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Archive 2021 · Skookum Butte Lookout under the Milky Way

Montmc86
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Skookum Butte Lookout under the Milky Way

This is a lookout (in restoration) on the Idaho/Montana border, near Lolo pass at around 7200 feet for elevation. I had been discussing shooting the Milky Way from one of these historic lookouts for the past year and we had finally decided on the first weekend after the 4th of July.

We lucked out somewhat as a fire had started the day prior to us arriving (seen in a few of the photos) and the pass was shut down shortly after we left the pass as the fire had increased in size over the few days we were there. The smoke from the fire can be seen in #3 and #4. The fire is visible in #5, which adds to the photo.

All shots are taken with either the Panasonic S1 with the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 or the Panasonic S5 with the 70-200mm f/4 lens.
The Milky Way shots are still in process, these normally take me several iterations before I am happy with the final print.

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Edited on Jul 25, 2021 at 03:10 PM · View previous versions

Jul 25, 2021 at 02:21 AM

junglialoh
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Skookum Butte Lookout under the Milky Way

beautiful sequential change of the overhead sky from sunset to midnight scene - well done

Jul 25, 2021 at 06:17 AM

Mark Metternich
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Skookum Butte Lookout under the Milky Way

Wonderful view!!! Love all the Milky Way pics as well! Thank you for sharing.

Just a heads up if you did not know it: IF you are doing really high ISO shot (not focus stacking) DxO has a really cool AI noise reduction tool that can get rid of a ton of noise in single shot from very high ISO shots (and it is done at the RAW stage and can be imported back into a 32-Bit Raw Layer Stack as a Raw DNG in Photoshop (with all the Adobe adjustments still in place to further adjust!). For very noisy images, this is a helpful game changer. (I find it useless for low ISO images).

I was able to make a VERY clean and huge enlargement file from an image I shot at 25600 ISO! NO JOKE!!!
I'm going to eventually put that on my YouTube page to show people... I did not only use the DxO! But I used it to significantly knock out A LOT (but not all) of the noise (without reducing detail), because I wanted to draw from some other really cool noise reduction tools later in the processing chain. It worked wonders!

Jul 25, 2021 at 08:05 AM

Montmc86
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Skookum Butte Lookout under the Milky Way

junglialoh wrote:
beautiful sequential change of the overhead sky from sunset to midnight scene - well done
Thanks, I liked the flow from sunset to 3am and wasn't sure if I should show them or not... I'm glad I did.
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Mark Metternich wrote:
Wonderful view!!! Love all the Milky Way pics as well! Thank you for sharing.

Just a heads up if you did not know it: IF you are doing really high ISO shot (not focus stacking) DxO has a really cool AI noise reduction tool that can get rid of a ton of noise in single shot from very high ISO shots (and it is done at the RAW stage and can be imported back into a 32-Bit Raw Layer Stack as a Raw DNG in Photoshop (with all the Adobe adjustments still in place to further adjust!). For very...Show more →
Mark, thanks for the comments. Not sure why my Exif data is not showing up, but I was using the Panasonic S1 with the 14mm f/1.8 and was shooting at ISO 6400 and 25 seconds. I processed my photos in LR the day I got back and have not had much time to play with them since then.

Thanks for the tip on DxO, I should give that a try tonight if I have enough time on some of the photos in the past with ISO set to 10000 or higher.

Jul 25, 2021 at 03:06 PM

Mark Metternich
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Skookum Butte Lookout under the Milky Way

Montmc86 wrote:
Thanks, I liked the flow from sunset to 3am and wasn't sure if I should show them or not... I'm glad I did.
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Mark, thanks for the comments. Not sure why my Exif data is not showing up, but I was using the Panasonic S1 with the 14mm f/1.8 and was shooting at ISO 6400 and 25 seconds. I processed my photos in LR the day I got back and have not had much time to play with them since then.

Thanks for the tip on DxO, I should give that a try tonight if I have enough time on some...Show more →

My pleasure. I'm running some tests right now that I'm having very high hopes for using a combination of software. Having excellent results with DxO Deep Prime on a recent 8000 ISO Test, and a 25600 ISO test (I have done a lot of other testing on it as well) I'm running a test right now that might be a total game changer in star shots. If you message me, I'll remember to tell you if it works. I cannot share it right now, because it really is an innovation. ISO noise issues may be a non issue soon. 🙏🏼
Keep up the very nice work.

Jul 26, 2021 at 09:47 AM

old-gregg
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Skookum Butte Lookout under the Milky Way

Nicely done!

Jul 28, 2021 at 02:30 AM

damiendada
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Skookum Butte Lookout under the Milky Way

The photos are all beautifu!

SHAREit MX Player

Edited on Sep 11, 2022 at 06:31 AM · View previous versions

Jul 28, 2021 at 05:00 AM

juststeve
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Skookum Butte Lookout under the Milky Way

Also worth trying the demo to ON1's NoNoise AI. Unlike the DXO product, it is not a one-size-fits-all product. It can be considerably adjusted to taste. It also works on the RAW file and can be set up to then export a DNG back to Lightroom where one can do all the normal LR RAW tweaking and twiddling. I feel it is a very promising product and purchased it. I did not purchase DXO after demoing it.

Aug 04, 2021 at 11:42 AM


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