Friday (12-January-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey: A Newt.

The outdoor temperatures rose to the mid 60’s and it rained most of the day. I went outside and noticed a tiny newt on my doorstep. Only a couple of days ago there was snow on the ground. At first I wondered if it was alive, but saw it move. The arms and legs are very small. I got a small tripod and started taking pictures with a macro lens and flash. I was fortunate that it didn’t move long enough to take a series of images that could be processed with focus stacking software (Helicon Focus).

Tiny Newt on my Doorstep. Winter Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/8, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Tiny Newt on my Doorstep. Winter Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/8, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Tiny Newt on my Doorstep. Winter Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Composite of seven focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro and Helicon Focus (method B, radius 8, smoothing 4). (David J Mathre)
Tiny Newt on my Doorstep. Winter Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Composite of seven focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro and Helicon Focus (method B, radius 8, smoothing 4). (David J Mathre)