Prasad Indulkar  


Naldehra Vertical Milkyway by Prasad Indulkar

May 2023 - Naldehra Vertical Milkyway

About the Image(s)

Hi Friends,

Greetings from India, This is our Milkyway season, season where we get to see and photograph Milkyway in our skies early in morning, Our window for such photography is short cause we have already started getting monsoon clouds, I was travelling with my family for a very small staycation at Naldehra, Himachal Pradesh in northern India, since the sky quality over there is much better than my city , i decided on trying my luck to shoot milkyway. Luckily I got the opportunity one night , and I shot this one from my hotel room balcony.

I used my Sony A7rIII + Samyang 24mm f/1.8 lens for this. Since there was a lot of city light , also since I wanted my stars to be very sharp , without any trails, I opted for 6seconds exposure, but in 6 seconds , I had to push up my ISO to over 4000, it was giving me grainy image.

So I started shooting multiple images , with my milkyway properly exposed, I did not worry about the noise , as I was going to take care of it in my post processing. So I used the technique of Star stacking.

Stacking star images is a technique used in astrophotography to produce images of the night sky with less noise, increased detail, and enhanced clarity. The process involves combining multiple images of the same scene into a single composite image, thereby reducing the impact of noise and other imperfections.

To begin the process, the photographer takes multiple images of the same section of the sky, usually using a wide-angle lens and a tripod-mounted camera. These images are then loaded into specialized image processing software, such as Deep Sky Stacker, Starry Landscape Stacker or Freeware Sequator - I used Sequator, which automatically aligns the images and stacks them on top of each other.

During the stacking process, the software aligns the images to ensure that the stars are in the same position across all the frames, thereby increasing the overall sharpness and detail of the image. The software also compares the brightness and color of each pixel in each frame and creates a composite image that reflects the average of all the individual frames.

The resulting stacked image is often much cleaner and clearer than any of the individual frames, with a greater depth of color and detail. This is because the process of stacking multiple frames reduces the amount of random noise in the image, while also increasing the signal-to-noise ratio.

In summary, stacking star images is a powerful technique for producing high-quality astrophotography images of the night sky, particularly when trying to capture the Milky Way. By reducing noise and increasing detail, photographers can create stunning and awe-inspiring images that showcase the beauty of the universe.

And once Sequator processed all my images and gave me one single TIFF file, I processed it in Photoshop and this is the result.

There was a lot of highlights in the lower part of the image ( about the rocks ) those highlights were due to the light from the city below , I used Stamp tool in photoshop to copy the starry sky from above and painted it on the highlighted areas below.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to explain the process.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted




Keith Francis   Keith Francis
Amazing image. My 1st impression is how sharp the image is - the stars are perfect points of light. Love the composition as well. It almost looks like you light painted the bottom part of the image.

All in all, an image I'd be darn proud to have produced.   Posted: 05/02/2023 10:52:57
Prasad Indulkar   Prasad Indulkar
thank you so much.   Posted: 05/02/2023 22:32:37



Kathleen Colligan
Thank you for your detailed explanation of this amazing photo.   Posted: 05/09/2023 08:01:08
Prasad Indulkar   Prasad Indulkar
Thank you Kathleen   Posted: 05/09/2023 22:08:34



Andrew Klein   Andrew Klein
The milky way is fantastic. Your stacking technique is amazing. I could look "into" the stars for a long time. I like the lights of the blue area for they anchor the image. But, I find the foreground so bright I think it overwhelms the sky.   Posted: 05/09/2023 14:52:43
Prasad Indulkar   Prasad Indulkar
Thanks Andrew, Since I shot from my hotel room balcony , there is too much light on the rocks , which were not even 10 metres from my window. though I have tried to balance them by lowering the exposure and highlights.   Posted: 05/09/2023 22:09:53



Laurie McShane
An amazing shot, again. Thanks for your description of what you did to accomplish it. I'm leaving in a couple weeks to try my hand at it, and this is valuable information. Would it be possible to combine a number of shots in Lightroom instead of Sequator? This is a superb shot!   Posted: 05/10/2023 13:55:09