Skyscape - David Mathre Photography

One-Year Ago (27-March-2011) — California

Gone to See California. Day 8: Death Valley Spring 2011 Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant.

Early Morning Panorama of the Sand Dunes at Mesquite Flats in Death Valley National Park. I used four images taken during the Spring Workshop in Death Valley last year to create a panorama view. The raw images were initially processed using Capture One Pro and then sharpened using Focus Magic. The first panorama was created using AutoPano Giga. The resulting file was 16205 x 3420 pixels (54″ x 11.4″ @ 300 dpi). The image was enhanced with NIK Color Efex Pro (Pro Contrast) and converted to jpg with Photoshop CS5. When examined closely there was a problem at the transition between images. The second panorama was created using PTGui Pro. In this case the resulting file was 14539 x 3894 pixels (48.5″ x 13 ” @ 300 dpi). The image was enhanced with NIK Color Efex Pro (Pro Contrast) and converted to jpg with Photoshop CS5. The third version was converted to B&W with NIK Silver Efex Pro (Fine Art) and converted to jpg with Photoshop CS5. Images best viewed in full screen mode.

Early Morning Sand Dune Panorama. Composite of 4 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 45 mm f/2.8 PC-E lens (ISO 100, 45 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, AutoPano Giga, NIK Color Efex Pro 2, and converted for web with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Early Morning Sand Dune Panorama. Composite of 4 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 45 mm f/2.8 PC-E lens (ISO 100, 45 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, AutoPano Giga, NIK Color Efex Pro 2, and converted for web with Photoshop CS5.

One-Year Ago (24-March-2011) — California

Gone to See California. Day 5: Death Valley Spring 2011 Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant.

Comparison of Panorama Programs. There are several commercial programs that will combine digital images to provide panorama views. During a recent Nikonians Academy Workshop in Death Valley, I took several images from Dante’s View that I have now processed with Autopano Giga and PTGui. Photoshop CS5 was not able to successfully process the images into a panorama view. Notice the snow from the previous storm under the cactus in the foreground. The four images were acquired with a Nikon D3x camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec).

Panorama from Death Valley National Park. Composite of 4 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm PC-E lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec). Panorama created using PTGui. (David J Mathre) — Panorama from Dantes View in Death Valley National Park. Composite of 4 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm PC-E lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec). Panorama created using PTGui 7816 x 6812 pixels

Panorama from Dante's View, Death Valley National Park. Composite of 4 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm PC-E lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec). Panorama created using AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre) — Panorama from Dantes View, Death Valley National Park. Composite of 4 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm PC-E lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec). Panorama created using AutoPano Giga Pro 9294 x 7337 pixels

Friday (17-February-2009) — New Jersey

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

I used a 16 mm Fisheye lens to take acquire some winter night sky images. The images were combined using the startrails.exe program to get the star trail images. The first image is a composite of 15 60 second images relatively early in the evening. The next three are composites of 16, 35, and 300 second (5 minute) images.

Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 60 sec). Composite of 15 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)

Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 300 sec). Composite of 16 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)

Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 300 sec). Composite of 35 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)

Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 300 sec). Composite of 14 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)

One-Year Ago (10-January-2011) — Chile

Gone to See Patagonia 2010/2011. Photography Workshop with Thom Hogan. Day 15: Torres del Paine National Park, Departing Hosteria Lago Grey Chile.

Early Morning Double Rainbow in Patagonia. Comparison of HDR (High Dynamic Range) Processing Programs. Digital camera sensors are not able to deal with the full dynamic range that the human eye can process. The same is true with computer monitors and printers. There are several commercial programs that will combine over and under exposed digital images to provide a composite digital image that tries to express the wider dynamic range of the eye. I continue to evaluate the commercial HDR programs. The following images are of an early morning double rainbow taken at Lago Grey in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile during my Photography Workshop in Patagonia with Thom Hogan (10-January-2011). The inital image is the original single exposure. This is followed by four HDR images processed with 1) Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro, 2) Photomatix Pro, 3) Nik HDR Pro, and 4) HDR Express Pro. Please reply with comments on which HDR image you like or don’t like.

Early Morning Rainbow, Lago Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 28-120 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 31 mm, f/5.6, 1/25 sec). (David J Mathre) — Early Morning Rainbow, Lago Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 28-120 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 31 mm, f/5.6, 1/25 sec).

Early Morning Rainbow, Lago Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 28-120 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 31 mm, f/5.6). HDR composhref= — Early Morning Rainbow, Lago Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 28-120 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 31 mm, f/5.6). HDR composite of 4 images using Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro

Early Morning Rainbow, Lago Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 28-120 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 31 mm, f/5.6). HDR composite of 4 images using Photomatix Pro (David J Mathre) — Early Morning Rainbow, Lago Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 28-120 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 31 mm, f/5.6). HDR composite of 4 images using Photomatix Pro

Wednesday (04-January-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky in New Jersey: Star Trails and Quadranitids Meteors.

The sky was clear last night so I set up two cameras to record the night sky. The SpaceWeather site reported that the Quadrantids meteor shower should peak in the early morning hours. The Nikon D3x with a 24 mm f/1.4G lens was set up to look north above my roof. I used an external power supply for this camera so I wouldn’t need to change batteries during the night. The second camera was a Nikon D3 with a 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens looking south. For both cameras, I used the MC-35 remote set for 59 second exposures, once a minute (the extra second is needed to transfer the image from the camera to the memory card). It was cold (getting down to 10° F), and I was glad that at least one camera was using an external power supply. I had to change the battery in the D3 every 2 hours, and even then it was so cold that the battery ran out before the time. The following are a meteor trail image and a time-lapsed video of everything from the night.