Photo Techniques - David Mathre Photography

Monday (01-August-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

Star Trails and Lens Distortion. One problem I had with the star trail image I just published was that the circles looking toward the north star were not exactly round. This is probably due to the non-linear distortions characteristics of wide-angle lenses, especially toward the edges. There is a program, DxO Optics Pro that corrects for distortion of various cameras and lenses. (Note that the current version of Adobe Camera Raw also does lens corrections for some camera/lens pairs, but not for the Nikon D3s camera and 24 mm f/1.4G lens used for this image). I used the DxO Optics program to process and correct the 328 images. It took over 12 hours for DxO to process all of these images.I then ran the reprocessed images with startrails.exe program. Let me know (comment, or send me an e-mail) if you think the resultant image looks better, no different, or worse.

North View Star Trails. Summer Night in New Jersey. Images taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 1/30 sec). Raw image processed including Nikon 24 mm f/1.4G Lens Correction with DxO Pro. Composite of 328 images combined with StarTrails Program. (David J Mathre) — North View Star Trails. Summer Night in New Jersey. Images taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 1/30 sec). Raw image processed including Nikon 24 mm f/1.4G Lens Correction with DxO Pro. Composite of 328 images combined with StarTrails Program.

Sunday (31-July-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Going from sunspots to startrails. The view is from my back deck over the roof. A tree in my front yard just blocks the north star. The image is a composite of 326 30-second exposures combined using the Startrails program. There are at least four jet trails, and a couple of meteor trails. The meteor trails are too faint in the composite, so I included a crop from a single image showing a meteor trail. I’ve also added a version of the startrails in B&W, converted using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

North View Star Trails. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 30 sec). Composite of 326 images combined using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre) — North View Star Trails. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 30 sec). Composite of 326 images combined using the Startrails program.

Meteor Trail. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5 (David J Mathre) — Meteor Trail. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5

Saturday (30-July-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Sky Over New Jersey. Solar Disk and Sunspots.

One of the websites that I follow for sunspot and auroral (northern light) activity is SpaceWeather.com. I noticed yesterday and today that there are three new sets of active sunspots (1260, 1261, and 1263). My telescopes have solar filters to allow safe viewing of the solar disk. The following images were taken with a 3.5″ and 7″ Questar telescope and clearly show the sunspots. The third image has some clouds passing in front of the solar disk. The solar filter for the 3.5″ telescope is darker (lets through less light) than the filter for the 7″ telescope. This required increasing the ISO and decreasing the shutter speed for the smaller telescope. Another issue with the smaller telescope is that it is much more sensitive to mirror slap and shutter motion. In order to get a sharp image, I used the mirror-up feature and waited 30 seconds to let the entire system stabilize. With the larger telescope this is still a problem, but attenuated due to the overall extra weight of the telescope relative to the Nikon D3s camera. The higher magnification of the larger telescope however, increases the effect of vibration. Focusing was done viewing the image through the camera using LiveView — and using a HoodMan to be able to view the LCD screen. After shooting images (and videos) for about 30 minutes, I did get a sensor over heating warning (which then turned LiveView off).

Sun with Sunspots. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and Questar 3.5 inch telescope with solar filter (ISO 640, ~1500 mm, f/16, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Sun with Sunspots. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and Questar 3.5 inch telescope with solar filter (ISO 640, ~1500 mm, f/16, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

Sun with Sunspots. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and Questar 7 inch telescope with solar filter (ISO 200, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/2000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Sun with Sunspots. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and Questar 7 inch telescope with solar filter (ISO 200, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/2000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

Sun with Sunspots and Clouds Passing in Front. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and Questar 7 inch telescope with solar filter (ISO 200, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/2000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Sun with Sunspots and Clouds Passing in Front. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and Questar 7 inch telescope with solar filter (ISO 200, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/2000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

One-Year Ago (24-July-2010) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey. Bald Faced Hornet Hive Video.

A year ago I recorded this DSLR video of the entrance to a Bald Faced Hornet Hive. It was recorded with a Nikon D3s camera and a Questar 3.5″ Birder Telescope. I needed the telescope so I could be at least 30 feet away from the basketball sized nest/hive. I understand that the bald faced hornet is easily upset, and unlike a honey bee is able to inflict multiple stings.

Question regarding the video. Should it be shorter and only show when the hornets swarm out? Should I include background music and/or bee swarming sound effects? Is the title sequence too long? Leave a comment to let me know.

Saturday (23-July-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Bald Faced Hornets Are Back. I thought I saw a Bald Faced Hornet yesterday, but by the time I got back out with a macro lens it was gone. I went out again today and found one on a cedar tree trunk. It looked to be collecting wood fiber for its nest. I walked the yard looking for the hornet nest/hive, but have not found it yet.

It was a year ago that I discovered a basket ball sized Bald Faced Hornet Nest/Hive. At that time I set up a telescope so I could take a movie of the nest from a safe distance.

Bald Faced Hornet Harvesting Fiber from a Cedar Tree Trunk. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens and TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) and SB-900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Bald Faced Hornet Harvesting Fiber from a Cedar Tree Trunk. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens and TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) and SB-900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CS5.

Hovering Bald Faced Hornet Harvesting Fiber from a Cedar Tree Trunk. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens and TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) and SB-900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Hovering Bald Faced Hornet Harvesting Fiber from a Cedar Tree Trunk. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens and TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 200, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) and SB-900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop CS5.