One-Year Ago (04-November-2016) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey: Red Leaves, Moon, and Star Trails.

Bright red autumn colors with some bokeh at sunrise. Japanese Maple leaves before they drop. Tree was almost killed by wild grape and poison ivy vines a few years ago, but since they were removed the tree has recovered. Image taken with a Nikon DF camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec).

This was one of the first shots with my repaired Nikon DF camera. The shutter buckled when I was in Antarctica with less than 100K images. Unfortunately, the camera was out of warranty so I didn’t send it in for repair for a long time.

Bright red Japanese Maple leaves. Autumn backyard nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon DF camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bright red Japanese Maple leaves. Autumn backyard nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon DF camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Composite of the waxing crescent moon (~20%). Images taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC.


Night sky with jet and star trails. Composite of 120 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (scripts/statistics/maximum).

Night sky and star trails looking south. Composite of 120 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec) (David J Mathre)
Night sky and star trails looking south. Composite of 120 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec) (David J Mathre)

Two-Years Ago (04-November-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Star Trails.

View looking south. Night and early morning star and jet trails. Two Very Faint Meteor Trails. Composite of 193 images taken with a Nikon D810A camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E camera (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Lightroom (to convert the RAW image to TIF) and Photoshop CC.

Star and jet trails. Southern view from my backyard. Composite of 193 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star and jet trails. Southern view from my backyard. Composite of 193 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)