Magazine, by The Photoshop Creative TeamJuly 11, 2011Here is an excerpt from a tutorial featured in issue 76 of Photoshop CreativeA very interesting branch of photography focuses on taking multiple, time-lapsed photos of objects such as lights or stars and then using Photoshop to stack them together to create trails. A good DSLR camera is needed for this as well as a tripod, a remote and lots of patience. You also need a good, clear night away from any major cities.

• Linux Star Trail

The results can be amazing, but not everyone has the time or equipment to do this. Here is an excerpt from a tutorial featured in issue 76 of Photoshop CreativeA very interesting branch of photography focuses on taking multiple, time-lapsed photos of objects such as lights or stars and then using Photoshop to stack them together to create trails. A good DSLR camera is needed for this as well as a tripod, a remote and lots of patience. You also need a good, clear night away from any major cities. The results can be amazing, but not everyone has the time or equipment to do this. Luckily, with Photoshop at hand, you can fake it.A lot of new features were released with Photoshop CS5. This latest version has tools and techniques that were not available on previous incarnations, for example, content-aware healing.

A new action was also included called Star Trails, which creates the effect without the need to be up all night.In this tutorial we will show you how to make a basic star field and then use the action to create a trail as if you’ve captured the stars on their nightly rotation. We will also look at how to use Channels for easy masking and Hue/Saturation adjustments to change the lighting from day to night. Finally we will merge the star trail with the photography. We have also included a star trail image so the tutorial can be used by those without CS5; simply skip steps 9 to 11.

Says:Hi,How do you stack images using photoshop.Cheers,Charithra7:02PM, 19 November 2007 PSTsays:I use the photoshop action here:ages agosays:I second that.:)ages agosays:Thanks guys. Will try it out tonight. Cheers.ages agosays:If you're doing it specifically for startrails, there's a free special purpose application to do this that works wonderfullyages agosays:does anyone know a way to stack RAW images, this is not supported by the action provided by alohadave. Perhaps using the CS3 new stack command???ages agosays:I've always taken a single exposure for star trail photos on my 20D, normally between ten and thirty minutes, with ISO100 and noise reduction enabled.What are the advantages of using the multi exposure image stacking technique - Darker Sky? Less noise?ages agofanatical approval deleted says:Eyal Golshani, Is there a reason you want to stack raw images? Is there an advantage to using raw over TIFF, even if you could do it?mattieshoes, Thanks for posting that link. I've been using PS and lately playing with the GIMP, but this looks a lot easier.stevegentle, That strange streaking you see in your star trail photo is the reason why.

It's called sensor dark current. My primitive understanding is that digital camera sensors generate heat when imaging, and that heat induces enough current in the sensor to register as light. This is different that normal high ISO sensor noise, and gives rise to washed out or strangely colored bands in your final image. If you decide to try stacking multiple images, I recommend using a remote control timer and disabling the in camera noise reduction.ages agosays:Thanks trash-star, I'll give it a try.

Hope my antique PC can handle the image stacking app!ages agosays:Joined this group a couple of weeks back and would like to say thanks for the info and links everone. That PS plugin is awesome.Stacked 57 images taken in the middle of Brisbane CBD (Australia)ages agosays:I shoot only RAW, and there are MAJOR advantages to shooting raw vs jpeg.

I cant shoot TIFF on my camera (i dont think my nikon has that option), but wonder is there a way to stack RAW files? Or should i do the raw processing to jpeg conversion, and then stack them?is that stacking method something in photoshop? So can i do this?please help:)Originally posted ages ago.mattcarr edited this topic ages ago.says:mattcarr you could shot in raw then you can convert raw files into TIFF.

After do that you stack TIFF files with startrails action for CS3.ages agocluttered lumber deleted says:Some good advice above my comment here.I'll try that action out too.Cool group.ages agosays:not being a Photoshop power user, I'm wondering if anyone can tell me - is the action above usable within Photoshop Elements (ver 6) or is there a means to accomplish the same thing in PSE?thanks. I've been doing some star trails using single long exposures, but would like to progress to stacked images for more control, especially over foreground objects.SBages agouseful celery deleted says:To stack images and keep the brightest light for each frame use.file/scripts/statistics located in the scripts area in CS3. Set your stack mode to maximum and load the files.ages agosays:ah, but there is no equivalent functionality in Photoshop Elements, is there?Some of us are on a budget - more more accurately, are incredibly cheap.

Being a software developer myself, I won't use pirated software, but can't bring myself to fork over the $ for a legit copy of full-fledged Photoshop.Is there a tutorial somewhere that explains the basic concepts behind the stacking - i.e., which sorts of layer blends to use in order to make the stars show up?ages agosays:Scott Butner then this is the program for you, its free.I use both CS3 and this program, both work very wellages agosays:NOTE: The 'Statistics' rrexi mentions requires CS3 (or CS4) EXTENDED, so Scott, it's worse than 'no Elements', it's 'high end Photoshop only'. That is the ticket unless you've got a Mac.

And for my money, Startrails.exe is way easier and faster.Oh, and unless you really need to do layering, you'll find simple editing is easy to do with PSE and startrails combined. Be sure to read my comments after the image. That's where the description is.Originally posted ages ago.Steven Christenson (a group admin) edited this topic ages ago.says:thanks, guys.I've got a mac (albeit just an airbook) for work, but not for personal use - still prefer Windows machines after all these years of operating with one foot in each OS.I know, some sort of freak.;-)I'll give startrails.exe a try if I ever get back home from business travel, or find a clear dark sky in the middle of Washington D.C.SBages agosays:Scott, good luck on the dark sky!

You can always hope for a power outage! Seriously, I think you need to get somewhere in West Virginia to get a truly dark sky. The.And even then, all the hot air rising from all the government buildings will mess up the atmosphere;-)NOTE: I am fully qualified to make the above statement as committed Redskins fan. I'm DC born, too.ages agosays:view the RAW images in bridge then Tools Photoshop Import images as layers. It will bring the RAW images into PS as layers.You might want to reorder the layers, but thats just be being picky.The select a layer and change its blend to lighten, copy layer settings and paste on the others (you can select many)Tages agosays:Thanks for the Adobe action and startrail.de links.

Both very helpful.ages agosays:Another stacking option is. It has some advantages over StarTrails.exe including a command line interface and an easy drag and drop GUI.It is only for windows users, however.Originally posted 114 months ago.Steven Christenson (a group admin) edited this topic 112 months ago.likeable committee deleted says:Is there any stacking software for Mac?111 months agosays:I also should love a software for stacking for Mac:-))Maybe I could try running Startrails.exe in Bootcamp?I sure pop in here later also:)107 months agosays:nebulosity by Stark Labs can be used to stack images on the Mac. I believe it may even work with RAW files. I think it is also cross platform. A license is $60, I believe.

I have not used it for star trails as I have Photoshop and use the start trails action for those.107 months agosays:I'm using Mac OS X, CS5 file/scripts/statistics/maximum. I'm getting a weird grid pattern embedded into my star trail image. Camera is Canon 7D.Originally posted 107 months ago.^CityPines^ edited this topic 107 months ago.says:is not working on my Window Vista. I have downloaded the 'action' for 'startrails' which is an ANT File for my CS4, how do i use this action? Help pls.107 months agosays:Instructions for the action are on the following page:107 months agosays:thanks tarashnat, i have try it but is not working. I will try to do the it manually.107 months agosays:If you're using Windows, Image Stacker by Tawbaware, or Stratrails.exe are much easier to use (and faster). I find most of CS5 and Photoshop to be user hostile.I created a new action (seems to solve the problems with the Shura Action) and discuss how to use it on.Some subtle changes in Photoshop over the years appear to make the Shura action unusable in PS CS5.Originally posted 107 months ago.Steven Christenson (a group admin) edited this topic 107 months ago.says:The link below shows how to build a stacking script.

Linux Star Trail

This may work better for you.107 months agosays:Note: I have release version 4 of the stacking action and updated my accordingly. It turns out that different user defaults were causing different behavior. In particular for some people the starting frame was WHITE so the result was white.Thanks for supplying the information about the stacking script (Droplet) approach. Using a Droplet might be even easier for some people.One more hitherto undocumented hint with the Star Circle Academy Stacking Action: you don't have to use the 'Do this First' you can load the LAST image you plan to stack and then run the Load and Stack in LIGHTEN mode if you wish. Just be careful to not allow the last file to close when presented with the warning dialog.107 months agosays:Has anyone tried to use any of these programs for daytime long exposures?

I'm wondering if this could be done, if you have do you have any tips? It would be greatly appreciated!103 months agosays:From a, perhaps you can explain what it is you're trying to do.In that column I also noted that I have used daytime stacks, too. Specifically these two. You can read more about how Harold Davis produced this.103 months agosays:thanks for the reply Steven!

Basically, I would like to take some LE shots midday but I can only keep the shutter open for about 10-15 seconds max with a 10-stop ND filter before the shot starts to over exposes. I was wondering if it would be possible to achieve an equivalent exposure of about 1 to 5 minutes by stacking the appropriate number of 10second exposures? My only concern would be if something were to pass through the frame of view during that time, but i'm guessing i would just have to delete that image.

Thanks for the examples btw, they look great!103 months agosays:One more thing, when I actually stack all the photos, does it work the same way as if i was stacking photos of star trails? Or should i be doing something different? I've been using StarTrails.exe for startrails, should I be using Image Stacker instead for these type of shots instead?BTW a couple months back when I was trying to figure out how to do star trails I came across a webpage titled 'Star Trails and Night Photography', I just realized you are the arthur haha, just wanted to say thats a great article and it helps a lot!!!Originally posted 103 months ago.'

james edited this topic 103 months ago.says:I'm still not clear on what effect you're trying to achieve with a long exposure, because the goal will dictate how to approach the problem. Exposures of 10 seconds are way beyond blurred water, for example.Are you:1. Trying to get 'smears' of moving objects e.g. Cars or people on a street or sidewalk?2. Trying to eliminate moving objects from a chaotic scene (e.g. Grand Central Station shot during regular hours that shows no people?)3. Trying to blur out clouds or water?4.

Trying to eliminate shadows caused by the passage of the sun (or moon)?5. Just playing?Note that StarTrails.exe will work for 1 only if the objects are brighter than the surrounding scene. Dark objects will disappear unless they do not move. While choice number 2 will require that you use AVERAGE mode (or median stack in Photoshop Extended).Startrails.exe only supports AVERAGE and BRIGHTEN (lightest). If you're trying, for example, to capture the darkest objects (e.g.

The shadow detail), you can use StarStax or Image Stacker in the 'Darken' mode.Of course now I'm really curious to see your result!103 months agosays:I use a program you download for photoshop called 'Dr. Brown's Services.' There is a amazing tutorial that you can refer to for help with this.100 months agosays:Regarding Jon's post:There is a major drawback to using the method described above - actually 3 major drawbacks:1. The statistics mode script used by 'Dr. Brown's Stack-a-Matic' requires the Photoshop EXTENDED version (more $$$).2. The in-memory objects needed are huge.3. Did I mention that the memory requirements are huge and thus the processing time is very long?Once you have over a few dozen images, you can kiss your computer good night for at least a couple of hours.StarStax is Mac, Linux and Windows compatible.

I recommend it. Or if you have plain old Photoshop, you can always use the '.Unlike Doc Brown's solution, doesn't require an extended version of photoshop.Originally posted 100 months ago.Steven Christenson (a group admin) edited this topic 83 months ago.says:FYI I just stacked 351 CR2 (Raw Files) using the. This was the result. Lotta air traffic here! It took about an hour and half to run with that many images. Your speed may vary dramatically based on the image size, processor speed, free memory, etc.Originally posted 100 months ago.Steven Christenson (a group admin) edited this topic 100 months ago.says:Can I use Startrails Version1.1 with elements as a stand alone program?Thanks99 months agosays:Hello there. I am new to the group and star trail photography.

I tried the instruction following the: StarTrail Academy Photoshop ActionBut I keep getting a black screen and finalising with a box full of white little dots. Can I get some help on how to run it? The instruction does not seems to show the result.95 months agosays:The action comes with a full warranty: If it breaks in half you can keep both halves;-)You could help me figure out the problem if you give some more details.A What image files are you using?

Format tiff, NEF, RAW, jpg, etc.B How big are these images? (width x height)C Is Photoshop able to read themD Are all the star frames in a single directory?E Can you post a frame or two on Flickr so we can look?F What version of Photoshop are you using?94 months agosays:Note to all interested. I updated the to version 7.

There was a bug in version 6 - though probably not related to 's issue.On a related issue (though not quite so germaine to the Star Trails discussion), I published an article describing how to do using StarStax.