I'm curious if anyone here regularly submits starscapes to mircostock and if so, is there a common practice for handling the noise associated with this type of photography? 

I have several shots to submit of the night sky employing long exposures at high ISO (settings selected specifically to avoid generating star trails).  Given the heavy handedness most sites have against noise, I've been hesitant to upload them.

I generally loathe using Noise Reduction on shots like this because it will mute or obliterate the smaller more distant stars in the process, and seems to invariably turn the milky way in to the mushy way when viewed at 100%.  I do however, recognize that this attitude towards NR may just be my own personal bias, so am wondering what others opinions are.

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.

could you do some composite to get around the noise.
Probably an extreme amount of work though for microstock earnings.

4000 odd hits on Shutterstock for "star trails". Alot look like composites (or even fabricated) to me + theres heaps of illustrations (4000 are photos)

Those are great images!

Those are great images!

I agree!

You may want to take a look at averaging your photos for noise removal. From what I've read, this is a very non-destructive method that produces excellent results.

Link:

Thank you for that link.
I never heard about this technique before, but it sounds very interesting, not only for starscapes.

You may want to take a look at averaging your photos for noise removal. From what I've read, this is a very non-destructive method that produces excellent results.

Link:

Yes, averaging (stacking) is the standard technique in astronomical photography; it produces great results for faint objects such as galaxies

Good to see constructive post where I learnt abit about taking photos instead of hearing about being screwed over with partner programs.

Hey you talkin' about me? ;-)

And the chart on the linked site was worth printing for my resource files. I just realized something about time and focal length. The new (used) 8mm is going to allow me longer exposures and less star tails.

Just can't wait for some nice weather and dark skies.

When I landed on the page I saw Morrow and said, Oh of course who else. He's really at the top of the list for best at this. Nice of him to share.

Good to see constructive post where I learnt abit about taking photos instead of hearing about being screwed over with partner programs.

You may want to take a look at averaging your photos for noise removal. From what I've read, this is a very non-destructive method that produces excellent results.

Link:

Darn two for one great thread? It's a winner.

Least Detail / No Noise (the one accepted by SS) care to post an example? And do I understand that right, you ran up the noise reduction on that one, which means, no noise, low detail? Did I understand right?

ISO, time,lens?

So, I decided to run a test and took four different photos from the same night sky shoot and processed them adding varying amounts of noise reduction and submitted each to 5 agencies to see which (if any) would be accepted.  Attached are the results for anyone else that may be interested.