Day: October 11, 2017

Wednesday (11-October-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey

I noticed a Praying Mantis, the autumn insect warrior working in my backyard. It just ate a cricket for lunch.  There are still a lot of flowers in the garden. A variety of Morning Glory and Cosmos blooms. The bees are still working hard to harvest nectar and pollen.

Autumn Warrior -- Praying Mantis. Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/600 sec). (David J Mathre)
Autumn Warrior — Praying Mantis. Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS telephoto zoom lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/600 sec). (David J Mathre)

 


One-Year Ago (11-October-2016) — New Jersey

Indoor Abstract Art

While hand washing the dishes, I noticed a large number of bubbles in one pot. As I moved the colors kept changing. I assumed it was due to diffraction of a mono-molecular layer of soap. but wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to take an image that would capture the beauty of the colors, and the symmetry of the bubble packing. After a lot of trial and error, I was able to obtain some interesting images.

Soap bubbles and light diffraction. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 400, 60 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Soap bubbles and light diffraction. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 400, 60 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey — Star Trails

View looking south from my backyard. Night sky star and jet trails.  Composite of 173 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/8, 120 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro (including conversion to B&W), then the composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). If you look closely, there is at least one meteor trail.

Night Sky Star and Jet trails After Midnight. Composite of 173 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/8, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)
Night Sky Star and Jet trails After Midnight. Composite of 173 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/8, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)

Two-Years Ago (11-October-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky — Star and Jet Trails

View looking south from my backyard. Composite of 120 images taken from 20:00 to 23:59 with a Nikon D4 camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro. Star trails composite processed using Photoshop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum).

Autumn Night Sky and Star and Jet Trails. View looking south from my backyard. Composite of 120 images taken from 20:00 to 23:59 with a Nikon D4 camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)
Autumn Night Sky and Star and Jet Trails. View looking south from my backyard. Composite of 120 images taken from 20:00 to 23:59 with a Nikon D4 camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)