Astronomy - David Mathre Photography

Friday (29-April-2011) — Mexico

Gone to See Central America and the Panama Canal. Semester at Sea Spring 2011 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. Day 3: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

A series of 12 telephoto images of a fisherman with the sun rising. The images were taken from deck 7 of the Semester at Sea MV Explorer while anchored off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized -1.33 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized -1.33 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5.

Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized -0.67 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized -0.67 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5.

Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized -0.33 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized -0.33 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5.

Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized +0.33 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized +0.33 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5.

Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized +0.00 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized +0.00 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5.

Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized +0.67 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Fisherman at Sunrise while at Anchor off Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, (levels normalized +0.67 EV for exposure, cropped), Nik Define 2 (noise reduction), and converted to web with Photoshop CS5.

Thursday (28-April-2011) — At Sea

Gone to See Central America and the Panama Canal. Semester at Sea Spring 2011 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. Day 2: At Sea.

We were out on deck early to catch the sunrise. There was a bit of confusion about what time sunrise would be since the ship changed to Central Mexican time zone overnight. Was the sun going to rise at 05:07 hr or 07:07 hr. It turned out to be 07:07 hr, which makes sense since we are on the west side of the time zone. We then spent the day in class: “Welcome Orientation & Workshop Introduction”, and “Components to Travel Photography” taught by Michael Mariant. We are scheduled to arrive in Cabo San Lucas tomorrow morning. At the end of the day a fog bank came in just before the sun set.

Sunrise over Isla Cedros Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sunrise over Isla Cedros Mexico. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec).

Pacific Sunset in Fog off the Mexican Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre) — Pacific Sunset in Fog off the Mexican Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec).

[Posts will be limited while on the M/V Explorer due to narrow internet bandwidth.]

Wednesday (27-April-2011) — California, Mexico, and At Sea

Gone to See Central America and the Panama Canal. Semester at Sea Spring 2011 Enrichment Voyage. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. Day 1: Depart San Diego; Travel to Ensenada, Mexico; Embarkation on the MV Explorer.

HDR composite of images of Sunrise over San Diego taken from my hotel room. Three images were taken with a Leica X1 camera (+2, 0, -2 EV) just as the sun started to show above the mountains to the east. The first image was processed with HDR Express, using its Artistic default. The second image was processed with Photomatix Pro using the Compressor Deep settings.

We left San Diego at about 11:00 by bus for Ensenada, Mexico. Once we arrived at the cruise line port we embarked on the MV Explorer to begin the Spring Enrichment Voyage to Central America and Panama Canal. It was good to see many friends from the Caribbean Enrichment Voyage and Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop I (UTPW-I) on board the ship.

After the ship departed Ensenada for Cabo San Lucas there was a small green flash at sunset. The image was taken with a Leica V-Lux 20 camera (200 mm equiv). This is a good omen for the Voyage!!!

San Diego Sunrise. Composite HDR Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/11, 1/13 sec +/- 2EV). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, HDR Express (Artistic), Topaz Denoise, and converted to jpg with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

San Diego Sunrise. Composite HDR Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/11, 1/13 sec +/- 2EV). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Photomatix (Compressor Deep), and converted to jpg with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

M/V Explorer Upper Mast. Image taken with a Leica X1 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4.5, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)

Green Flash at Sunset over the Pacific Ocean off Mexico. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 20 camera (ISO 80, 49.2 mm, f/6.3, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)

[Posts will be limited while on the M/V Explorer due to narrow internet bandwidth.]

Three-Years Ago (25-February-2008) — Colorado

Elderhostel “Photography in the Southwest” Workshop Day 1. Star Trails.

The following image is a composite of five 30 minute night sky exposures taken during a Elderhostel/Road Scholar photography workshop at Kelly Place outside of Cortez, Colorado in 2008. It was really dark other than the Christmas lights at the main building, and you could see a lot of stars in the sky. I moved the tripod as far away from the lights as possible and decided to do this series with a fisheye lens that would give a 180° field of view. The five images were combined using Startrails. This program is old (only works with jpg or 8-bit tif files) but works better than when I try to merge the images as layers in Photoshop.

Winter night sky looking north at Kelley's Place near Cortez, Colorado. Composite of four images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 30 min). (David J Mathre) — Winter night sky looking north at Kelley’s Place near Cortez, Colorado. Composite of four images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 30 min). (David J Mathre)

Individual images in this slide show can be viewed here.

Sunday (02-January-2011) — Argentina

Gone to See Patagonia 2010/2011. Photography Workshop with Thom Hogan. Day 7: Hosteria El Pilar, Southern Hemisphere Night Sky, Fitzroy Massif at Sunrise and Sunset, and Chorrilla del Salto Waterfall.

Since everyone was tired from the long hike yesterday, we decided to take day 7 as a relatively light day to rest. This gave me the opportunity to do some early morning night sky imaging. This was good in that the weather forecast was for us to start seeing more clouds. I went out at about 03:00, knowing that it would start getting light sometime after 04:00. The further south we go, the shorter the nights!

As the sun started coming up, I got more images of Fitzroy from within walking distance of the Hosteria. After a leisurely lunch at El Pilar, we went into town and on the way back stopped at the Chorrilla del Salto waterfall for some photographic instruction. A lot of the local residence were using the waterfall to cool down on a hot summer Sunday afternoon.

While eating dinner at the Hosteria with a view of Fitzroy we observed a beautiful display of pastel colored clouds. Everyone stopped eating before the dessert could be served and ran to get a camera (if they didn’t have one with them). The view was magical.

Southern Hemisphere Milky Way. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 50 mm f/1.4 G lens (ISO 100, f/4, 50 sec) (David J Mathre) — Southern Hemisphere Milky Way. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 50 mm f/1.4 G lens (ISO 100, f/4, 50 sec) (David J Mathre)

Reflection of Fitzroy in the Morning with a Horse. Hosteria El Pilar in El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 400, 50 mm, f/2.8, 1/25 sec). Patagonia workshop with Thom Hogan, Day 7. (David J Mathre) — Reflection of Fitzroy in the Morning with a Horse. Hosteria El Pilar in El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 400, 50 mm, f/2.8, 1/25 sec). Patagonia workshop with Thom Hogan, Day 7. (David J Mathre)

Colorful Caravan under Lenticular Clouds in El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Leica D-Lux 5 camera (ISO 80, 8 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Chorrilla del Salto Waterfall near El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 87 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)

Silhouette of Mount Fitz Roy in Patagonia at Dusk with Glowing Orange Clouds from Hosteria El Pilar in El Chalten, Argentina. Image taken with a Leica D-Lux 5 camera (ISO 80, 19.2 mm, f/5.6, 1100/sec) (David J Mathre)