Month: June 2011

Monday (27-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey.

While sitting on my deck this evening, I captured images of some Grey Catbirds. Although the birds are pretty drab, they are good for practicing good long-lens technique. I used a Nikon D300 camera. The smaller DX sensor gives the illusion of 1.5x magnification for the 600 mm lens. I can get the same effect by using the D3x camera and cropping to the same size. Down side for the D300 camera is that the sensor is not as good in low light, and that the processing speed and buffer is not as fast as the D3 series camera bodies.

I also saw a Ruby Hummingbird, however it was too close to focus with the lens I was using. There is nothing much in bloom right now, so I might get a hummingbird feeder to see if I can get some local hummingbird images.

Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.
Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 250, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 250, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.
Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

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Monday (27-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey.

As this doe was eating clover, she was being eaten by a swarm of flies. She didn’t have her fawn along this evening.

Doe Covered with Flies Eating Clover. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 500 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Doe Covered with Flies Eating Clover. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 500 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik, and Photoshop CS5.

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Sunday (26-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey.

Another composite image of fireflies in my backyard. This time with a telephoto lens at f/13 to try to get a deeper depth of field effect. As before, the  camera was set up to take 25 second images, and the resultant 110 images combined using the Startrails program.

Backyard Fireflies. Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 2500, 600 mm, f/13, 25 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro, Startrails (used to stack 110 images), and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Fireflies. Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 2500, 600 mm, f/13, 25 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro, Startrails (used to stack 110 images), and Photoshop CS5.

Saturday (25-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Moth or Butterfly?

I saw this insect while sitting out on the deck this evening. It landed at just beyond the minimum focus distance of the lens. Two images with slightly different depth of field (f/4, 1/125 sec) and (f/5.6, 1/60 sec). Both shot “mirror up” with 30 sec delay to allow the lens to stabilize.

Moth or Butterfly? Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Moth or Butterfly? Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5.
Moth or Butterfly? Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Moth or Butterfly? Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5.

Saturday (25-June-2011) — New Jersey

Early Summer Nature in New Jersey.

Two views of a local farmer’s wheat field this morning. The sun was just coming out from behind some low clouds and there was still a bit of mist.

Wheat Field at Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Wheat Field at Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5.
Wheat Field at Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Wheat Field at Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5.