Using the color black, star painting out the foreground, and a bit of sky next to it. Add a Layer Mask to the layer and select a soft brush.Make sure the only visible layer in the project is the first one in the group named sky: this will make it easier to create the Mask.For this, you can use your favorite method: I use a soft brush. The first thing to do is to mask the foreground in all the layers in the group named sky. In this step, we will align the images for the sky to regain the missing details in the previous stack. Step 4: Align The Images For The Sky (Auto-Alignment Or Manual Alignment) This process produces a much cleaner image, but the details in the sky will be smoothed out by the averaging process as stars moved with respect to the foreground during the capture of the image sequence. Average the images in the stack by choosing Layer -> Smart Objects -> Stack Mode -> Mean.Select all the layers and convert them to Smart Object with Layer -> Smart Objects ->Convert To Smart Object.It is now time to stack the images for the foreground. Step 3: Stack The Images For The Foreground

You can then regroup these layers in a group called “Sky” by dragging the new layers on the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. This way, we can have a set of images for the background and a set of images for the sky.ĭo that by selecting all layers and by dragging them on the icon next to the bin, at the bottom of the Layers panel. On the other hand, if like me, you have photographed the landscape from a fixed tripod using the 500-rule (or similar), then you need to duplicate all layers. If you have photographed the sky while tracking for the stars, this is the time to load in Photoshop the images you took for the foreground. Step 2: Load The Images For The Foreground The dialog window to load images as layers. The following dialog window will open: click on Browse to select all the images and click on OK to open the images as layers. Instead, open Photoshop and go to File -> Scripts -> Load Files into Stack … If you load the RAW directly in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), you will not be able to open them into photoshop as layers. When you shoot for astrophotography, you should have your camera set to save images as RAW.

Step 1: Load Your Images Into Photoshop As Layers

Single image from the sequence used in this example.Īll images were taken at f/1.8, 24mm,15 seconds exposure, and ISO 6400 from a fixed tripod. We chose this test case scenario because it includes all the steps you would perform for stacking planetary (Moon for example) and deep-sky images.įor this example, let’s consider a sequence of 10 images taken with my pocketable compact camera Sony RX100 Mk ii of this starry landscape. Here is a step-by-step workflow for a starry landscape. With starry landscapes, you have to manually mask the foreground and the sky to align those areas independently.Auto-align layers will rarely work with our kind of images, and you have to align the images manually.You cannot pre-process your light frames with dark, bias and flat calibration frames.If you want to have a go with Photoshop, here are some of the shortcomings you may face when stacking astrophotography images: On the other hand, if you are an occasional shooter, you have only a few images to stack, or you already know Photoshop well, there is nothing wrong with using it. Let me be clear here: if you are serious about photographing the night sky, there are much better alternative software to Photoshop (see later). 3) Conclusions How To Stack Pictures For Astrophotography In Photoshop – Step by Step

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