Debate: Stacking multiple short exposures or one long exposure for Milky Way shots

Been shooting nightscapes for 15 years and always did 20-second single exposures, but last month in Sedona I tried stacking 10 eight-second shots to reduce star trailing and noise, and now I'm wondering which method actually gives better detail for the final photo - what do you all prefer and why?

2 comments

2 Comments

anna5672d ago

Ditch the single long exposure and go with stacking. I was a 60 second single shot guy for years, but after trying 15 four second exposures stacked in Sequator, the difference in star sharpness is night and day. You get way less trailing, way less noise, and the final detail is just cleaner, especially for printing. Plus you can push the ISO higher without ruining the image, which helps pick up faint dust lanes in the Milky Way. Just make sure you shoot with a fast lens and track your alignment across the stack, or you'll get weird artifacts in the final merge.

fiona_clark1d ago

Wait, @anna567 can Sequator handle unevenly spaced exposure gaps in a stack?