.
Starry Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Stacker | Commercial, $24.99 | Mac OS X
Pro
Fast
Easy to use
Cons
Mac Os X only
Does not read RAW files
Basic
Starry Sky Stacker is Starry Landscape Stacker brother and it has been created to stack deep sky astrophotography images.
As Starry Landscape Stacker, Starry Sky Stacker is very easy to use and intuitive, although very basic.
If you are a casual star shooter and a Mac user, this could be a good choice for you.
Deep Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Stacker | Freeware | Windows
Pro
Free
Easy to use
Fast
Full light frames calibration
Features Comet stack modes
Can Drizzle
Many advanced stack options and methods available
Cons
Windows only
Post-processing is quite limited
Not suitable for Starry Landscapes nor for Planetary astrophotography
Deep Sky Stacker, better known as DSS, is arguably one of the most widely used software to calibrate and stack astrophotography images.
With DSS, you can fully calibrate your images with Darks, Flats, Dark Flats, and Bias calibration frames for the best results possible. Light frames are analyzed and scored by quality so that you can decide which percentage of best images you can stack (Best 75% by default).
A very interesting feature is that with DSS, you can easily combine images taken during different imaging sessions, to produce images of higher quality.
Free Photo Editing For Mac
Autostakkert!
Planetary Stacker | Freeware | Windows
Pro
Free
Easy to use
Suitable for Planetary, Lunar and Solar images
Stack full planetary disk and lunar surface close-ups
Cons
Interface a bit confused
It does not offer wavelet sharpening
Windows only
Autostakkert!, also known as AS!, is a very popular free software among the solar system astrophotographers. With AS! it is easy to stack both images showing the full Planetary (or Lunar or Solar) disc and images showing lunar surface close-ups.
The interface is a bit confusing, particularly in the beginning, but it is easy to navigate through the different steps for the stacking.
Unfortunately, AS! does not offer wavelet sharpening, which is a widely used technique in planetary and lunar astrophotography. For this, you can load your stacked image in Registax, another freeware software for Windows only that, sadly, is now “abandoned-ware.”
Lynkeos
Planetary Stacker | Freeware | Mac OS X
Pro
Free
Has deconvolution and wavelet sharpening
It is probably the only freeware planetary stacker for Mac OS X
Cons
Not very intuitive
Somewhat slower than Autostakkert!
Lynkeos is perhaps the only freeware planetary stacker software for Mac OS X, sparing you from turning to Windows for using Autostakkert!.
The interface is quite intuitive to navigate, but not when it comes to performing the different tasks.
On the other hand, it offers a deconvolution method and wavelet sharpening, a must-have for a planetary stacker. Definitely worth having a look at it if you are a Mac user.
SiriL
Deep Sky Astrophotography Editor | Freeware | Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
Pro
Free
Cross-Platform
Active development
Cons
A bit convoluted and not as intuitive as other stackers
SiriL is a freeware, cross-platform, astrophotography package that will let you calibrate, stack, and develop deep sky astrophotography images.
While not as easy and intuitive as Sequator or DSS, it offers a lot of options and produces good results. There is an active community, and it is under constant development.
Astro Pixel Processor
Deep Sky Astrophotography Editor | Commercial $60/Yr Renter License Or $150 Owner License | Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
Pro
Full-grown astrophotography package
Fairly easy to use
Mosaics are created with ease and are of great quality
Active and constant development
Cross-Platform
30-days Trial period
Affordable yearly subscription
Cons
Only for deep sky astrophotography
No Comet stacking mode
With Astro Pixel Processor (APP), you step in the realm of full-grown astrophotography packages, with many advanced options and methods to calibrate, stack, and post-process your deep-sky images.
Compared to PixInsight (PI), the software benchmark for the category, APP is cheaper and way easier to use, which makes it one of the best PI alternatives.
If you decide to buy it, you can choose between the renter’s license for $60/yr, to always get the latest version of APP, or the owner’s license for $150, but you will have to purchase the license again for major update releases.
PixInsight
Astrophotography Editor | Commercial – €230+VAT | Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
Pro
It has all you need for astrophotography
45 days trial period
A lot of tutorials and information available
Cons
Expensive and without subscription plan
Extremely steep learning curve
Long and convoluted process
Needs a powerful computer
When it comes to astrophotography, PixInsight is the software of reference against which all others are measured. It offers everything you may possibly need to produce pro graded images, and it is objectively the best software in the field.
But user experience can be frustrating, as the learning curve is very steep, the editing is long and convoluted, and your computer must be quite recent and powerful to make it run smoothly.
The €230 + VAT price tag is also quite steep: sure it is worth every penny, but this makes PI be even more the software of choice for professional and keen amateur astrophotographers.
A Comprehensive Demo About Image Stacking
In this video, I show you how easy it is to wet our feet with image stacking.
Free Photo Frame Software For Macbook Pro
This is particularly true if you use Starry Landscape Stacker, Sequator, Deep Sky Stacker and Autostakkert!, as I showed in the video below.
Conclusion
Image stacking is one of the crucial steps in the astrophotography editing workflow.
You’ll need the appropriate stacker for each type of astrophotography: starry landscapes, star trails, or deep-sky and planetary images.
In this article, we have covered the most popular astrophotography stackers available on the market, both freeware and commercial.
And while Windows users have the more extensive choice, some notable stackers are available for Mac and even Linux users.
Photos contain memories, it could either be good or bad ones. Photos help us remember one another and at the same time help decorate our homes or work space.
Related:
For this topic, we help you find some downloadable photo framing software to decorate your pictures digitally, so that you can express more creativity in your photos. The software discussed in this topic are free, so you don’t have to worry on paying, but you can opt to buy an improved version of the software for more features. You can also search the net for a Funny Photo Makerif you want to make your pictures look funny.
Photo Frame Maker Software
PhotoScape X
Photo Frame Master
Photo Frame Studio For Windows
For a quick and professional software to use, you can download Photo Frame Maker software as it features numerous options for you to edit pictures. Some features include
custom frame creator,
batch add frame options,
text options,
100 frame templates to choose from, and
supports multiple formats.
Another simple frame maker software to use is the PhotoScape X software. One of its features include photo collage making options if you want to compile multiple photos into one, and other features include
film effects,
filter and color options,
shaping and framing tools, and
sticker options.
For an easy to use photo frame maker or for people who don’t need much details in frame making, you can download the Photo Frame Mixer software. Besides from a software that’s easy to use, you also get to have photo editing and sharing options as well.
Another easy to use software but with more editing options is the Photo Frame Studio for Windows, as some features include
frame modification options,
color adjustment tools, and
200 frames to choose from.
If you think you need to add more details in your photo, you can always use a Photo Effects Softwareto add more effects on your pictures.
CollageIt For Mac
Flowers Photo Frames For Android
Photo Frames & Picture Frames For Apple
Free Photo Frame
For Mac users who also want to try making photo frames and collages, you can download CollageIt for Mac. Some easy to use features include
collage and scrapbooking options,
custom poster making,
photo album options, and
real-time preview.
For Android users that just want to enjoy making simple photo frames on their mobile devices, download Flowers Photo Frames for Android, as its main features include different photo themes to choose from and social media sharing options if you want to share your pictures on different social media platforms.
Another software for Mac users to use is Photo Frames and Pictures Frames for Apple software. It’s available in the iTunes Store for download. Some features for the software include
40 photo filter effects,
photo cropping options,
200 picture frames to choose from, and
photo frame designer.
For users that only want minimal editing can use Free Photo Frame software. Its main features are slideshow editing options if you want to edit picture slideshows, 25 frames to choose from, and its easy to use and free to download. Some people want to make their faces look good on pictures in which, you can look for a Photo Retouching Softwareon the net for sources.