Gone to See America October 2008 Road Trip. Eighth Annual Nikonian Photography Adventure Trip. Day 6: Yosemite National Park.
Time-Lapsed Video: Morning at Taft Point.
On the last day of ANPAT 8, we got up before sunrise to get to Taft Point for a different view of Yosemite Valley. After a short drive to the parking area, then a hike to Taft Point I set up a camera with a wide-angle (24 mm) lens to record the photographer working Taft Point as the sun lit up the other side of Yosemite Valley. Later, I put on the tripod head-cam with a fisheye (16 mm) lens to record the hike from Taft Point back to the van. This was the same tripod head-cam set up that I used during Winston Hall’s workshop in Arches National Park record a time-lapse video of that hike 19-September-2008.
After nearly two months of rain, rain, and cloudy skies — we finally have been able to see the sun and very blue skies. At night, I’ve taken the opportunity to get night sky images, as well as lunar images through some of my exotic 300, 400, 500, and 600 mm lenses. One of the problems I was having for the overnight time-lapsed images was that the lens would get covered by condensation during the night and ruin the night sky images. ARRG! As the weekend progressed, the temperature rose and the relative humidity decreased. I finally got a full night image set with limited problems with condensation. The first time-lapse video and star trail was recorded with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens @ 14 mm. There was a bit of condensation that affected the end of the video from this lens. The second time-lapse video and star trail image was recorded with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens looking north from my deck.
Lessons learned: 1) I need to look into a resistive heater to keep the lenses warm enough to prevent condensation. 2) I didn’t know that the 14-24 mm lens would creep if pointed straight up — during one night the focal length changed from 14 to 18 mm. For the last night, I used Gaffer tape to fix the focal length of the lens at 14 mm. 3) My tripod/heads are not strong enough to prevent movement when I change batteries. Look into an external power supply and not batteries for long overnight image session.
Star Trails – Southern Sky View (19:30-0545). Composite of images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-28 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 119 sec exposures). (David J Mathre)Star Trails – Northern Sky View (19:30-0545). Composite of images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/4, 119 sec exposures). (David J Mathre)
I saw this flock of Turkey Vultures warming themselves in the early morning sun. The local Turkey Vulture population has increased over the past several years. I think their major food source is deer killed by automobiles.
Turkey Vultures Morning Sun Perch.Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/13, 1/640). (David J Mathre)Turkey Vultures Morning Sun Perch. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/13, 1/640). (David J Mathre)Turkey Vulture Morning Sun Perch. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/4.5, 1/320). (David J Mathre)Turkey Vulture Soaring. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/4.5, 1/320). (David J Mathre)Turkey Vulture Soaring. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/4.5, 1/320). (David J Mathre)
Gone to See America October 2008 Road Trip. Eighth Annual Nikonian Photography Adventure Trip. Day 5: Yosemite National Park.
The Park Service recovered all of our belongings from the tent-cabins in Curry Village. We then checked into various Yosemite hotels and lodges (gratis). Much higher end lodging than the sparse tent-cabins. Before dinner, Michael Mariant as a special treat after all the weeks commotion took us for a walk along a quiet and peaceful section of the Merced river. The diffuse and sublime lighting made for some great images.
Early Early Morning Star Trails. With the continuing clear skies, I set up two cameras to record star trails early this morning. I started at 3:00 AM after the moon set. I was still worried about condensation on the lens. I pointed a Nikon D3 camera with a 16 mm f/2.8 fish-eye lens north, and a Nikon D3x camera with a 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens at 14 mm pointed south. I used some gaffer tape to prevent the focal length lens creep on the 14-24 mm lens that ruined a previous star trails session. The Nikon D3 camera stopped recording after 2 hours. After the fact, I realized that I used a EN-EL4 rather than the higher capacity EN-EL4A battery. The D3x camera with a EN-EL4A battery ran until I went out to get the cameras at sunrise. Unfortunately, condensation on the lens started distorting images after about 5 AM. Both the North and South facing Star Trails ended up about 60 images (2 hours). The really bright trail in both the Northern and Southern view is Jupiter.
North View Star Trails. Autumn Early Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 16 mm f/2.8 mm Fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/4, 1 min 59 sec). Composite of 56 images combined using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre)South View Star Trails. Autumn Early Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 mm lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/4, 1 min 59 sec). Composite of 60 images combined using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre)
