How to Stack Moon Photography

[@AstroExploring]

Thanks for watching! Don't forget to check out my step-by-step guide at astroexploring.com/moon-processing-guide

[@alchymista2]

special thanks for making this extra text version time saving guide

[@AndrewMurphy8383]

pipp is not downloable any more do uoyu have some advice

[@mhead81]

if i drag my raw file pipp shut down

[@joaquin_astro]

One of the best tutorials I've ever seen if not the best one. I always did the stacking and proccesing WAY different and it was really pain lol, now that I know this method it's 10 times easier and I don't have to use 2 devices to complete my image, THANKS!

[@Scrottobaggns]

Great shot and nice video. I'm still new to photoshop myself, but I learnt from some other astrophotographer that when you are changing curves or levels, always do them as a new adjustment layers, that way you can just go back down through all your layers and just change that one layer again. If you're in a pic that has 50 different adjustments with things like curves, levels, you're changing RGB settings etc, it makes life a lot easier if you just need to go back and change that one setting. Plus you can turn on or off that one layer and see how it affected your picture. If you don't like that one change but it was 10 changes ago, you can also just delete that one layer. Of course you would have to label all your layers appropriately so you know what you did. Thanks again for the video.

[@EasypediaTech]

You kinda sound like Piximperfect KZbinr.

[@stillontheedge]

Just downloaded PIPP and Autostakker and had a quick go on Wednesdays moon following your process. Another good tutorial Nick, thank you.

[@AstroExploring]

Thank you!

[@django1364]

how ironic you said on a rainy Friday afternoon, this is the first time I am watching and doing a follow along with your very informative tutorial and it is a very rainy Friday Jun 02 2023..

[@derek_boen]

First, welcome back! Second, this video (although I know it is geared toward stacking moon photos) absolutely saved me as I am lining up images for a solar eclipse time lapse from April 8. The PIPP program worked like a charm. Thank you!

[@JFF-space]

Thanks man, This was very very helpful. Videos like this restore my faith in tutorials.. Lots of love from India 👍

[@genesmith679]

Thanks for the step by step guide both on youtube and online. Spot on. Was very easy and precise. I have never used any of three programs that you used, and you made it very easy to follow. Thank you.

[@billtracy8865]

Nice explanation of the process. Clear, concise, and jargon free. Thank you for producing this useful guide.

[@AstroExploring]

Thanks Bill, I really appreciate that.

[@mjellings]

This is great thanks, took my first "nice' photo of the moon last night, now I've got some hear and tripod stacking many images is the next step so thanks for the tutorial.

[@bliskin8847]

This is the best tutorial on how to use the software quickly.

[@sphaera3809]

Thank you for the tutorial! Regarding Photoshop processing, I’d recommend keeping all your adjustments in layers and saving that layered image file as your working file. So you can always go back and adjust settings if needed.

[@gordonbrinkmann]

Yeah, I was going to say the same. Right-click on your image layer, "Convert to Smart Object" and then all filters you use will be editable afterwards. And the adjustments like Levels and Curves can be added as adjustment layers. Especially when you're making the curves adjustment you say "we can always change it again later" - well, actually not if you're doing it directly on the image, or at least not without losing information. I know you said you're not an PS expert and I don't want to bother you. It's just good advice to use non-destructive methods as long as you're not 100% sure you're not going to refine any of your adjustments later.

[@UV-NIR-Thermal]

Great tutorial. I've used pipp and autostakkert for this and couldn't figure out why there was no color😂 monochrome was always checked. Thanks

[@AstroExploring]

Thanks! Yep I’ve made that mistake 😃

[@KulkarnisKorner]

Thank you.. today because of you i came to know free software for photo stacking and also how to do it. it very simple and very effective video to learn moon photo stacking... thank you very much once again.. Namaste from India

[@HEXZ0R-]

thanks a lot for this tutorial , ive never heard of PIPP or autostackert and i stack my moon/plantets footage and its sick !

[@Joshua-of2dp]

Had it outputting a blank image at first from FIT to TIFF. Through trial and error I figured out that I needed to change Histogram Equalization options: Stretch Hist w Pt to 100% and set Black Pt to 0. Also, I'm using a full frame chip so My croping W/H needed to be significantly larger 4k-3kish. Thank you for the very informative video. I think the only reason why this wasn't covered was because my camera and OTA are significantly different that what you used for the tutorial. I'm using a full frame, one shot, cooled, color CMOS meant for DSO's and not planetary, so .001 sec exposures aren't it's forte. Well done!

[@michaellawler997]

After nearly 3 years I'm finally getting my telescope back out this weekend. Great tutorial. Will definitely be using your tips by the end of the weekend. Thank you.

[@paulmckeown5672]

Thanks for this video, a really good intro to enhancing your stacked moonshots!

[@strivingartistsvideo]

Hello Nick! I stacked about 100 shots mage with my 500 mm lens on D850 religiously using step by step your recommendations in this video. The resulting image is much worse than any original one. What could probably go wrong? I'm experienced in Photoshop and night photography. My goal was to improve sharpness of a final image.

[@Ked778]

Were any images out of focus?

[@StrivingArtistsLosAngeles]

@@Ked778 Thank you for reply. All images were reasonably sharp. I found that they all were slightly different in size. I don't have any explanation to this. But being different in size it was not possible for software to stack them properly. I do not use any tracking device. So, mistery still exists.

[@stuartgriffin4175]

Morning Nick I'm a complete novice to astronomy and astrophotography, your videos are so informative and easy to understand, many thanks, I can't wait to get started Stu

[@AstroExploring]

Thanks Stuart, I really appreciate that!

[@adventureswithfrodo2721]

you did the thing I think everyone that show a processing and that is to show the pre and post processing images at the start. THANKS.

[@johnnoble7522]

Thanks for that I learned something about image adjustment. Great explanation.

[@Tocy777isback0414]

Thank you SO much, PIPP and AutoStakker!3 is wonderful tools!

[@stevestone07]

Finally! a tutorial i can actually follow! awesome! cheers!!!

[@jotasantos4931]

Thanks for your great tutorial... I think now , even in a basic Photoshop step-by-step experience i can work and make nice pictures of the moon.. Thanks a lot...

[@matthewstephens9681]

This was such an easy video to follow !! I had all the same software so this was incredibly easy and best tutorial out there this was my first time trying this as well

[@AstroExploring]

Thank you! Congrats on nailing it first time!

[@vincebasile7532]

Solid information. You are an excellent teacher. Thanks.

[@AndrewJulianPhotography]

Astro photoshoots are so much fun!

[@AstroExploring]

They certainly are!

[@MrHuff]

revisiting this video. thank you for sharing

[@mikeavison5383]

HI Nick great tutorial thanks. I would have liked to see what to do with the input tabs dark files, flat files and dark flat files though. I think these would remove some structural noise from my images.

[@Colonel_WZ]

Excellent video, thanks!

[@ukhtiramadhani747]

What a great video! Thank you for teaching me, it really really helps, you explain it very clear and not too fast nor too slow. Once again, thank you!

[@AstroExploring]

No problem 🙂

[@thedaveysx4]

Please could you do a colour tutorial. Thanks

[@ABetterName22]

i keep getting an error in pipp about the files being corupted but they work everywhere else. Does anyone know how to solve this

[@lukeybaby45]

awesome, this was so much help! Thank you!

[@GrizzJibber]

Hello , what if moon is moving on my photos, i mean that moon is in different place on the last photo than it is on first

[@kevinashley478]

I have a question. I am just starting to try astrophotography. I used a 75-250mm set at 250, focused on Jupiter and was able to see some of its moons. That blew me away. My question is, would taking many images of Jupiter and its moons be able to be better by stacking them? If they would, would I use PIPP or DSS for that?

[@Joshua-of2dp]

I haven't looked into it extensively yet, but from the images that I've taken I assume that I will have to take 2 sets of images at different ISO's/exposure times due to how much brighter Jupiter is than it's moons. You might want to use PIPP for Jupiter and DSS for the moons? Either way, the more images you take the better off the final quality of your image will be.

[@MannsWoodlandPerspective]

At what point is the demised returns begin? Would 200 stacked images be plenty or would 500/600 images show a higher quality over a stacked 200 image?

[@woldsweather]

OK thanks and BTW how refreshing to hear an English voice on one of these videos and not a loud 'WHAT'S UP' !

[@AstroExploring]

😂😂

[@summeren64]

Most astrophotography youtubers are super laidback and chill.

[@michaeldavis2818]

Another great video Nick and fantastic image! I was not familiar with the 2 programs you used (PIPP and Autostakkert)...I'll incorporate them into my workflow. Thanks again!

[@AstroExploring]

Thanks Michael! You just can’t beat something that’s free 😃🔭

[@Histree69420]

man youre the goat hats off to you

[@elbat_tv]

Nice video, thank you for doing tutos like this one !

[@AstroExploring]

No problem!

[@melvincorpuz3729]

Is it possible to stack moon photos even its not aligned properly ?

[@AstroExploring]

If you crop them in PIPP, the software should centralise the moon. Even if it doesn’t then AS will align the images when it stacks then so it should work fine

[@Nexummusical]

thnk you very much

[@MrJPVERCETTI]

Awesome tutorial, mate! Really helpful!

[@lachlanhempell]

Thanks heaps, this was really helpful!

[@nguyenhoailinh7516]

Những tấm ảnh mặt trăng anh chụp trong video có sử dụng tracker không

[@bobvila1010]

Thank you your great video. I processed succesfully a 7 moon pictures take from a tripod with the 2 first programs. When I opened the AS tiif file in PS, I noticed the photos were not stack properly. Do you know which part failled? FYI, notice, after completed PIPP, when I opened the folder, I did not see on the files any green check or red X as on the video 6.10. Thank!!

[@billsaidel6398]

Everything seemed to work fine (it should because I followed along with the tutorial) except my final image contained grid lines that defined the alignment points. How do I prevent that?

[@wilsonganks]

How to you get the tick and cross on the photos and what are they for?

[@erlendsandvoll]

Thanks! Very good tutorial, this was of grate help for me :)

[@davidcarr4984]

Hi Nick, I enjoyed the video thanks. I'd be really interested to see the difference between a single image processed with the same options compared with the stacked. I take deep sky objects where of course the difference is huge but tend only to take single frames of the moon. A link to the final image would also be great, all the best. David

[@AstroExploring]

Good point David, you’re absolutely right. I’ll post a comment once I’ve done a blog on my website, which might take a few weeks

[@ybandey]

Thank you. You’re an inspiration!

[@MBJanus]

Hello, many thanks for the video. I have a small Newton that is on an altaz, and a little Celestron Neximage that can get several frames per sec. I wondered if your method can derotate the moon as I dont have an equatorial pod ? Many thx again, cordially yours, Milos

[@AstroExploring]

I haven’t tried this with the moon but deep sky stacker rotates deep sky images, so it’s not unreasonable to think that AutoStakkert would do the same. Give it a go!

[@MBJanus]

@@AstroExploring Some programs admitt parameters to calc the derotation. But is hard to do properly.I didnt achieve

[@Bazzasphotolife]

Fantastic video and explanation!!

[@AstroExploring]

Thank you!

[@dunnymonster]

Given you have Photoshop I'm interested in why you don't simply bring all your RAW files as a stack of layers, align them, create a smart object then use median stacking to merge them into a single image? You'd keep as much of the original data in your RAW files working entirely in ProPhoto RGB 16Bit that way.

[@AstroExploring]

Because honestly that’s a level above my Photoshop knowledge! I’m definitely keen to try it out though to do a comparison

[@dunnymonster]

@@AstroExploring You'd have no problems learning it, to be honest your current workflow is more complex in my opinion. Enjoy 😉

[@noaha8915]

I know this is old but if memory recalls Photoshop's alignment software's nowhere near as refined... Processing 250 photos would take it longer and you'd probably see blurring.

[@Bottlekap]

Manually aligning 150+ images in PS is a hard pass from me.

[@amacmedia3221]

Hi, where is the link to how you captured your moon shots?

[@richieoflynn]

Love the video, very well explained. I tried this with 325 raw files, each file was approx. 80MB and the TIFF files were about 250MB afterwards. I ended up with over 55GB of data. When I tried to stack the images the program crashed, not surprised really with all that data. I didn't crop the images so had a lot of extra unneeded info for sure. Still though, I recon I would have had a heap of data either way. Any tips I could try or am I asking to much with all that data? Using an A7Rii on a 200-600mm lens. Thanks.

[@IDV2007]

Hi! Did you solve this? I´m doubting if buying or not the 200-600mm. and kind of desperate about seeing the results of takes like that. Thanks!

[@Brian.001]

This is a very, very helpful video - many thanks! My results are a bit puzzling, though. After AS did the stacking, I found that the resultant image in the PIPP sub-folder was very blurred, but one or two of the individual frames still available in the AS image window (selected by moving the slider) were extremely good. How did that happen??? 🤔

[@gingerbeardman73]

Great video. Id LOVE to see a video on how to do a color moon!!!!

[@AstroExploring]

I processed my first colour moon yesterday. Once I’ve got the process nailed down I’ll do a video

[@numbermayhem]

How about using smartphone, is there any app for stacking photos?

[@OzoneVibe]

Really useful tutorial for a novice. What, if any, differences would you make were it not full moon?

[@mr.guerra5060]

Thank you for sharing!! Great help!!

[@milan5792]

Great video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@AstroExploring]

No problem!

[@kamilkp]

Thanka for this tutorial - it helps a lot. However when I pass my images through PIPP they all turn very purple/violet. They are raw images form a DSLR. What am I doing wrong?

[@AstroExploring]

Hi Kamil. What option is selected under highlight recovery type in the Input Options tab? I think this setting can affect your images and make them turn purple

[@TrixMC]

Hello Please tell me if you can use images taken from mobile in this

[@ameenahsan9696]

hello sir in ur folder it shows a tick mark and a cross fo images...i dont have it😕

[@woldsweather]

I just get multiple overlapping images not lined up.

[@varunmylavarapu6281]

Same here! I get crater trails. Probably because my focal length is only 300mm

[@ronaldg7522]

I am new to astrophotography, and I never stacked the moon. I will try it. Thx.

[@frank5angels308]

Hi and thanks for the great tutorial. Can you tell me what your exposure settings were for your camera. I have modified 80d and Stellarvue SV070T..but just can't get the right exp settings.

[@THEDOUG78VA]

As a general starting point, try ISO100 - f/11 - 1/100. Those work pretty well for me, with an old Canon T3i...

[@EE-pe8br]

Wouldnt the final result be the same quality if you edited only one picture instead stacking more of them, i want to see what is the difference the stacking process makes

[@debusinha9015]

I didnt take my pictures with a tripod will this method work for me?

[@Mikyll1969]

not sure anyone will see or respond... just got pointed to this video.... do you need 'usual' darks, flats, bias frames ... for lunar images ... as are recommended for deep sky etc?

[@DJIMINITHREEPRO]

I just took loads of photos to try this and cr3 files are not supported. How can I convert these and what shall I convert them too?

[@anupamp8608]

Great video Nick, quick question: how did you ensure your individual picture is tack sharp with the telescope?

[@AstroExploring]

I used the live view on the DSLR and use the focuser on the telescope to make sure it was sharp

[@udbhawgupta1388]

my auto stakkert has alignment points section freezed, how to place ap grid ?

[@specfever2]

Were these photos taken with a tracking device on the tripod? Does it matter as long as the the photo settings, zoom, and focus remain the same? I only have a ball head and fluid head on a tripod...

[@Luke-bw2nl]

Thanks for the video sir! What if we stack different phases of the moon...? Will there be any difference, or will it be same, as what we get while stacking full moon?

[@Sander_Hollo]

Hello mr.Astro. I have one problem with AutoStakker. so i shot 600 RAW files,but AP grid is all over the place. i converted em all to JPG then it worked,but its just a JPG. Is there anything i can do?

[@thomas_didymus]

Thanks for a great tutorial. I am working through a few issues. My images were larger causing me to run out of memory in Autostack. So I converted my images to monochome in PIPP, and that helped. However, my images did not align well, making for a blurry stack. I'm trying various things in both PIPP and Autostacker without much success yet. Part of the problem may be how I shot my images. As the moon moved across my viewfinder I kept shooting, then manually adjusted the fine tuning of my equatorial tripod. As a result the moon is not consistently positioned in the frame. I was hoping PIPP or AS would handle that. Any thoughts? Thank you.

[@TrybikPLL]

When i press start processing on PIPP it crashes after 20 secs and error say "All frames have been discarded from 0 input frames." I dont know how to fix this.

[@jesuschrist2284]

Can you do a tutorial on have to make my neighbours turn their f&£%@&g stupid garden lights off?

[@mattia2325]

Hello! I wanted to install the program but I don’t know why it says that the site is nonexistent, how can I do?

[@banano7712]

autostakert does not display the image on the second screen,it says the file type is not recognized by SFM,it is a tiff file,whats the problem?

[@bennyride]

Having an issue where the pipp output files are pink and alot less detailed, any fix for this? They are cr2 files

[@calebpitaro8262]

I need some help! When I try to add my raw files to PIPP I get a processing error. Corrupt data near 0x244602. I can't find anything about this error online, hoping to find an answer here!

[@ismailcakr4261]

Very helpful. Congrats!

[@adamweston8485]

Hi, I followed this step by step, but my pics turn pink the whole frame is pink. Can't understand why ? Help please.

[@legoworks-cg5hk]

Why are my images from pipp greyscale when I unchecked convert to monochrome?

[@astronebulee578]

Can you stack videos of the moon in these programs

[@AstroExploring]

Yes you can stack videos and photos in AutoStakkert

[@frenchmangocider]

Seeing your photo its kinda funny that I somehow ended up doing this around the same time giving me the same phase of the moon

[@lachlanhempell]

question: when i click start processing, in the status thing it comes up with failed with errors. anyone know how to fix that? I did the same thing yesterday and it was fine.

[@woldsweather]

Aren't calibrtion frames necessary for moon images?

[@AstroExploring]

Not really. Calibration frames help hugely with deep sky imaging but lunar imaging it’s less important.

[@karolilczuk5536]

I don`t know why but after corverting to TIFF my frames are all pink. And after the Autostakkert program, they become not sharp and faded.

[@MrGeert1972]

I don’t see the need for stacking moon pictures. I have the same result with 1 sub and some fine tuning in Lightroom. I do have a Nikon D5600 and a tamron 18-400mm lens. Even with my Samyang 135mm lens I got crisp picture. I do need to crop that

[@SK-tn4ev]

Hi, I've followed your guide but stuck with a problem, AutoStakkert won't open any file, no error annoucement or anything. I googled that but cant find a solution ~~. Thank you.

[@AstroExploring]

What file type are you trying to open in AS?

[@SK-tn4ev]

@@AstroExploring .tif files from PIPP

[@AstroExploring]

So you drag and drop all your tiff files into AS and it doesn’t do anything? I’ve not come across that before

[@s3k1m]

Open in photoshop and resave as TIFF.

[@phutchis]

Hi has the moon process procedure been moved or deleted as I cannot find it using the above link Cheers Paul

[@AstroExploring]

Hi Paul. Apologies, I’m in the process of moving my website to a new provider. That page should be back up later today. Sorry for the inconvenience

[@yosefco]

yes, please make another video for the second part of editing

[@charlessands6933]

No matter how many frames are process, the output folder contains only one frame it could be 100 it could be 30 it could be 300 but there's only one frame at the end and and then I can't do anything

[@alivein305]

It appears PIPP doesn't support Canon CR3 raw files as they do not populate in the source file window. Any workaround advice would be appreciated.

[@s3k1m]

I use Photoshop image processor to convert raw files to tiff first, then proceed to PIPP

[@TheMusemush]

​@@s3k1m What is the fastest way to convert many images to tiff?

[@s3k1m]

@@TheMusemush You can use batch image processing in Photoshop, or if your raw files are imported in Lightroom you can export them as tiff

[@TheMusemush]

@@s3k1m Okk thank's! :)