Category: Photo Techniques

Two-Years Ago (03-November-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Star and Jet Trails.

Autumn early morning star and jet trails (and six meteor trails if you look closely) . Composite of 96 images taken with a Nikon D810A camera and a 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Lightroom (to convert to TIF format), Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC. The images were combined using Photoshop CC Scirpts/Statistics/Maximum. In the past I would have done this with startrails.exe, but now can do it directly within Photoshop CC with the RAW or TIF images, and not have to convert to a JPG image first. I kept the camera pointed low enough so the moon did not get into the image. The temperature got down to freezing, but the lens did not cloud over with dew or frost.

Star and jet trails. Southern view from my backyard. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star and jet trails. Southern view from my backyard. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)

Three-Years Ago (03-November-2014) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey: Deer and Vultures.

Pair of Bucks in My Backyard. Now that it is hunting season, they stay close to the house – and I don’t often see two bucks being peaceful during the rutting season.  The turkey vultures were also soaring looking for road killed deer. More deer are killed by automobiles than hunters.

Bucks in the afternoon sun. Outdoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1250, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bucks in the afternoon sun. Outdoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 1250, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey vulture soaring in the afternoon sun. Outdoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/3200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey vulture soaring in the afternoon sun. Outdoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/3200 sec). (David J Mathre)

Two-Years Ago (02-November-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky over New Jersey.

Time-lapse Video. The night sky looking south. Stars, clouds, and jet trails. Images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec).

One-Year Ago (24-October-2016)

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey

One of the backyard Nisse found a new mushroom. I don’t often see him out during the day. Composite of 24 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 60mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 60 mm, f/3, 1/640 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the image stack processed with Helicon Focus.

Backyard Nisse with a new autumn mushroom. Composite of 24 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 60mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 60 mm, f/3, 1/640 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the image stack processed with Helicon Focus. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Nisse with a new autumn mushroom. Composite of 24 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 60mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 60 mm, f/3, 1/640 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the image stack processed with Helicon Focus. (David J Mathre)

It was too windy to take wildflower pictures outside, and was about to freeze overnight. So I cut six of the remaining wildflowers (Coreopsis, Cosmos, and Black-eyed Susan) and took them inside to shoot. The images were taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. Slide show with 6 images.


 

The wildflower garden was successful last year, so I expanded it significantly this year. Some areas worked, others didn’t. The deer and rabbits nibbled at the edges, but left me enough to take a lot of pictures of the wildflowers. I needed to add an electric fence this year. I think my favorites have been the poppies where I tried many times to do time-lapsed videos of them opening in the morning. It will be interesting to see what comes back next spring. I also cleared two more large sections that will be seeded once the ground gets colder.

One-Year Ago (20-October-2016) — New Jersey

Home Renovation Project

Back side of the house undergoing renovation. The previous wood deck was removed, and the space is being converted to a stone patio. The roofing, back siding and French doors had been replaced. Solar panels had been installed on the roof, and at the time of this picture were awaiting inspection before being energized. Little Planet (360 degree) view of the project in progress. Also, a slide show of the 36 individual images that were used to produce the Little Planet view.

Little Planet View. Home renovation -- new patio. Autumn backyard in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)
Little Planet View. Home renovation — new patio. Autumn backyard in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)


Little Planet View. Home renovation -- new patio. Autumn backyard in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)
Little Planet View. Home renovation — new patio. Autumn backyard in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)
Little Planet View. Home renovation -- new patio. Autumn backyard in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)
Little Planet View. Home renovation — new patio. Autumn backyard in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)
Little Planet View. Home renovation -- new patio. Autumn backyard in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)
Little Planet View. Home renovation — new patio. Autumn backyard in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)