Sequator used for combining foreground and sky has a weakness in that it assumes that the foreground is static - in other words you don’t (or your tracker doesn’t) follow the stars. I use a Polarie startracker which has a half-speed setting for sharp stars but minimal foreground blurring. The foreground moves slightly between exposures with the result that Sequator aligns the stars nicely but the foreground becomes blurred. Having masked the sky I had hoped that the software was clever enough to align both the foreground and the sky separately but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I admire your passion and patience. You are brave and adventures for sure. Good for you . Thank you very much for sharing not just your amazing video but also , all the great tips . Learned a lot.
I am so confused about one thing when using Sequator. I take my "star photos" in RAW, open them in "PhotoDirector 10" do exactly what you suggest, then export the files to a folder as TIFF. I then proceed to open Sequator, and add the TIFF star images. I then get a message in the main screen "read failed! Unsupported format or invalid path. But at the sametime in the work box to the left, I can see all my TIFF files under Star Images with a green light. And the middle Base image purple. Now if I do the exact same thing, but using RAW to import it works! I am told that it is better to use TIFF than RAW. I didn't even think Sequator would read RAW?
Very nice, I need to take a look at the mac version and shoot with this s/w in mind. By the way what was the exposure duration for the original shots (15 sec?)
Hi well nice demo thanks. the only part that i missed was how to move the final process to lite room? do i first need to save the photo & re open in lite room or there is short cut?
I don't believe it is a feature but I will have to check. With my setup (I use a number of lights at night) I don't usually stack as it takes too long to setup everything on my own. I can think of ways to use the output from sequator to easily stack foregrounds in Photoshop though.
I stacked some photos of the Andromeda galaxy, i set High Dynamic Range on and stacked them, but when i want to see the photo a message comes up "Read failed! Unsupported format or invalid path". Can i only see them in Lightroom?
Hi Johannes, sorry I haven't seen that problem before. Did you manage to figure it out? What did you specify the file type to be when saving? Can you read it with other software? I am not the developer, so obviously, it could be a good idea to check there as well.
the dark shot should be absolutely dark?) (sorry for kind a stupid question)) what parameters should be to shoot the dark one? just decreasing the shutter speed on the same iso/F ? p.s.: thx for video
@@WillGoodlet First of all thank you for reply sir When I first used sequator, I used 30 light light frames and 15 dark frames, output was great. Since then I always got trails instead of accumulation with same setting. Idk why. I'll try it tonight again with same number of dark and light frames .
@@WillGoodlet Yes with help of ur video. I did exactly same Even I got good result but for only once. Are dark frames important? Usually I don't use them
Aman Kumar Singh Great!!! No they aren’t so important, they just improve the quality a little more. They are more important for deep sky astrophotographers and also where it was very hot and your sensor has a lot of. Hot pixels - they are less important for trails than for stars as points of light. They are also more important where there is a lot of dark foreground
This video was made some time before denoise - it’s worth comparing the two techniques. But of course one might even stack then denoise for even better results right?
Yeah that's a great question -- I also struggle with it because I don't use a mouse. In the video I used a touch pad to pinch. But I haven't figured out what the keyboard shortcut is yet. It's really annoying.
@@markpavey7984 Doens't work in Sequator - the manual doesn't suggest any keyboard shortcut - just the mouse. As I don't have a mouse it's a pain in the butt. However, pinching on a wacom tablet works - sites.google.com/site/sequatorglobal/manual
How do you create the 'light' around the foreground? I assume since these pictures also have the milkyway in the shot that you are using a very dim light and briefly shine it on the foreground while the shots are being taken before stacking?
I use a technique called low level lighting - you can see me using it in the field in the video on the Hantam Karoo the whole second half is a night shoot.
Viktor Högberg I think that’s fine they are supported. I used Tif because I wasn’t sure what files people would use and what support is offered. Also there are some files and camera brands which show artifacts.
Hello Sir, Good day. Why am I having star trails after stacking? I usually stack 20 light frames, but I always get star trails even if I choose Align Stars, Accumulation.
@@WillGoodlet Thank You for giving a time helping Sir. No, there is no created date in the meta data. I'm processing RAW using the App DeepSky Camera. (Since I just use a smartphone)
My star trails look like a string of beads instead of circles even though I've got my intervelometer at 30 x 30sec shots spaced 3 secs apart...I do notice Im not gettting the number of shots I reqquested..I wonder if my sensor is heating up or the rate of transfer is too slow.. I have a high rated SD card and two battery pack.....It was very cold llast night 37 degrees F. Any ideas as to why the gaps? Could I have missed something in post processing with sequator?
Marguerite Witter I think you should try a longer exposure maybe take iso down a stop and go up to a minute. If you don’t have a lot of aircraft then go down 2 stops and up to 2 minutes a shot. Keep long exposure noise reduction off. You also need more shots unless this is a test?
@@WillGoodlet Thank you , Will..One more qquestion from a pro: When you set the intervalometer: When I say I set the interval at 3 sec apart I mean I literally enter 00:00:03...now if the length of each shot is 30sec 00:00:30 should I really be entering 00:00:33???? as the interval? In other words should I add the length of each shot to the amount of time between?
@@m.witter5115 Hi, You should make sure the duration of the shot is actually 30 seconds on the interval timer. This has been a problem for me in the past shooting time lapses - the cameras are not marked accurately, for example the duration is usually 32 seconds when using 30 sec on the camera. Think about it in stops - 2sec, 4 sec, 8 sec, 16 sec, 32 sec. 15 and 30 on the camera give issues... So your camera is triggered, fires for 32 seconds, has an interval of 3 seconds (but is actually 1 second). Possibly not clearing the buffer in time? So, on to your question. If you are shooting in bulb mode, the timer should control the exposure and 3 seconds should be an adequate interval (if the timer runs for 30sec). If the intervalometer is firing the camera, and the camera is set to 30seconds on the dial - then maybe 3 secs is not enough of an interval due to the issue above? You can afford a bigger interval without seeing large gaps between stars. You can also address these gaps with processing.
It’s a TIF file. Bring it back into Lightroom and go forward with your editing as normal from there using the Sequator TIF as a starting point. Hope that makes sense?
It creates some strange banding effects from the lens distortion removal. But you could try to remove the vignette manually before exporting, this should not produce any problems
If you are interested in how I get shots like this here's a vlog - watch from here: ruclips.net/video/CnKjffSCZ-Y/видео.html
Very helpful video Will. I love your succint, waffle free presentation.
Thank you Martin! Glad it was helpful.
Thanks so much for the response although nit sure how to do but will google it greeting from UAE
Thank you Will I am Just about to get into Milky way photos >> my 20 f1.8 lens will be arriving on Tuesday >> so excited
Fab Will,
Given me the confidence to get out there and have a go. Perhaps tonight 👍😁
Shirt and sharp vid with loads of thanks.
Go for it! Hope the clouds stay away :) I LOVE astro.
@@WillGoodlet Cheers.
Bit delayed in catching up with your videos, but getting there.
Excellent tutorial, Will!
Thank you :)
Sequator used for combining foreground and sky has a weakness in that it assumes that the foreground is static - in other words you don’t (or your tracker doesn’t) follow the stars. I use a Polarie startracker which has a half-speed setting for sharp stars but minimal foreground blurring. The foreground moves slightly between exposures with the result that Sequator aligns the stars nicely but the foreground becomes blurred. Having masked the sky I had hoped that the software was clever enough to align both the foreground and the sky separately but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Cracking shot Will!
I admire your passion and patience. You are brave and adventures for sure. Good for you . Thank you very much for sharing not just your amazing video but also , all the great tips . Learned a lot.
Thank you Margaret! Very kind of you to say.
Thank you for your help to understand how sequator works!!
My pleasure!
Thank you Will! You explained this so well!
My pleasure!
Thanks Will, very helpful. Can you edit a panorama using this technique in sequator?
Thank you for taking the time to share this helpful video, much appreciated and you have earned yourself a sub. You should have many more subscribers.
That's fantastic John, really appreciate you taking the time to leave me a comment here and thanks for the sub!
Another terrific video...
Thanks again!
Great info, superb nightscape Will!
Thanks Gert! Very kind of you
Great tutorial, thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Stunning image, Will. I'm really enjoying your videos and wishing I could be back in Africa again!
Thanks so much Christine - I hope this one wasn't too nerdy! Come back soon :)
@@WillGoodlet Need to save up first!
Love that image. Thanks for the tutorial, Will.
Thanks Neels!
This is a great video!!! Do you do any processing on the star images in Lightroom or do you just save as TIFF and use Sequator? Awesome images!
Nice one Will
I know the exact location you were at, one of my favorite locations, Gannbos!
The quiver tree forest!
Thanks, yep that’s right. :)
Very interesting vid !
Glad you think so!
thank you!
You're welcome! Thanks for taking a look John :)
I am so confused about one thing when using Sequator. I take my "star photos" in RAW, open them in "PhotoDirector 10" do exactly what you suggest, then export the files to a folder as TIFF. I then proceed to open Sequator, and add the TIFF star images. I then get a message in the main screen "read failed! Unsupported format or invalid path. But at the sametime in the work box to the left, I can see all my TIFF files under Star Images with a green light. And the middle Base image purple.
Now if I do the exact same thing, but using RAW to import it works! I am told that it is better to use TIFF than RAW. I didn't even think Sequator would read RAW?
selkieboat I think it’s fine to use RAW - some cameras have artifacts but most don’t- so if RAW works go for it.
Nice video
and great foto!
Thanks
Very nice, I need to take a look at the mac version and shoot with this s/w in mind. By the way what was the exposure duration for the original shots (15 sec?)
These ones were 20 seconds ISO3200 F2.8. I have gone down to 8 seconds with this method, but mainly for panoramas with longer focal lengths.
Hi well nice demo thanks. the only part that i missed was how to move the final process to lite room? do i first need to save the photo & re open in lite room or there is short cut?
I think you would need to synchronise the folder in LR and the image would appear
Really informative and helpful video will! i couldnt help but think though, can we stack foregrounds on sequator?
I don't believe it is a feature but I will have to check. With my setup (I use a number of lights at night) I don't usually stack as it takes too long to setup everything on my own. I can think of ways to use the output from sequator to easily stack foregrounds in Photoshop though.
@@WillGoodlet Can you make a tutorial on that?
I’ll do some work and let you know.
I stacked some photos of the Andromeda galaxy, i set High Dynamic Range on and stacked them, but when i want to see the photo a message comes up "Read failed! Unsupported format or invalid path". Can i only see them in Lightroom?
Hi Johannes, sorry I haven't seen that problem before. Did you manage to figure it out? What did you specify the file type to be when saving? Can you read it with other software?
I am not the developer, so obviously, it could be a good idea to check there as well.
the dark shot should be absolutely dark?) (sorry for kind a stupid question)) what parameters should be to shoot the dark one? just decreasing the shutter speed on the same iso/F ? p.s.: thx for video
Hi it’s important to shoot it with the same settings but with the lens cap on
Hey Will, when I'm stacking why the image produced is of star trails doesn't matter if I select align or trails.
What are your EXIF on the images? How many images are you stacking? Did you choose the correct settings in the set up panel?
Just tried it myself and getting good results. Did you figure it out?
@@WillGoodlet
First of all thank you for reply sir
When I first used sequator, I used 30 light light frames and 15 dark frames, output was great. Since then I always got trails instead of accumulation with same setting. Idk why.
I'll try it tonight again with same number of dark and light frames .
@@WillGoodlet
Yes with help of ur video. I did exactly same
Even I got good result but for only once.
Are dark frames important? Usually I don't use them
Aman Kumar Singh Great!!! No they aren’t so important, they just improve the quality a little more. They are more important for deep sky astrophotographers and also where it was very hot and your sensor has a lot of. Hot pixels - they are less important for trails than for stars as points of light. They are also more important where there is a lot of dark foreground
very nice indeed ! good job will ;) you earn a new sub too :)
Thanks for the sub!
What about Denoise AI? I am hearing it does an excellent job and much easier and less shooting
This video was made some time before denoise - it’s worth comparing the two techniques. But of course one might even stack then denoise for even better results right?
Thank you so much by the way I have a question. Where can I change my brush size??? I don't have any mouse.
Yeah that's a great question -- I also struggle with it because I don't use a mouse. In the video I used a touch pad to pinch. But I haven't figured out what the keyboard shortcut is yet. It's really annoying.
@@WillGoodlet Thought the brush size was adjusted with right and left bracket keys on the keyboard.
@@markpavey7984 Doens't work in Sequator - the manual doesn't suggest any keyboard shortcut - just the mouse. As I don't have a mouse it's a pain in the butt. However, pinching on a wacom tablet works - sites.google.com/site/sequatorglobal/manual
@@WillGoodlet apologies I forgot you were referring to Sequator. Agree with Wacom, great piece of kit.
Can you make startrails using this software? also can i stack like 20 photos of Comet NEOWISE using this software too?
Thanks so much!
Hi, there is a star trails setting in the bottom left panel. Re the comet, you could give it a go.
How do you create the 'light' around the foreground? I assume since these pictures also have the milkyway in the shot that you are using a very dim light and briefly shine it on the foreground while the shots are being taken before stacking?
I use a technique called low level lighting - you can see me using it in the field in the video on the Hantam Karoo the whole second half is a night shoot.
ruclips.net/video/CnKjffSCZ-Y/видео.html
Thank you so much. Really appreciate your work!
Thanks really kind!
Hello, one question. The 7 images that you import as star images are .tif files. Is that important? mine are cr3 files
Viktor Högberg I think that’s fine they are supported. I used Tif because I wasn’t sure what files people would use and what support is offered. Also there are some files and camera brands which show artifacts.
@@WillGoodlet Ok, thanks
Hello Sir, Good day. Why am I having star trails after stacking? I usually stack 20 light frames, but I always get star trails even if I choose Align Stars, Accumulation.
What happens if you align the first, middle and last frame? Does that align successfully?
@@WillGoodlet No, Sir. It didn't align successfully. :(
Dent Shino just a guess is there a created date in the meta data? Are you processing RAW or TIF? What camera model?
@@WillGoodlet Thank You for giving a time helping Sir. No, there is no created date in the meta data. I'm processing RAW using the App DeepSky Camera. (Since I just use a smartphone)
Dent Shino I think it needs the time to be able to decide how to stack (just a guess)
I believe it is called "See qway tor" like equator.
Too late for this video.
My star trails look like a string of beads instead of circles even though I've got my intervelometer at 30 x 30sec shots spaced 3 secs apart...I do notice Im not gettting the number of shots I reqquested..I wonder if my sensor is heating up or the rate of transfer is too slow.. I have a high rated SD card and two battery pack.....It was very cold llast night 37 degrees F. Any ideas as to why the gaps? Could I have missed something in post processing with sequator?
Marguerite Witter I think you should try a longer exposure maybe take iso down a stop and go up to a minute. If you don’t have a lot of aircraft then go down 2 stops and up to 2 minutes a shot. Keep long exposure noise reduction off. You also need more shots unless this is a test?
Marguerite Witter maybe you are set to stars as point of light in sequator there is a toggle button
@@WillGoodlet Thank you , Will..One more qquestion from a pro: When you set the intervalometer: When I say I set the interval at 3 sec apart I mean I literally enter 00:00:03...now if the length of each shot is 30sec 00:00:30 should I really be entering 00:00:33???? as the interval? In other words should I add the length of each shot to the amount of time between?
@@m.witter5115 Hi, You should make sure the duration of the shot is actually 30 seconds on the interval timer. This has been a problem for me in the past shooting time lapses - the cameras are not marked accurately, for example the duration is usually 32 seconds when using 30 sec on the camera. Think about it in stops - 2sec, 4 sec, 8 sec, 16 sec, 32 sec.
15 and 30 on the camera give issues...
So your camera is triggered, fires for 32 seconds, has an interval of 3 seconds (but is actually 1 second). Possibly not clearing the buffer in time?
So, on to your question. If you are shooting in bulb mode, the timer should control the exposure and 3 seconds should be an adequate interval (if the timer runs for 30sec).
If the intervalometer is firing the camera, and the camera is set to 30seconds on the dial - then maybe 3 secs is not enough of an interval due to the issue above?
You can afford a bigger interval without seeing large gaps between stars. You can also address these gaps with processing.
When you export the finished image from sequator back to lightroom, is it still in RAW or jpeg?
It’s a TIF file. Bring it back into Lightroom and go forward with your editing as normal from there using the Sequator TIF as a starting point. Hope that makes sense?
@@WillGoodlet I see, so its not like with photoshop when you export it back to lightroom you lose the "flexibility" of RAW? It's pretty cool!
Chain_Ring MTB yes seems to work really well for me. I’m very grateful to its creator.
Why can't you apply profile corrections before throwing the images to Sequator?
Some cameras produce really bad pattern noise and artifacts in Sequator. Best to avoid that.
@@WillGoodlet I see, thanks for the insightful info!
It creates some strange banding effects from the lens distortion removal. But you could try to remove the vignette manually before exporting, this should not produce any problems