I saw this Praying Mantis climbing a weed off my back deck. I initially tried to get some images with the camera & telephoto lens at hand, but the minimum focus distance for the 600 mm f/4 VR lens is ~ 17 feet. I switched to a 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens, with a minimum focus distance of 7 feet. When viewed close up, the Praying Mantis looks deadly. There was a black fly that kept landing on the back of the Praying Mantis. I guess the fly knew where the safe zone is. Ultimately, I think the Praying Mantis got tired of me, and moved further into the shrubs.
Fly Riding a Brown Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/6.3, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)Fly Riding a Brown Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/6.3, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)Brown Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/6.3, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)Brown Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)Brown Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)Brown Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Doe Portrait Session. When I got home from work, I noticed a couple of young deer in the backyard. I quickly went in and picked up the camera with the 600 mm telephoto lens that I used last night for the moon. I didn’t have time to set up a tripod or find the monopod, so these images are hand-held. One does not hand-hold this lens for very long. I forgot that the TC-E III 20 teleconverter was still on the camera, so 1200 mm.
Doe Portrait Session. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverer (ISO 1000, 1200 mm, f/8, 1/160 sec). (David J Mathre)Doe Portrait Session. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverer (ISO 560, 1200 mm, f/8, 1/160 sec). (David J Mathre)
Indoor Crane Fly. A macro image of a Crane Fly. It looks like an over sized mosquito, but does not bite. It has a hard time flying, and its legs seem to be double jointed. This Crane Fly is missing its right front leg. The green compound eyes are interesting. I guess that this one got in while I was trying to do some night sky photography. The sky has actually been clear for two days straight. For this Crane Fly image, I used my Nikon D300 camera since the other camera bodies were outside for the night sky project.
Indoor Crane Fly. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 60 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec) with SB-900 flash. (David J Mathre)
With a clear sky, and bright waxing gibbous moon I experimented ways to acquire sharp images of the moon through a 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens. The lens is mounted on a tripod with a Wimberley gimble tripod head. VR is turned off, and the camera set for “mirror up” mode. I used a remote release, and let the system stabilize for 30 seconds (time-out for mirror up) before the shutter would be triggered. The first five images are #1 (f/16, 1/50 sec); #2 (f/11, 1/100 sec); #3 (f/8, 1/200 sec); #4 (f/5.6, 1/400 sec); and #5 (f/4, 1/800 sec). I think the best was #4 (f/5.6, 1/400 sec), although all were pretty good. The next two images used a TC-E III 20 teleconverter for an effective focal length of 1200 mm #6 (f/16, 1/50 sec); #7 (f/11, 1/100 sec). Here I think #7 (f/11, 1/100 sec) is best. With the additional magnification, a faster shutter speed is needed to counteract the motion of the moon.
I also made several DSLR videos of the moon, since I was using my Nikon D3s camera body. When I reviewed the videos, I saw that I had captured at least two satellite transits in front of the moon. These transits are less than 1 second long. Subject for another post.
Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/16, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/11, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter. (ISO 200, 1200 mm, f/16, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)Waxing Gibbous Moon (75%). Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter. (ISO 200, 1200 mm, f/11, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.
Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Convergence. Yesterday I was thinking, weather permitting that I should go the nearby Sourland Mountain Preserve to see if I could photograph any late season Monarch butterflies. For the last several years I have seen the last group of Monarch butterflies before they fly south to Mexico the last week of September (+/- 2 weeks). Also yesterday, I was noticing some issues with access to my photo blog (speed to load, and searching results). I woke up very early, and access to the photo blog appeared be working. While checking Google+ I saw a reminder from Scott Kelby about his 2011 Worldwide Photo Walk’s this weekend. When I checked online, I saw that one of the Worldwide Photo Walks (led by Frank Veronsky) would be at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. I signed up (it was 4 AM, and raining). When I woke up again at 8 AM it had stopped raining but still cloudy. I got to there early to scout out if there were any thistle blooms left. Unfortunately, all of the thistles were brown and there were only a few yellow wildflowers. The trails were also very muddy from all of the rain we have been having for the last 2 months. I actually went home at this point to switch to a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4 lens since I knew it would be relatively dark on the trails. I got back in time to meet up with the Worldwide Photo Walk group at the Sourland Mountain Preserve parking lot and started up on the trails a little after 10 AM. The following images are of some of the woodland forest trails in the Preserve. By the end of the Photo Walk, I only saw one Monarch butterfly, and it didn’t stay still long enough for me to get an image.
Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 450, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 280, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 320, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s cameraand 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 800, 50 mm, f/8, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre)Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 320, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
