Summertime Nature in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.
The Sourland Mountain Preserve/Reserve is a local park in Somerset New Jersey. It is near where I live, so I often get to take photowalks to capture what is in season. I haven’t visited recently due to work and all of the rain we have been getting. Based on previous years, this should be a good time for butterflies and dragonflies. I had a chance to to a quick visit on the way home. I took the Nikon D700 camera and 28-300 mm VR that I often have with me in the car. In a little over 1 hour I was able to get images of Yellow and Black Swallowtail Butterflies, Hummingbird Clearwing Moths, a Praying Mantis eating a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth, A carnivorous insect (later identified as a Robber-Fly) that looks like a Dragonfly, but only has one pair of wings, and an orange Caterpillar. This is definitely a good time to visit, and I plan to return tomorrow with a macro lens and bigger telephoto lens.
I need to thank Hans for fixing the photoblog/website after the problems encountered after the security update. There are still some minor issues, but for the most part it appear that everything is working other than thumbnail images for new posts. If you notice any additional problems, let me know.
The other good thing today is that the Drobo Disk array that I ordered last Sunday arrived. I do wish that the Drobo folks had giving me a heads up on the shipping and expected delivery time (standard practice for Amazon, B&H, and most other online retailers). I was lucky to be home to sign for the delivery. The FedEx guy must have wondered why I was sweating so much, since I just got back from the Sourland Mountain Preserve. The delivery was JIT since I am running out of hard disk storage space. I have been using a combination of Western Digital 1 and 2 TB MyBook storage devices, but have run out of USB and FireWire connections to my computer. The Drobo 800i was easy to set up (with eight 2 TB Western Digital drives) format, and connect to my computer. I am now in the process of transferring the images from my previous storage drives to the Drobo disk array. This will probably take a few days. Once done, I’ll use the previous storage devices as additional off-site backup storage. Until this is complete and I have a chance to update my LightRoom database to the new image locations, I may be a bit slow with new posts.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly on Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly on Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Butterfly on Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Black Swallowtail Butterfly on Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Hummingbird Clearwing Moth on Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Hummingbird Clearwing Moth on Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Hummingbird Clearwing Moth on Thistle Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Praying Mantis Eating Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Robber-Fly This insect only has one pair of wings. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Robber-Fly Eating Black Wasp. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Insect in a Queen Anne’s Lace Flower Image taken with a Nikon D700 + 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/2500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Gone to See America August 2010 Road Trip. Day 10: Great Basin National Park, Nevada.
Zombie Sunflower Farmer. On the highway just outside of Great Basin National Park.
Zombie Sunflower Farmer. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 220 mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec)Zombie Sunflower Farmer. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 45 mm f/2.8 PC-E lens (ISO 100, 45 mm, f/2.8, 1/2000 sec)Zombie Sunflower Farmer. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec)Zombie Sunflower Farmer. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 45 mm f/2.8 PC-E lens (ISO 100, 45 mm, f/2.8, 1/4000 sec)
Gone to See America August 2010 Road Trip. Day 5: Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant.
Red Canyon Petroglyphs. HDR Examples (HDR Express, Photomatix Pro, NIK HDR Efex, Photoshop CS5 HDR). A year ago, I attended the Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop led by Michael Mariant. I knew I was going to be late traveling from work in South San Francisco. Michael gave me the GPS coordinates to meet at the Red Canyon Petroglyphs. The following is an image of the petroglypths processed with Capture One Pro, Topaz, Nik Color Efex Pro, and Photoshop CS5. This is followed by a series comparing different HDR programs (HDR , Photomatix Pro, Nik HDR Efex Pro, Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro)
Let me know which if any HDR images you like or don’t like.
Red Canyon Petroglyphs. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec). Raw image processed using Capture One Pro 6, Topaz Detail 2 (color jump), Nik Color Efex Pro, Nik Define 2, Photoshop CS5Red Canyon Petroglyphs. HDR Composite of 7 images taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, various). HDR Processed using HDR ExpressRed Canyon Petroglyphs. HDR Composite of 7 images taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, various). HDR Processed using Photomatix Pro (tonal contrast)Red Canyon Petroglyphs. HDR Composite of 7 images taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, various). HDR Processed using Photomatix Pro (tonal contrast strong)Red Canyon Petroglyphs. HDR Composite of 7 images taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, various). HDR Processed using NIK HDR Efex ProRed Canyon Petroglyphs. HDR Composite of 7 images taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, various). HDR Processed using Photoshop CS5 (photorealistic)
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Previous Images from this Day in the Past:
Red Canyon Petroglyphs. Nikonians Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop — Day 1 (05-August-2010).
The Photographic Art Society of Florida. “Black & White and One Color” Exhibition.
I just got word that a print of my image “Girl with Yellow Pants Running” won First Place at the The Photographic Art Society of Florida exhibition last night. The theme of the show was “Black & White and One Color”. I took this image while on the second Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop (UTPW-II) earlier this spring while returning by bus from a field trip to the Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala (02-May-2011) in the town of San Francisco de Sales. The image was processed with Capture One Pro 6 using the inverse color selection tool to select the yellow color of the pants and notebook and decreasing the saturation of all other colors to black and white. Other processing was performed with Nik Viveza, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. I thank my sister Kari Sheppard for persevering while printing the image for the exhibition since it kept coming out too dark.
Girl with Yellow Pants Running into Building with UNE Party Sign in San Francisco de Sales. Pacaya Volcano National Park. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 280, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Viveza 2, Nik Define 2 and Photoshop CS5.
I got up early this morning to drive to the High Point monument in northern New Jersey. It was raining when I left, but I hoped that it would clear up by the time I got there. Just the opposite — heavy rain when I got there. Furthermore, the front gate was still locked. I gave up and drove back the long route along the Delaware River. Because of the rain there was very little traffic. I’ve used up most of my vacation this year between the Patagonia workshop with Thom Hogan and the Central America & Panama Canal Enrichment Voyage – Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. As such, I know that I am not going to be able to do a cross-country road trip this year so it was good to get a long drive in this holiday weekend.
When I got home there was a lull in the rain and I saw that the wild raspberries were starting to ripen. In order to get an image of a cluster of the berries in focus with everything else out of focus I took a series of images using a focus rail to adjust the camera to subject distance over a 3 cm distance with a macro lens. I then used Helicon Focus to make a composite image from the 20 images. The first image is the result. The next three images are the first (front focus), mid (middle focus), and last (back focus) images. Even though there was some (not much) movement due to wind, Helicon Focus did a great job adjusting the images so all of the composite images were correctly registered.
Wild Raspberry Cluster. Early Summer Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 100, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) with SB900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. Helicon Focus composite of 20 images.Wild Raspberry Cluster. Early Summer Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 100, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) with SB900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.Wild Raspberry Cluster. Early Summer Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 100, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) with SB900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.Wild Raspberry Cluster. Early Summer Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 100, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) with SB900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5.
