Monday (21-May-2012) — New Jersey

Indoor Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Last night, one of my creepy crawly house pets Scutigera Coleoptrata (House Centipede) came out to visit me in my bedroom. I decided that I wasn’t that tired, so spent some time taking macro images — until it got tired of the flash and went away.

One of My Creepy Crawly House Pets Came Out to Visit Me in My Bedroom Last Night. Scutigera Coleoptrata (House Centipede) -- Not a Silverfish. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR Macro (ISO 100, 105 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec) with SB-R200 Ring Flash. Raw image processed with Photoshop CS6. (David J. Mathre)

One of My Creepy Crawly House Pets Came Out to Visit Me in My Bedroom Last Night. Scutigera Coleoptrata (House Centipede) -- Not a Silverfish. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR Macro (ISO 100, 105 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec) with SB-R200 Ring Flash. Raw image processed with Photoshop CS6. (David J. Mathre)

Monday (14-May-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

The Rhododendorn’s that the deer didn’t eat last winter are currently in bloom. The following five pictures are the same image processed differently. The first image is the straight out of the camera imbedded jpg image with no post processing. Next next four pictures were processed with Phase One Capture One Pro 6; Nikon Capture NX2; Adobe Lightroom 4; and Adobe Photoshop CS6.

I’m interested in comments which version you like or dislike.

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Out of the camera imbedded jpg image. (David J Mathre)

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Phase One - Capture One Pro 6 (vivid, levels, vignetting). (David J Mathre)

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Nikon Capture NX2 (levels, noise reduction). (David J Mathre)

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Lightroom 4 (Adobe Camera Raw 7). (David J Mathre)

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Photoshop CS6 (Adobe Camera Raw 7). (David J Mathre)

Four-Years Ago (11-May-2008) — Colorado

Gone to See America. May 2008 Colorado Road Trip. Day 2: Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge.

Black Crowned Night Heron Been Fishing. Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Colorado. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/1600 sec).

Black Crowned Night Heron Been Fishing, Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Colorado. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/1600 sec). . (David J Mathre)
Black Crowned Night Heron Been Fishing. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/1600 sec).  (David J Mathre)

Tuesday (27-March-2012) — New Jersey

Early Spring Night Sky over New Jersey. NASA ATREX Mission. Early Morning Sky Lit Up By Five NASA Sounding Rockets.

Early this morning NASA launched five sounding rockets from Wallops Island, Virginia over a seven minute period to study the jet stream in the upper atmosphere at the edge of space. Once the rockets reached the thermosphere they were set to release trimethyaluminum that would react to create a cloud of aluminum oxide. This mission has been canceled several times waiting for clear skies from New Jersey to South Carolina. I set up a Nikon D3x camera with a 14-24 mm f/2.8 wide angle lens and pointed it south-east to capture an image every minute starting just after midnight to see if I could to catch something from the mission. The rockets were launched starting just before 5 AM (EDT).

The following is a composite of 40 images combined using the startrails program showing the release from all 5 rockets. You see the star trails, a couple of jet trails, all five of the ATREX rocket cloud releases and as a bonus a meteor trail.

NASA ATREX Jet Stream Study Lights up The Night Sky. Composite of 40 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec) processed using DxO Pro, and Startrails. (David J Mathre)
NASA ATREX Jet Stream Study Lights up The Night Sky. Composite of 40 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec) processed using DxO Pro, and Startrails. (David J Mathre)