Gone to See America October 2008 Road Trip. Eighth Annual Nikonian Photography Adventure Trip. Day 2: Bodie State Historic Park.
After breakfast at the Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining, our van went to Bodie State Historic Park. This is a Gold Mining Ghost Town. California maintains the park in a state of arrested decay. It is a favorite location for photographers, and a site for filming movies. The van from the group that visited the day before had issues with one of the park rangers, so we departed before closing time (17:00) — even though the sun hadn’t set.
School Marm’s Hat. Bodie State Park in California. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/4, 1/320). (David J Mathre)Bodie Panorama. Composite of twenty images taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens. (David J Mathre)
Individual images from the slideshows can be viewed here.
I was working on my computer and noticed something large crawling up a window trying to get in the house. I quickly realized that it was a large green Praying Mantis. It walked right by a Stink Bug — turning up its nose. That’s too bad, as the Stink Bugs are making a major effort to get into the house before it gets much colder outside.
Praying Mantis trying to get in the house. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 800, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Praying Mantis set free on my Garden Tower. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 320, 80 mm, f/11, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Gone to See America 2013. On the Road: Green River to Sedona.
Early DIY Car Cam time-lapse video. Driving from Green River to Sedona. Eight hours travel time compressed to two minutes 44 seconds. Images captured with a Nikon One V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens mounted on a tripod sitting in my passenger seat. The 3934 images were processed with Photoshop CC and exported into a 720p 24p time-lapse video. Fast-forward to today, and I am about to mount a Garmin VIRB camera on my dashboard so I can do 360 degree time-lapse videos on future road trips.
Gone to See America October 2008 Road Trip. Eighth Annual Nikonian Photography Adventure Trip. Day 1: Yosemite National Park.
Sunset Panorama of Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View. There were many photographers (in addition to the Nikonian group) lined up at the Tunnel View parking lot to photograph sunset. Many left thinking nothing was going to happen, then all of a sudden sunlight came in from the west under the clouds to light up both sides of the valley with this incredible orange color.
Sunset Panorama from the Tunnel View Observation Point. Composite of 5 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens. Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite created using AutoPano Giga. (David J Mathre)
Best viewed in full screen mode — double-click on the image.
Gone to See America October 2008 Road Trip. Eighth Annual Nikonian Photography Adventure Trip. Day 1: Yosemite National Park.
Reflections on the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. Images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/16, 1/30, 1/50, 1/80, 1/125, 1/200 sec). For many years I would take an exposure bracketed series of an image. For example with three images (-1 EV, 0 EV, +1 EV) or with five images (-1 1/3 EV, -2/3 EV, 0 EV, +2/3 EV, +1 1/3 EV). Then either pick the best exposure, or use a post processing program to combine two or more of the images to get a high-dynamic range (HDR) image. This allows more detail by recovering data from dark underexposed areas or blown-out overexposed areas in the image. This was especially important when dealing with digital images with 8-bits of dynamic range (i.e. jpg). The sensors in modern digital cameras are able to record images with 12 or 14 bit of dynamic range. This allows programs such as Capture One Pro to pull out more data from a single image to simulate a HDR image without needing to combine data from multiple images.
Above images processed with Capture One Pro (Built in Style, Legacy, Landscape, Landscape Color 2)
Reflections on the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/16, 1/80 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro (Built in Style, Legacy, Landscape, Landscape Color-2). (David J Mathre)
Best image with further adjustments using the High Dynamic Range Highlight and Shadow sliders
