Finally got a clear shot of Andromeda after 4 failed attempts

I spent about 3 hours over two nights trying to stack my shots but kept getting blurry results because my tripod was on a uneven patch of grass... turns out I needed to move it to the concrete patio instead. Has anyone else wasted a whole night on a simple setup problem like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

stellas5612d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, you just reminded me of my first night! I spent hours trying to get Jupiter and kept getting weird reflections. Turns out I had auto white balance on and my phone screen was lighting up the lens every time I checked it. Drove me nuts. I finally put the phone face down on a towel and used my camera's manual settings instead. Then I also realized my tripod head was loose, not the legs. Tightened that little knob and boom, clear shots. Hope your next try works out.

oliverbailey9d ago

Ha! I gotta push back a bit on that, @stellas56. I actually think leaving auto white balance on is fine for most people starting out, at least until they figure out the basics. The reflection issue sounds more like a phone screen brightness problem than a white balance one. You can just turn down the screen brightness or use a red filter app... way easier than messing with manual settings that 90% of newcomers don't even understand how to adjust. And that tripod head thing? I had the opposite problem - I tightened the head so hard I stripped it, then spent a week ordering a replacement from a sketchy Amazon seller. Sometimes loose legs are actually better for quick adjustments in the dark.