Day: August 24, 2018

Friday (24-August-2018) — New Jersey

Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

Composite of nearly full moon images. Rather than an in-camera composite image (as I have done in the past), these were created during post processing (Photoshop CC Pro, statistics, maximum). I set a Nikon D5 camera up with a 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens to take images every 1 second. I was hoping to catch a jet pass in front of the moon, as I had seen the previous night — but no joy. When I get some time I will make a time-lapse video of the moon crossing the screen.

Seven Moons. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Seven Moons. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR telephoto lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


Three-Years Ago (24-August-2015) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth on a Thistle Bloom at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 300 mm f/4 VR lens. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth feeding on on Thistle flowers. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth feeding on on Thistle flowers. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (23-August-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

For the first time since I returned from Germany, the sky was predicted to be clear overnight.  I have been wanting to try the 8-15 mm fisheye lens (that I borrowed from my brother) for doing some star trail images, and night sky time-lapse videos. I did have an issue with condensation on the very wide lens in the early morning hours. I have had the condensation problem on other wide lenses (14 mm, 14-24 mm) in the past, and may need to fashion a small tape heater on the lens.


Star trails over New Jersey. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens (ISO 100, 8 mm, f/4, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.