Month: February 2019

Five-Years Ago (12-February-2014) — Florida

Gone to See America. February 2014 Florida Road Trip. Day 12: Big Cypress National Preserve.

Foggy Morning along the Loop Road in Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve.

Crow Waiting For the Sun at Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve in Florida. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 100, 160 mm, f/8, 1/20 sec). (David J Mathre)
Crow Waiting For the Sun at Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve in Florida. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 100, 160 mm, f/8, 1/20 sec). (David J Mathre)
Big Cypress Swamp at Dawn. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/8, 25 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 7. (David J Mathre)
Big Cypress Swamp at Dawn. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/8, 25 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 7. (David J Mathre)
Dew Covered Spider Web at Sunrise. Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve in Florida. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Dew Covered Spider Web at Sunrise. Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve in Florida. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Dew Covered Spider Web at Sunrise. Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve in Florida. Composite of 3 Images taken with a Nikon Df camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 100, 140 mm, f/8, 1/50, 1/13, 1/3 sec). Raw image processed with Google HDR Efex Pro. (David J Mathre)
Dew Covered Spider Web at Sunrise. Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve in Florida. Composite of 3 Images taken with a Nikon Df camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 100, 140 mm, f/8, 1/50, 1/13, 1/3 sec). Raw image processed with Google HDR Efex Pro. (David J Mathre)

Monday (11-February-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Other than some tiny birds that can get into this bird feeder, the Red-bellied Woodpecker has a long enough beak to reach the sunflower seeds. It then has to take the sunflower seed to a tree to break it open. I seems that only the Cardinals and Finches can open sunflower seeds directly in their beak.


Individual images in the slide show can be viewed here.

Five-Years Ago (11-February-2014) — Florida

Gone to See America 2014 Road Trip. Day 11: Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve.

Pair of Queen Butterflies on a wildflower along the Loop Road. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec).

Pair of Queen Butterflies on a Wildflower. Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve in Florida. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Pair of Queen Butterflies on a Wildflower. Big Cypress Swamp National Preserve in Florida. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Six-Years Ago (11-February-2013) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2013. Chasing the Northern Lights. Day 14: Tromsø.

Wintertime walkabout in Tromsø, Norway. Random sights, ships and graffiti. Most in B&W. Images taken with a Leica X2 camera.

Roald Amundsen statue in Tromsø, Norway. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro (including conversion to B&W). (David J Mathre)
Roald Amundsen statue in Tromsø, Norway. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro (including conversion to B&W). (David J Mathre)
Lonely snow covered bench in Tromsø, Norway. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Lonely snow covered bench in Tromsø, Norway. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)



Individual images in the slide shows can be viewed here.

Six-Years Ago (11-February-2013) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2013. Chasing the Northern Lights. Day 14: Tromsø.

As the wormhole began to open clouds appeared, reducing the intensity of the burning green rays. This provided some cover and protection for earthlings below….

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Northern Lights in Tromvik, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 1000, 16 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec). (David J Mathre)

After leaving the two French Photographers at the Ferry to take them to Finnsnes, I decided to spend the next three nights outside of Tromsø to maximize my chance of viewing and photographing the Northern Lights. There were at least 20 vendors offering trips in Tromsø specifically to view Northern Lights. The most famous one is booked a year in advance (after being featured on a BBC TV program for finding a place to view the Northern Lights when the BBC film crew all but struck out). I eliminated the big tour bus, dinner boat, and dog sled northern light tours, and selected 3 based on recommendations at the Tromsø tourist information center. I am glad that I stopped at the tourist information center when the northbound Hurtigruten voyage stopped in Tromsø as the tours do get booked and fill up in advance. They all claim to find somewhere that is clear with a good chance of seeing northern lights – whether it is along the coast, up a mountain, or all the way to Sweden or Finland. One even tells you to bring your passport along if they do cross the border.

The first trip was “Aurora Photo Tour with Professional Photographer” from Creative Vacations, led by Vidar Dons Lindrupsen. He picked a group of seven up in front of the Blu Radisson Hotel and brought us to his house. There we had a workshop on the basics for successfully capturing Aurora images with a digital camera. Vidar is fluent in several languages. Our group included folks from France, Germany, Brazil, Spain plus myself from the United States. For those that needed, he provided tripods and warm arctic outerwear as we were about to spend the next several hours outdoors photographing the Northern Lights. We stopped at several locations and I got some great images These were some of the best northern light displays that I had ever seen, but probably average for folks that live in this region. When the clouds started to come in and we only were getting diffuse images through the clouds, Vidar served some hot lentil soup — very welcome after standing for several hours in the cold.

First stop was to Ersfjord, Kvaløya (Whale Island). I used a Nikon D800 camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens. Other than some yellow (sodium) lights from a small village, the sky was very dark. Slide show, star trails, and a time-lapse video. We moved a bit and the band of green crossed the sky. I needed to switch to a wider angle lens — 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye. From the same location I also tried using the Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens to see how Northern Lights would be captured with a smaller digital sensor. The images were rather noisy and needed extra processing with Topaz Define 2. Switched back to the Nikon D800 camera with the 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens in portrait mode


alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Star Trails and Northern Lights. Chasing the Northern Lights. Ersfjord, Kvaløya (Whale Island). Composite of 148 images taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/1.4, 8 sec). (David J Mathre)



alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Star Trails. Chasing the Northern Lights. Ersfjord, Kvaløya (Whale Island). Composite of 23 images taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 1600, 16 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec). (David J Mathre)