David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean including a series of four images of the solar disk. The closest I’ve been catching the “Green Flash” at sunrise. Images taken with a Nikon N1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). Field of View equivalent to an 810 mm lens on a 35 mm sensor camera.
Up early to see the dawn colors develop, then transition to sunrise. The Brown Booby continued to follow (or lead) the ship. There were low clouds on the horizon, so no green flash. You could see three sunspots on the solar disk before it disappeared before sunset. I normally wouldn’t point a camera with a big lens at the sun. It’s not as much a problem with the mirrorless cameras where you are not looking directly at the sun (rather a video image) and when the sky at the horizon becomes the multi-stop filter due to haze (humidity or pollution). The closer we got to Asia, this actually became an issue when the sun would disappear 15 minutes to half an hour before sunset.
Morning sun and clouds with Crepuscular rays (God’s rays) from the deck of the MV World Odyssey while traveling across the Pacific Ocean. Semester at Sea, Spring 2016 Voyage — Day 4. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (ISO 100, 23 mm, f/14, 1/500 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro.
The colors look weird on the first image because I was having problems with the camera. It didn’t matter what I set the white balance to, the camera processed the image at ~3480 °K (with a tint of -17). ARRG!!!
Fortunately, I could fix the problem while processing the image by changing the white balance to “sunny” 5550 °K. The second image looks much closer to how I remember the scene.
This is also the reason I take more than one camera with me while traveling. I was burned in Patagonia when the Leica T camera locked-up, and I couldn’t take pictures with the camera for the rest of the trip. Then in Antarctica the Leica T had this bad habit of freezing (no pun intended) when the outside temperature was below freezing (32 °F / 0 °). Once the camera warmed up, it worked again. I can’t believe that a camera designed and manufactured in Germany can’t take temperatures colder than this???? I also had a Nikon Df camera fail in Antarctica when the shutter buckled. This was the only camera on that trip that had a telephoto lens (80-400 mm) to take bird pictures. I had to make do with the Leica T, and Fuji X-T1. Many of the countries and places I visit do not have camera repair shops or even camera shops where I could purchase a replacement.
This was our first day of classes. I woke at 05:00, and it was still dark out. As it got close to sunrise we had some clouds and light rain. I set up a camera with a fisheye lens to take a time-lapsed video of the ocean from my cabin window (shown at the end of this post). The MV World Odyssey is much more opulent than the MV Explorer (the previous ship used by Semester at Sea). When Semester at Sea is not leasing the MV World Odyssey, it reverts back to the German cruise ship — MV Deutschland. During the voyage I would use the statues and other artwork on the MV World Odyssey in my images. I signed up for the “Energy for the World” class taught by John Tyner.
Signed prints and digital downloads of images in the slideshow are available for purchase at my image gallery David Mathre Photography
Day 2 of 102. Semester at Sea, Spring 2016 Voyage. Crossing the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Hawaii.
This was our first full day at sea. I woke at 05:30. Both the moon and Venus were visible before sunrise. The seas were calmer than during the night. I was not impacted, but I know some of the folks were sea-sick. Like my previous Semester at Sea voyages (six Enrichment, two Semester), I made it a goal to take pictures at dawn, sunrise, sunset, and dusk on as many days as possible. It did mean missing a lot of sleep, but there is something special about sunrise and sunset at sea. I hope you enjoy some of these images over the next 100+ days. The first day at sea was mainly orientation sessions, and time for those that have not been to sea before to get used to the motion on the ship. Classes started on the next day. Latter in the afternoon while walking around the ship, I found one of the students working on watercolor painting in the late afternoon sun.
Signed prints and digital downloads of images in the slideshow are available for purchase at my image gallery David Mathre Photography
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