The whole Milky Way core photo trend is getting sloppy - here's what I keep seeing

I've been noticing a lot of people posting Milky Way shots where the core is way too bright and blown out, like they cranked the clarity slider to 100 in Lightroom. Last weekend I was at Cherry Springs State Park with my Sony a7iii and I shot 15 frames stacked, and the difference between a natural edit and that overprocessed look is huge. On one hand, it's art so edit how you want, but on the other hand, aren't we supposed to be showing what the sky actually looks like? Does anyone else think the fake HDR look is ruining astro photography or am I just being picky about accuracy?

2 comments

2 Comments

smith.anna18d ago

Wait, are you saying you shot 15 frames stacked for a single Milky Way shot? I thought stacking was more for noise reduction and you usually just need a single tracked exposure or a panorama for the core. Unless you're talking about stacking frames for the ground and sky separately, which is totally different. But yeah, I get your point about the overprocessed look. Everyone's chasing that fake HDR glow these days and it makes the stars look like they're painted on.

drew_grant5218d ago

Dude the "painted on" thing is spot on. I see so many Milky Way shots now where every single star has that weird halo effect from pushing clarity too far. It's like they're trying to make the sky look like a fantasy movie background instead of actually capturing what's up there. Less is more with astro editing for sure.