Galena Summit

Here are a few images I shot last night from Galena Summit. There was fortunately a bit of an inversion as the temp on top was 15˚ and it was -1˚ on the bottom. With the exception of the star trails image, I shot at 12,800 iso at ƒ2.8 for 30 seconds.

Conifers & Milky Way. Galena Summit, Idaho

Star Trails & HWY 75. Galena Summit, Idaho

Milky Way From Galena Summit, Idaho.

Boulder Mountains & Star Trails

star trails & boulder mountainsStar Trails Over The Boulders

Nikon D3S & Nikon 50 f1.8 lens

This is my first image using the software StarstaX.  It's about 80, thirty second exposures stacked together.  One of the benefits of doing this is reducing noise.  Another benefit, as the 1/2 moon was behind the camera and essentially front lighting the boulders, would be allowing for longer star trails without over exposing the image.  If there is any negative I can think of so far it's that StarstaX cannot yet read RAW files.  I convert my RAW files when exporting them from Aperture to StarstaX.  Pretty easy and the best part is StarstaX is free.  For more info check out the StarstaX site HERE.

Nik's Color Effex Pro 4

Star Trails & Burned Area.  Idaho's Frank Church Wilderness

Nikon D200 & Nikon 14-24 2.8 lens

 

I have been reworking a few images in Nik's new Color Effex Pro 4 now for a few weeks.  The image above is a year or so old but I just ran it throgh Color Effex Pro 4 and have consistently found the new system to be far better.  The biggest reason for me is the ability to "stack" different filters which means you don't have to leave Color Effex to then open it again. This alone has saved me a lot of time.  More to come...

Star Trails On Silver Creek, Idaho

Star Trails & Bridge.  Silver Creek, Idaho

I just got back from the Nature Conservancy section of Silver Creek after taking a few long exposure images.  It was about 20 degrees and windy.  Just after starting my first exposure a beaver exploded at the surface and scared the daylights out of me.  It was dark, and got the front element of my lens wet.  I started over again and got this image.  Lots to work on here, but it's a start...  I used the long exposure noise reduction option on my Nikon D3S and it took roughly 90 minutes to finish processing after the shutter closed.  It was an approx. 61 minute exposure.

Nikon D3S & Nikon 14-24 f2.8 lens