What exactly are dark frames, and why should you care? When your camera sensor heats up during long exposures, it creates random bright spots called hot pixels and thermal noise that can ruin your image’s clarity.
Dark frames are taken with the lens cap on, matching the exposure time and temperature of your actual photos. They capture just the sensor’s noise pattern, which you can then subtract from your light frames during processing.
Pro tip: Take 10–20 dark frames and average them into a master dark to reduce noise in the calibration itself. This step is especially helpful if you’re using an uncooled camera.
