Category: Photo Techniques

Tuesday (12-June-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime  Night Sky in New Jersey.

The last few nights were not good for firefly viewing due to rain and cool temperatures. I took a chance with three cameras last night and it didn’t rain. The brown in the second image is where the “mile-a-minute” invasive vine is being eliminated.

Firefly Trails. Composite of 546 mages taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 1600, 200 mm, f/11, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum) (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 546 images taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 1600, 200 mm, f/11, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum) (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 615 mages taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 56 mm f/1.2 lens (ISO 3200, 56 mm, f/8, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum) (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 615 images taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 56 mm f/1.2 lens (ISO 3200, 56 mm, f/8, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum) (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 187 mages taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 58 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 58 mm, f/8, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum) (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 187 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 58 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 58 mm, f/8, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum) (David J Mathre)

Five-Years Ago (12-June-2013) — Germany

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 47: Kiel Canal, Germany.

I was part of a team of six photographers that took ~30,000 images as the MV Explorer (Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage) transits the Kiel Canal in Germany.Howard Ignatius used the images to create this time-lapse video of the passage through the canal.

Five-Years Ago (10-June-2013) — Baltic Sea

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 45: At Sea between Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Late night or early in the morning (hard to tell this far north when there isn’t much darkness at night) I looked out my cabin window on the MV Explorer and saw the electric blue Noctilucent clouds. I read about them before (http://www.spaceweather.com/), but had never seen them.  The clouds are ice crystals that are very high that you can only see for a short time when the sun is below the horizon. One theory is the crystals are nucleated when micro-meteors pass through the upper atmosphere. We were in the Baltic Sea traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen and the sun doesn’t set until very late I set up a camera in my cabin and started taking pictures.(Nikon D4 camera, 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 200 or 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec)). The composite images were generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum) the way I do generate star trails. I was impressed that you can see the star trails looking north, even though this is a composite of images taken on a moving ship at sea. The seas were pretty calm that night (early morning).

Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 99 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 99 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)


Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 33 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 33 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)


Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 27 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 27 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)


Saturday (09-June-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

The sky was cloudy, but the weather report said it wouldn’t rain until tomorrow. This time I set up four cameras to record the fire flies. Let me know which ones you like/dislike. It took a lot longer to process the images than the time I slept while the pictures were being taken.

Firefly Trails. Composite of 435 images taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 1600, 200 mm, f/11, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 435 images taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 1600, 200 mm, f/11, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 172 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 58 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 58 mm, f/8, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 172 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 58 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 58 mm, f/8, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 637 images taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 56 mm f/1.2 lens (ISO 3200, 56 mm, f/8, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 637 images taken with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 56 mm f/1.2 lens (ISO 3200, 56 mm, f/8, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 102 images taken with a Leica CL camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of 102 images taken with a Leica CL camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 35 mm, f/8, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)

Five-Years Ago (09-June-2013) — Baltic Sea

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 44: At Sea.

Silhouette of a sailboat transiting the solar disk at sunset from the deck of the MV Explorer. Crossing the Baltic Sea from Stockholm to Copenhagen.


Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.