Debating whether to stack or align deep sky frames before stacking

I spent nearly 3 hours last night trying to fix star trailing in my M31 photo only to realize my dithering wasn't aggressive enough between subs. Some forums say stack first then align, others swear by aligning each frame individually before combining. Which method actually saves you time and gives the sharpest result?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix_black8d ago

Yeah align first, always sharper results that way.

anthony4247d ago

Used to always skip alignment and just go straight for the final rendering but you might be on to something here. Gonna try it your way next time.