Seeing the Universe Above the Forest Reprised

I love the sense of wonder I experience looking at the night sky and hope this image allows you to share the joy that is viewing the Milky Way at a dark sky location.

Image Notes: This is a reworked version of an earlier photograph that I felt could benefit from more careful processing. I was able to do a much better job with a combination of RAW conversions of the same file from Photo Ninja and DXO 9 with Prime Noise Reduction in use. I left noise control very weak on the PN version to help preserve star and Milky Way color. The exceptional noise reduction offered by Prime allowed me to really push the file to pull out the best of the night sky. Contrast is improved across the board. And finally a bit of Focus Magic on the foreground trees addressed the slight softness in the previous version.

starsstarastrophotographymilky wayastronomylandscapestarry skystarryskyskyscapecelestialastronightwyomingnatureaspentreessilhouettesilhouettesmichael menefeemenefeenikond700dark skynocturnaleveningnightscape