PSA: Stacking multiple short exposures beats one long exposure for nebula photos

Everyone told me I needed a 10-minute single exposure to get good detail on the Orion Nebula, but after 3 tries I only got blown out cores and star trails. I tried stacking 30-second exposures instead with my Canon T7i and got way better contrast without the overexposure. Has anyone else ditched the long exposure guides for stacking shorter frames?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_tara27d ago

Yeah, that blown out core is such a pain with longer exposures, isn't it?

hernandez.jordan23d ago

Oh man, I've been there way too many times. What helped me was taking separate short exposures just for the core and blending them in post. I usually do like 30 seconds for the core and then stack longer subs for the rest. Also, using a star mask to protect the core during processing made a big difference for me.