Young Buck by Moonlight. While out shooting the moon, I noticed a dark shadow about 50 feet out from my deck. I pointed my LED headlamp a saw a couple of yellow eyes reflecting back — probably a deer. I put my 200 mm f/2 lens on the D3s to see if this camera really can “see in the dark”. The following images may look like they were taken during the day, it was actually after 10 PM. The only light source was moonlight. The images are shown without and then with noise reduction (Topaz DeNoise 5).
Young Buck Moonlighting. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 1600, 200 mm, f/2.8, 8 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. No Noise ReductionYoung Buck Moonlighting. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 1600, 200 mm, f/2.8, 8 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5, Topaz DeNoise 5.Young Buck Moonlighting. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 3200, 200 mm, f/2.8, 2 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. No Noise ReductionYoung Buck Moonlighting. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 3200, 200 mm, f/2.8, 2 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. Topaz DeNoise 5Young Buck Moonlighting. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 25600, 200 mm, f/2, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. No Noise ReductionYoung Buck Moonlighting. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 25600, 200 mm, f/2, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5, Topaz DeNoise 5.Young Buck Moonlighting. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 102400, 200 mm, f/4, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. No Noise ReductionYoung Buck Moonlighting. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 102400, 200 mm, f/4, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. Topaz DeNoise 5.
Backyard Summertime Night Sky in New Jersey. Star, Jet, and Firefly Trails.
A composite of 897 images looking south taken after midnight. I used the Startrails program for creating the composite.
Star, Jet, and Firefly Trails. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 14 mm f/2.8D lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/4, 8 sec). Composite of 980 images combined using the Startrails program.
Second day attempts for a DSLR video of the moon continued to be problematic. It appears that the camera is controlling the exposure and not allowing manual selection of aperture, shutter speed, or ISO. The only way I could get an exposure that was not way over exposed was to add a TC-E III 20 teleconverter (effective 1000 mm).
To confirm that there was not a problem with the camera or lens I took this following single image of the waxing gibbous moon with the same setup (Nikon D3s and 500 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 800, 1000 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec))
Waxing Gibbous Moon (85%). Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 500 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 800, 1000 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5
Summer Backyard Nighttime Sky in New Jersey. Star, Moon, Jet, and Firefly Trails.
A composite of 980 images looking south taken before midnight. I used the Startrails program for creating the composite.
I had actually gone out to see what type of video I could take of the moon using the D3s camera and a telephoto lens. The moon phase (according to the US Naval Observatory site) is waxing gibbous (76% illuminated). I started by shooting some single images and found that ISO 200, 500 mm, f/8, 1/50 second should be about right. Even though I had the camera set to shoot in manual mode, all of the images of the moon were way over exposed. It didn’t appear that I had manual control while taking the video. I made sure that the ISO setting was fixed (not Auto), that Active D-Lighting was off, and that the white balance was fixed (4000 K). I need to try this again!
Star, Moon, Jet, and Firefly Trails. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 14 mm f/2.8D lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/4, 8 sec). Composite of 980 images combined using the Startrails program.
Stink Bug. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR Macro + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 100, 210 mm, f/6.7, 1/60 sec) with SB-900 Flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS5.
It was a bit foggy this morning after all of the rain and thunderstorms yesterday. I saw this lone rower on the Delaware river out early between Lambertville, New Jersey and New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Rower in the mist. Delaware River between Lambertville and New Hope. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 100, 210 mm, f/9, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.
