Category: Photo Techniques

Friday (26-September-2014) — New Jersey. 

Autumn Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

I went out for a walk in the Sourland Mountain Preserve this morning looking for butterflies. This Painted Lady was the only one I saw. There were lots of dragonflies, and praying mantis laying in wait for a butterfly. The real comment is that I took this image with a hand-held camera that weighs 1/10 and costs 1/10th of the kit I have used before. The image may not be as good what I could get with the full kit – but easily good enough. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec).

Painted Lady Butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Painted Lady Butterfly. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)

Friday (26-September-2014) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

I saw hundreds of these alien looking warriors today massing at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/11, 1/320 sec).

Sourland Mountain Preserve (David J Mathre)
Praying Mantis at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/11, 1/320 sec) (David J Mathre)

Friday (19-September-2014) — New Jersey

Late Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Tree Fungus on a Dying Birch Tree in My Backyard. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 18-56 mm lens (ISO 500, 56 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec).

Out of the camera jpg because Capture One doesn’t recognize the RAW/DNG file created by the Leica T camera at this time. By the end of the afternoon, the birch trees were gone along with several other dying trees. I have lost over 30 trees due to storms, disease, and vines over the last 4 years.

Tree Fungus on a Dying Birch Tree in My Backyard. (David J Mathre)
Tree Fungus on a Dying Birch Tree in My Backyard. (David J Mathre)

Thursday (18-September-2014) — New Jersey

Late Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

I decided to have the dead pine trees next to the transformer that feeds power to my house removed. The power has gone out too many times in the last few years. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 18-56 mm lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/5, 1/160 sec). Raw image converted to TIFF using Lightroom, then processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC 2014.

dead pine trees next to the transformer. (David J Mathre)
Dead pine trees next to the transformer. (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (17-September-2014) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

A Black Iridescent Blue Butterfly Sunning at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Photoshop CC 2014 and Focus Magic.

A Black Iridescent Blue Butterfly Sunning at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Photoshop CC 2014 and Focus Magic. (David J Mathre)
A Black Iridescent Blue Butterfly Sunning at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)