Category: Landscape

Views of the land around the world

Saturday (25-June-2011) — New Jersey

Early Summer Nature in New Jersey.

Two views of a local farmer’s wheat field this morning. The sun was just coming out from behind some low clouds and there was still a bit of mist.

Wheat Field at Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Wheat Field at Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5.
Wheat Field at Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Wheat Field at Morning in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5.

Wednesday (22-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Early Summertime in New Jersey: Firefly Trails.

Yesterday was the first day of summer, and my backyard is full of fireflies. I set up a camera to take 25 second images, and then used the Startrails program to combine ~150 image (ISO 400) for the first image and then ~100 images (ISO 6400) for the second image. The D3s can see in the dark, and I didn’t take it all the way up to 100K ISO.

Backyard Fireflies. Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/2, 25 sec). Images processed with Lightroom 3, Startrails (used to stack 150 images), and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Fireflies. Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/2, 25 sec). Images processed with Lightroom 3, Startrails (used to stack 150 images), and Photoshop CS5.
Backyard Fireflies. Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 6400, 200 mm, f/2, 25 sec). Images processed with Lightroom 3, Startrails (used to stack 100 images), and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Fireflies. Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 6400, 200 mm, f/2, 25 sec). Images processed with Lightroom 3, Startrails (used to stack 100 images), and Photoshop CS5.

Thursday (16-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Night Sky in New Jersey.

While reviewing images from last night, I found one where I captured a firefly flashing. So far it is early in the firefly season and I hope to get more images before the season ends.

Late Spring Night Sky with Firefly in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, NIK Define 2, and Photoshop CS5 (David J Mathre)
Late Spring Night Sky with Firefly in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, NIK Define 2, and Photoshop CS5

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One-Year Ago (03-June-2010) — Trididad

Gone to See the Caribbean Islands. Semester at Sea Spring 2010 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant. Day 8: Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Morning view of off-shore oil platforms from the deck of the MV Explorer.

Morning View of Off-shore Oil Rigs. Port of Spain, Trinidad. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 135 mm, f/16, 1/1000 sec). Raw Image processed with DxO, Capture One 6 Pro, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5. (David J. Mathre)
Morning View of Off-shore Oil Rigs. Port of Spain, Trinidad. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 135 mm, f/16, 1/1000 sec). Raw Image processed with DxO, Capture One 6 Pro, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.

 

Tuesday (03-May-2011) — Guatemala

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 7: Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.

We had to get up early in order to depart for the Tarrales Bird Watching field trip at 05:30 AM. On the bus ride to Tarrales I got a grab shot of some school girls waiting for the bus to school. A good fraction of the folks on this tour were part of the Road Scholar contingent attending the Enrichment Voyage. As such the average age was higher, and we knew that we would not be hiking as far as we did yesterday to the volcano. Even though we left early, it wasn’t early enough for best bird viewing. Also, my 70-300 mm lens did not have the reach to get good images of the birds we did see. Our guide was good at finding the birds in the canopy. I only have one image of a midget owl, and it is a crop zoomed to 100%. It would have been a bit better if I took my D3x body with double the sensor size vs. the D3s body. I took the D3s because of the better low light capabilities coupled with the 70-300 f/5.6 limits. Jon got some better images with his 400 mm f/4 + TC.

After the Owl, I then switched to my 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens and focused on closer objects. In addition to close-up images of insects and flowers, the 105 mm lens is also great for people. The remainder of the following images are of a small girl in Tarrales, a local jail, a close up of a China Berry, and of a flower with a bee. Then images from the bus ride back to the M/V Explorer. A school girl, Guatemalla mass transit, a coconut vendor with his machete, limes at a produce stand, woman walking past a produce vendor, a cross-eyed guy next to a “Prohibido Estanciona” sign, woman vendor cutting coconut, her son, and several images from an open market produce vendor.


Individual images in the slide show can be viewed and/or purchased here.