Month: April 2011

Thursday (21-April-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey

Pink Flower — Macro and Wide Depth of Field. I used the pink flower from yesterday as an exercise to practice with a macro lens, flash, and Helicon Focus to get a macro image of a flower with an extreme depth of field in focus. Ten images of the flower were taken from rear focus to front focus by manually adjusting the focus distance on the lens. The raw images were processed with Capture One Pro, converted to 16 bit Tiff files, and then processed with Helicon Focus. Even though the lens was set at f/22, the actual focus plane was very narrow and thus needing several focus distances for Helicon Focus.

Pink Flower Macro and Helicon Focus Study. Image taken with a Nikon D3x, 200 mm f/4 macro lens, and SB-200R flash (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/22, 1/60 sec). Composite of 10 focus layers combined using Helicon Focus. (David J Mathre)
Pink Flower Macro and Helicon Focus Study. Image taken with a Nikon D3x, 200 mm f/4 macro lens, and SB-200R flash (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/22, 1/60 sec). Composite of 10 focus layers combined using Helicon Focus. (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (20-April-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Can You Identify this Shrub with Pink Flowers? I have been told that this is a Mountain Laurel, however when I search the web the flowers do not seem to be the same. It blooms in early spring, and the deer also avoid it. If you know what it is, please let me know. I need to get a better image with a macro lens.

Pink Flowers. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)
Pink Flowers. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec).

 

Tuesday (19-April-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

First Dandelion of Spring. I noticed this spot of yellow in my driveway when getting home. An early dandelion — I’m sure many more will show up in the backyard soon. The local deer avoid eating dandelions and daffodils, but eat most any other spring flowers.

First Dandelion of Spring. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
First Dandelion of Spring. Image taken with a Leica X1  Camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec).

One-Year Ago (18-April-2010) — California

Gone to See America 2010. Big Sur Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant. Day 4: California Central Coast.

My Taxes Have Been Filed. Now the crabs can come out from hiding, and I can start working on my images again! Image taken one year ago while on a Photography Workshop in Big Sur on the Central Coast of California.

Crabs in Big Sur, Central Coast California. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec) (David J Mathre)
Crabs in Big Sur, Central Coast California. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec)