After pulling the camera out of the mud briefly looking it over, I pried the battery door open and found a pristine battery and memory card compartment. After arriving home late on Sunday,  Posted on Facebook that I had found a camera and was downloading the photos. I dragged a photo to stolencamerafinder.com but no luck.  It was late so I went to bed.  Monday during the day I got slammed a work.  Monday night, I looked a little bit but nothing popped out.

Tuesday night,  I got my first chance to take a good look at the photos.  There was about >1000 files on the camera, the first place I started was the EXIF data which told me a few things about the camera and the date the photos were taken. But no owner, no geo tags, just a few fragments I summarized on the photos the first photo was number in the 200′s and dated 5/8 the last was dated 7/22/2011. This told me the camera was new and the day it was lost was 7/22/2011 on a rafting trip on the Merced River with All Outdoors.  I called the rafting company All Outdoors  no luck, not open, I wanted to talk to a person not surf through the computer menu. I thought I would call back in the morning.   I watched and re-watched all of the videos.  Nothing. no names, no places, nothing in the end I decided that I was starting to make up audio.  I seemed to be convincing myself people were talking and making stuff up.  Kinda like when you play a record backwards.  After a few hours of watching the rafting videos I was getting motion sickness and hearing things so decided I was not getting anywhere.

Wednesday, I got slammed at work AGAIN and never ended up calling All Outdoors  .  Wednesday night I focused on the photos and collected the data off of all the buildings numbers names, places and attaching them to the photo.  I took some notes.  The camera had 2 months of photos all in CA the suggested the owner was from CA.  The photos were from mostly So Cal so that narrows the region.  I looked up some info on the Palm Springs Film Fest but I didn’t find any photos that looked like anyone in the photos.  What troubled me was something I know too often the owner of the camera is usually behind the camera not in front of it. So I was assuming most of the photos might no have photos of the owner.  The reoccurring people maybe the ticket and if I could find one of them they might be able to lead me to the owner.  Especially, the group shots you usually pose in groups right?! Judging from the videos and photos I think I nailed the owner.  But who were they.   I was pretty exhausted.  I was concentrating hard on the photos looking for names on tables, or an address on a scrap of paper.  The little hints but nothing solid.  This was WAY too slow.  I collected the data, tagged the photos.  Tomorrow, I decided I was asking the internet.

Thursday,  I uploaded the photos to my Flickr account and Google + and wrote a short explanation on the Star Circle Academy Blog.  I published them all at the same time.  I started with some of my CA Flickr contacts briefly emailing and asking for help.  I was running late for work and had a lot to do, I figured I could finish at work. I called All Outdoors still the computer menu…Grrrr, well they officially open in a few min I might be able to reach them or it could be off season and no one is answering the phones.  I will just go to work start on some Google + contacts then start my day.

I was not really prepared for what happen next.  In the brief time between me leaving for work, making a cup of coffee, Thomas Hawk moved my plea for help from Flickr to Google +.  Lets just say it exploded people were sharing it, +1-ing it the comments the emails.  I shifted from reading comments, to emailing people to fact checking, there was a lot of encouragement, and tons of good info, lots of you should do “this” (and the “this” was redundant).  Between some of the comments I tried the Malibu Surf Shop,  after a short explanation all I got was they didn’t really keep computerized records.  Grrr…that was a dead end.

Just when it was getting really interesting I had to leave, you know “work” meeting.

While I was working people had been working on the photo that contained a badge that read ShortFest in Palm Springs.  They had posted a link to some of the photos of attendees one of which was looked a lot like the person I though was the owner.   It was good but who was she??

Before lunch, I took a short break and tried All Outdoors  rafting company again. I got a person!!  A real person! I was a little surprised.

Hello Can, I help you?

Ah?  I sure hope so.

I think I surprised her with my surprise and excitement!  I explained the story to Diane.  She seemed a little stunned, one that a camera survived, and two I was contacting them.  She asked, How do you know it is us?  I replied. “Well, it is written all over your boat, the paddles, your life vests”.  I also mentioned that the date of the trip was 7/22/2011.  She quickly pulled up the date and said “That’s great we only had one trip the day.  And we have all the email addresses of the participants.”  I gave her my contact info and passed on.  A solid lead finally!!

While I left for lunch an email from All Outdoors  to all of the attendee from the day the camera was lost  For the next 45 minutes things churned in cyberspace.

The near miss, an email from a person in the boat:

About an hour later I had an email, a very excited one indeed!!   In her own words (edit to protect privacy):

Googleing, the recipient everything started to check out but I still had my doubts. Started to assemble the questions to verify it was her camera.  Things I could ask about the photos that only she would know. However, this was unnecessary, I got confirmation from Google +,  Craig Richmond had cross referenced the owner through the Shortfest Photo and surfed around until he confirmed with a separate photo which was connected to her name.  He got the same result as I did and helped me confirm from that, we came to the same conclusion.  My response was “Bingo”.  If he would have been about 40 minutes Earlier I would have been emailing the owner not her emailing me.

During some correspondence over email, she also confirmed some other details that made me confident the camera was hers.  That was it, it was an interesting ride and fun to be involved in the search.  All Outdoors really came through in the end and I am so happy that they do not close for the season and someone answered the phone.  Thank you, Craig Richmond who also helped me confirm which was a large part of fact checking.  And a very large Thank you to Thomas Hawk because this story would have never got off the ground without his response.

That is the end of the story.  I am heading to the post office today and will put the camera and SD card in the mail.  I am going to end with her own words (edited for privacy):

Yes I  do believe we are destined to be friends.
PS.  Since the owner has asked me to remove her photos I will be responding to her request….I would also ask that you please do the same.  This is also why I have decided to identify her as just the owner to also protect her privacy.   I would not want to ruin a new friendship now would I?     She has allowed me to keep one photo up for the sake of posterity (but I am going to ask for a second I love this one).   Thank you.  The end.

Last Sunday I was scouting locations south of Yosemite National Park along 140 and the Merced River.  If you know anything about the type of person I am I love back-roads, the places other casual photographers don’t go.  I spotted some interesting places to return to along opposite side the Merced River and conveniently enough I found a State Park Ranger, a back-road and a trail map.  I was set.  Off we go to explore driving along the Merced River was a treat.  With a recess from both the typical winter and the mega rain we had last year I was itching to get down to the river.  After a few miles of gravel there was a long parking area, and easy access to the shore.  Ambling down the to riverside you could see the river was low, rocks that were normal not exposed were.  Fishing line, bottles, cans and other detritus was stuck in the bushes and round river rocks.  However one thing caught my eye, IT was a camera!!  I kinda did a double take but yes, yes it was a camera.  What, a mess! It was caked with muck and clods of dirt hung to it.  There was water between the screen and the casing, the lens was fogged with dirt. No matter the dirt and slime this was a waterproof camera, a Canon PowerShot D10.  But how?? Why??  I quickly realized that this was a major river rafting spot and this might have gotten lost on one of those boating trips.  Scraping away the dirt from the doors, I cracked open the battery compartment and it was pristine!  I was excited.  The battery was dead, but clean, the SD card was clean and dry.  7 hours later, a trip to the hospital, and 5 stitches, a black eye and a CT scan later (My Girlfriend slipped on a rock and ended up in a waterfall, yes in, but that is another story), I questioned whether I should download the photos.  Well the owner will never get there camera back if I don’t, and the memories they might have stored on this would be worth it.  So after combing through the  >1000 photos and videos, I could not identify any information that would give me a solid lead on the owner.  I have bits and clips of them I have figured out who I believe is the owner, and their family but no solid names.  I believe they are from CA but not sure.  They love the water almost all the shots from the camera are in or around the water.  That is it I don’t have else much to go on. So now I am turning to the internet community and asking for help, do you know these people can you help me find them.

Please, help me write the rest of this story.   As a photographer I know how much it would mean to me to lose my camera but to lose the memories it contained is harder.  The following is some of the photos that I believe will be the most helpful.  I have spared you the ~200 underwater self portraits (I published the fun underwater portraits) and others that are uninformative (like the sky).   I have tried to preserve all of the meta data but there was not much there anyway.   If you recognize anything please leave a comment, if you know people in the photos please send them the link, please share this with your photographer friends.   And Please don’t bother “All Outdoors”, the rafting company too much.

Other Data:

Photo dates 5/8 to 7/22/2011  Merced River CA to

Photo locations are from Merced, Malibu, to Palm Springs.

Map of where I found the camera

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=202312884837720874010.0004b846567e4b7d77a63&msa=0&ll=37.60002,-119.976454&spn=0.04495,0.093641

]]> http://blog.starcircleacademy.com/2012/02/lost-camera/feed/ 11 http://blog.starcircleacademy.com/2012/02/iss-predictions/ http://blog.starcircleacademy.com/2012/02/iss-predictions/#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:27:23 +0000 Steven Christenson http://blog.starcircleacademy.com/?p=1401 Continue reading →]]>

I have set up a program to automatically compute the ISS transits for different places and upload the results once a day – at around 11:00 am each day. See Zoom-Zoom for the impetus for this as well as references.

Here is the latest set of predictions for the NORTH BAY (70 Mile radius from San Leandro)

And the SOUTH Bay (60 mile radius from Morgan Hill)

This is the raw data we used to decide where to go.

We agreed to meet at a spot that fell near the “blue line” in the graph above. Namely, Muir Beach Overlook.  I woke up at 3:00 AM and arrived there at 4:45 AM. Everyone showed up on time at 5:00 am and we lugged our equipment into the conveniently located World War Two era machine gun bunkers which kept us out of the wind. There were 3 such bunkers and I took up residence in the closest one since I had the most gear to haul (and am the most lazy).

Bunkered Down for the Morning...

My companions picked two other bunkers, while Rick headed further North along the coast highway.  Note: Don’t let the term Highway confuse you it is a tortuous winding road hanging on sheer cliffs above the Pacific Ocean.

Resources and References

• ISS Transits by Ed Morana
• Prediction Tool by Ed Morana
• ISS Real time track (Nasa)

Notes about the Event

Before we left we had some discussions about whether the ISS would be visible and how to prevent it from “streaking” and smearing. The ISS is moving at  17,800 miles per hour. At its altitude from our location, that means it crosses the ½ a degree wide moon in under two seconds! At minimum I needed to select an fast enough shutter speed to max out the camera’s frames per second (more chances to get at least ONE hit) which on the Canon 50D is about 5.3 fps.  However we weren’t sure about the comparative brightness of the ISS compared to the moon.  If it were sufficiently dimmer then the moon brightness would overwhelm the ISS.

It’s interesting to try to get the ISS against both the lit and unlit portion of the moon – and we indeed got both.  The ISS trajectory and where you choose to go affects what you will see.  One of our group went farther north and got the ISS brushing the lit edge of the moon, though not crossing it.  This proved to be a quite interesting shot as it is definitely true that the ISS does not stand out well against the moon.

I went with about f/9. This is a rough calculation factoring the f/7.5 refractor  [80mm aperture with 600mm focal length], and a 1.4 teleconverter.  I had to tape over the pins on the camera-teleconverter or it would not let me take the shot “cannot communicate with lens” well – duh, the lens in this case is a TELESCOPE.  ISO 800, speed 1/500th of a second and the camera in BURST (continuous high speed exposure) mode.

We were not expecting a whole lot but were all high fives and thumbs up afterward.  Now that I’m groggy from sleep deprivation I’m wondering if driving about 4 hours round trip was worth 3 seconds of glory.  Yeah, I think so.

If you’re interested in catching the moon near your favorite STATIONARY object, I’ve got a well reviewed, well attended webinar on that.  Want to try some Astrophotography? I’ve got webinars and field shoots for that, too.  Join me at EVENTS.StarCircleAcademy.com and let’s do something unusual with night and low light shots.

Here is the latest set of predictions

Invariably at workshops and shooting events something will go wrong with hours long shots. But with a plethora of shots to select a foreground from the odds are greatly improved that you can get what you wanted even if it means working around problems created by uncontrollable elements.

Consider my effort atop Mauna Kea.  All the shots are here in this video.

But as you may have noticed, the radio dish was moving nearly constantly and is thus blurred in many shots.  When I stacked all the images together in the normal fashion, this is the result:

Unless you’re into that Dali-esque melting radio telescope vibe you may not want that result.  Or perhaps some dunderhead walked through the scene with a flashlight making a wicked blow out – or any number of possible complications. What to do?

Answer: Find the image or images with a more desirable foreground and fix it!  Fortunately I have LOTS of frames from my 7 hour-long star trail. When I created the image originally I chose this foreground:

Resulting in this image which was selected for the shortlist of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year, 2011.

But, in putting together this article I noticed a foreground I think will work even better. This one:

The result will be the radio dish “staring” into the center of the star circle. So lets replace the Dali-Esque portion of the original stack with the foreground above.

Overview

Here are the steps we’re going to take – you can download the images using the links below and try for yourself if you wish – of course you may not post your derivative work or claim it as your own.

1. Start Photoshop
2. Load the foreground and background (stacked) image.
3. Plop the foreground image onto the stacked image.
4. Set the foreground opacity to 40% to see what you are working with
5. Use the quick select tool to capture the foreground elements you wish to remain.
6. Use “Layer -> Layer Mask -> Reveal Selection”
7. Adjust the foreground opacity to 100%
8. Flatten and save!

Step By Step

Easiest for me is to drag and drop my images into Photoshop. Choose your own method if you’d rather but beware that depending on your approach, Photoshop may decide to do your layers as “smart objects” which creates more constraints and steps.

Note that you might decide to load more than one foreground so you can mix and match to choose what result you like best!

Once you’ve got your two (or more) images loaded select the foreground image, then Ctl-A (Select All), Ctl-C (Copy) then select the background image and do Ctl-V (Paste). If you have more than one foreground, repeat the process of overlaying the foregrounds onto the background stack.

When done this way with equally sized images, the layers will be exactly over one another. You can accomplish the same layering goal by using the “move tool” and the process described by Harold Davis as “Plopping”. Or if you were really on the ball, you could  load the images into Photoshop as Layers. For me that method “Files -> Scripts -> Load Files into Stack -> File / Folder Selection tool” is unnecessarily complicated and forces me to use the more impoverished Photoshop file selection tool. Plus I can almost never remember to look under “File -> Scripts” (I always expect it under “File -> Open” or File -> Automate. Even File -> Import would make more sense!)

Though it is not necessary here, it is usually a good practice to convert your background to a layer, and name your layers to keep them straight.

We will also adjust the opacity of the foreground to around 45% by selecting it in the Layer tool (Window -> Layer)

After adjusting the opacity, we can see clearly how the layers align and make a determination about which parts of which photos we want in the final image.

A quick look indicates that we can replace everything below the mountains with our foreground making the task trivially simple.  We will use the quick selection tool (look under “Magic Wand” if you don’t see it). Select the foreground, then click the selection tool somewhere at the edge and below the sky. Drag across the frame to the other edge and if you’re lucky, the selection will be like this:

The next step is to turn the selection into a mask so that the sky remains intact and the foreground is replaced by our selection.  Layer -> Layer Mask -> Reveal Selection does the trick.

After completing the Reveal Selection we adjust the foreground to 100%

For fun and excitement we can clean up the final concoction using various adjustments. Here I’ve used Curves and Hue/Saturation adjustments to reduce the green cast and crisp the image up just a bit.

Final image with replaced foreground

Now we flatten and save and post and brag!

What if Quick Select Doesn’t Work?

If your selection area is more complicated there are other alternatives.

One alternative is to use a gradient mask. But that may not work either such as when a tree reaches up into the sky with lots of tiny branches. Another approach is to do hand masking/layering. The following provides a rough idea of both how to approach the hand masking problem and how much more difficult the process can become.

Here I used a “Hide All” mask on the foreground. Next I painted in white on the foreground mask (notice that the mask is selected in the layer window). Wherever I paint white in the mask allows the foreground to “replace” the background. In this case it’s messy because the foreground is clearly darker than the background.  However this technique can work very well for small improvements. For example did you notice that there is a red streak of car tail lights in the middle mountain above?  It would be simple to replace that small area with one (or more) frames from the rest of the stack using this hand masking technique.

If you want to get the full scale, nitty gritty detailed write up of this hand blending technique, I heartily suggest you purchase Harold Davis‘s “The Photoshop Darkroom” book. It will be money well spent!

Or, join us on our next workshop or webinar.

The moon is in penumbra as it sets over the US Capitol Building, December 10, 2011

December 10th will bring us a total lunar eclipse visible from much of the United States. It will be the last such total lunar eclipse for the next 3 years.  The Eastern United states will get just a glimpse of the first umbral contact as the moon sets and the sun rises, but the Western continental US will see the moon totally eclipsed as it sets.  Get up at least an hour before sunrise to see it, and look low in the west.

What’s not clear is how visible the moon will be since twilight will begin to drown out the fully eclipsed moon for western observers. However if you’re a “Moon hunter” like I am, this eclipse provides a rare opportunity to catch the eclipsed moon together with features near the horizon – landmarks, mountains, etc and THAT is quite unusual.  The ideal place to be would be about one time zone west of the Pacific time zone… so perhaps those in the far western Canadian Provinces and those in Eastern Alaska and Hawaii will have ideal conditions. For them, there will be plenty of time to track the eclipse.

Many of those in the San Francisco Bay area are in for a big treat as the eclipsed moon will slip behind the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge – IF you can find the right spot to be.  Here is an approximation of what those with clear weather and good timing likely to see (except, of course it will be early twilight):

I wrote about this event previously.  If you’re interested in calculating these things for yourself, I have scheduled the next “Night Photography 111: Catching the Moon Webinar” for January 4, 2012 (webinar cost $25.11). What have the students said about this webinar?

• Steven did an excellent job with the training. – Judy, San Jose, CA
• Top notch, even for a novice such as myself. Wish it was longer, so much to learn – Jack, Los Angeles, CA
•  Great presentation! Steven offers a perfect balance between inspirational shots, moon facts and figures, and calculations to make our own moon compositions.  – Phil, San Francisco, CA
• Wow did I ever learn a lot. I have been trying to shoot the full moon every month this past year. Some pics were okay and some not. After this class, I feel like I have some new tools to plan my shots and get a lot closer to my vision of the shot or maybe realize it won’t work after all and revise accordingly. I am already planning for my next full moon.  – Marsha, San Francisco, CA
• SteveC is a Great Teacher – Roger, San Francisco, CA

If you’re thinking that Astrophotography might be worth trying, my next Astrophotography 101: Getting Started Without Getting Soaked is December 20th (cost $36).

• Excellent presentation – MUCH better than I expected. Steven really knows the material, and has it well prepared. – Burt
• A lot of very good information presented in a way that a beginner can understand. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that astrophotography can be attempted for less than the price of a new lens.  – Phil
• Excellent introduction to astrophotography. – Alan

Normally I’d love to share this information widely, but I fear that a large number of photographers might not only attract unwanted attention, it appears that when we published the information about the prime location for the eclipse over the Golden Gate Bridge over 200 people showed up!

Weekend Schedule

Saturday, December 10, 2011:  5:30 AM Meet at Eastern Market Metro Station (don’t be late). Address: 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC end shooting around 7:30 AM, end of the event around 9:00 AM. See below for maps and more details.

Saturday, December 10, 2011: 4:30 PM (Optional) Catch the moon rising behind the Old Post Office Tower and/or the Washington Monument.  See below for details.

Sunday, December 11, 2011: 4:45 PM (Optional) Catch sunset over the city with great views from the 315 foot tall Old Post Office Tower. See the EVENT details on the Night and Low Light Photography Meetup of Stafford, VA for details.  (NOTE: I’ll give preference to anyone who is attending the Eclipse event with me).

What to Bring (all events)

• Camera, memory cards, extra memory cards, batteries, extra batteries
• small flashlight
• Sturdy tripod
• Release cable / intervalometer (recommended)
• Telephoto lens (200mm or better recommended)
• LAYERED clothing including a hat, gloves, scarf, parka
• Rain-proof covering for yourself and your camera. A shower cap usually is enough for the camera. And emergency poncho may work for yourself.
• Change/cash for bus/cab/metro fares + beverage or breakfast

Eclipse Event on December 10th, 5:30 AM

Meeting location: Eastern Market Metro station: 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC

NOTE: Trains will not be running until after 7 am. You must take a taxi, bus or other transportation to arrive on time. Maximum cab fare within the city is $19.  Could be much more from outside the city.

You’ll know it’s me ’cause I’ll have a red backpack and at least one tripod hanging like a sword on my side. If it’s dark enough I’ll also have a flashing green light hanging on me.

After meeting PROMPTLY at the Metro Station we will be walking one to four blocks south east (as far as 12th street). Exact location will depend on my scouting the day prior.

While walking to the final location, I’ll go over some important points on how to capture the moon and foreground. We begin shooting at about 6:15 AM and shoot until about 7:25 AM – after sunrise.  Then we’ll head to the Starbucks at 401 8th Street SE (1/2 block south from the Eastern Market Metro) – or possibly to Le Pain Quotidien which opens at 8:00 AM to discuss what we’ve done and enjoy a hot beverage and/or breakfast.  By 9:00 or so we’ll be finished and can either take metro from Eastern Market or whatever other arrangements you’ve made.  But don’t forget about the EVENING event!

SATURDAY PM: Moon Rise Behind the Washington Monument

If you attended the Night Photography 111 class you may have noticed that I provided the location for the evening shoot… the shore of the Potomac river on the Mount Vernon trail.

There are two possibilities here: at the waterfront in FRONT of a tree (not sure if there is room), or further away.

DOUBLE Bonus

While using Google Street View, I noticed another building to the left of the Washington Monument… The Old Post Office Tower.  So it is possible to get the Post Office Tower with the moon behind it first:

http://theamusing.com/photography/moonchasetool.html?TO=OldPostOfficeTower&vll=38.88280,-77.05630&tll=38.89440,-77.02730&vHt=0&tHt=315&FROM=GwPkWy&Date=2011-12-10-17:14ET

As it actually looked!

http://theamusing.com/photography/moonchasetool.html?TO=WDCMonument&vll=38.88280,-77.05630&tll=38.88943,-77.03525&vHt=0&tHt=555&FROM=GwPkWyDate=2011-12-10-17:33ET

Directions

The vantage point(s) are on Columbia Island along the George Washington Parkway. Easiest way to get the there is: Take Metro to the Arlington Cemetary Station (BLUE line). Exit the metro along Memorial drive east. Follow the pedestrian pathway turning south after crossing the bridge (before the Potomac Bridge).  There will be opportunities to photograph the Lincoln Memorial and other buildings while you’re on your way… so allow plenty of time.  The sun will be at your back so the buildings may look spectacular.

SUNDAY: Post Office Tower

If you hadn’t noticed, the following evening I’m planning to get some evening shots downtown from the Old Post Office Tower.  The group is limited to 12 attendees so join up soon if you’re interested.  It will be REALLY cool to get the moon rising behind it on the 10th and then photograph from it on the 11th.

QUESTIONS About the Eclipse Event

Q: I’ll be using a Canon 50D. I have the following lenses

Canon EF 300m f/4 L
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L
Both the 1.4 and 2X teleconvertors
Sigma 170-500mm f/5-6.3

Which one do you recommend?

A: Bring them all!  Ok, so that may be impractical in which case the 300mm + 1.4X would be my weapon of choice.  But I’d probably bring the 70-200mm also in case you want to shoot wider.

The full moon rising behind Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, San Jose, California

Normally I’d keep all the details to myself so as to avoid throngs of photographers trying to fit into an itty bitty space. But while I am off in Washington, DC catching my “Landmark” photo people in and around San Francisco have a GREAT opportunity to catch the eclipsed moon over the Golden Gate Bridge. And the good news is that the location you need to be in is big and broad and can accommodate a LOT of people. So we decided to let you all in on this great opportunity!

While you do not have to do so, we’d appreciate it if you would sign up and indicate whether you are coming so that Eric Harness will know to look for you.

All the details can be found here:  events.starcircleacademy.com/events/42862122

If you sign up, you’ll be shown exactly where to meet Eric. If you just want to go on your own – no problem, there is enough information in the write up. Do remember to bring a tripod, a telephoto lens (whatever you have is good), and dress warmly and in layers. Now all you have to do is to keep the legendary fog at bay.

Many happy photons from us to you this Holiday Season!

Oh, and please post your best shot into the photo pool after the event!  We appreciate it!

I asked Andy to write up his uber cool trick for eliminating gaps in Star Trails.  Here is his work, slightly edited. Andy’s clever trick applies to star trails that are circular (i.e. revolve around the north or south celestial pole).

Dotty Problem

Now that all good discerning photographers stack their long exposure star photos, I’m sure you’ve noticed your dotty problem. I may have a solution for you for that. Take a look at these two photos. The one of the left is the original after stacking, the one on the right is the nice smooth one after processing.