Friday (11-December-2009) — New Jersey

Late Autumn Night Sky Over New Jersey: Star Trails and Time-lapse Video.

Images of star and jet trails plus a time-lapsed video looking south from my house in New Jersey. This was a couple of days before the Geminid meteor shower was supposed to peak, but I did catch a few meteors during the night.  A series of images were taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4, 30 sec). The star trail images are composites of 120 images combined with the Startrails program. A time-lapsed video of the entire set was also created using Adobe Photoshop CS5 export to video. When you see Orion, tell me what I did wrong…

Late Fall Night Sky Image of Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4.0, 30 sec). Composite of 120 images over 1 hour combined with Startrails program. Hour 2. (David J Mathre)
Late Fall Night Sky Image of Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4.0, 30 sec). Composite of 120 images over 1 hour combined with Startrails program. Hour 2. (David J Mathre)


Monday (16-November-2009) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey.

Orion, Taurus, Pleiades and clouds. Looking South from my backyard. One of ~ 1000 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 30 sec). I transformed the series into a time-lapse video using Photoshop (720p, 24p).

New Jersey Autumn Night Sky. Image acquired with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4, 30 sec) (David J Mathre)
New Jersey Autumn Night Sky. Image acquired with a Nikon D3x camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4, 30 sec) (David J Mathre)

Saturday (29-August-2009) — At Sea

Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 08: Alaska Marine Highway on the MV Columbia.

Somewhere in British Columbia, Canada traveling from Bellingham, Washington to Haines, Alaska. The day started out foggy. During the night there was a bit of rain and wind. I felt sorry for the folks living rough on deck, but they seemed to be warm and cheerful once they moved under the covered Solarium. We saw a few Orcas during the day. Later in the afternoon, the sun came out and folks living rough moved their chairs back out on the open deck.

Lone Deck Chair on Misty Morning. Solarium Deck on the MV Columbia Alaska Marine Highway Between Bellingham, Washington and Haines, Alaska. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 50mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Lone Deck Chair on Misty Morning. Solarium Deck on the MV Columbia Alaska Marine Highway Between Bellingham, Washington and Haines, Alaska. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 50mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Seagull Fishing with an Orca. Viewed from the MV Columbia Alaska Marine Highway between Bellingham, Washington and Haines, Alaska. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 720, 400 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (David J. Mathre)
Seagull Fishing with an Orca. Viewed from the MV Columbia Alaska Marine Highway between Bellingham, Washington and Haines, Alaska. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 720, 400 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (David J. Mathre)
Jonathan and Christine Sleeping in the Afternoon Sun. Solarium Deck on the M/V Columbia Alaska Marine Highway Between Bellingham, Washington and Haines, Alaska. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 50mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Jonathan and Christine Sleeping in the Afternoon Sun. Solarium Deck on the MV Columbia Alaska Marine Highway Between Bellingham, Washington and Haines, Alaska. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 50mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Christine Chimping on the Alaska Marine Highway. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and a 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 195 mm, f/8, 1/500 sec). (David J. Mathre)
Christine Chimping on the Alaska Marine Highway. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and a 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 195 mm, f/8, 1/500 sec). (David J. Mathre)
Silhouette, Shadow, and Sunburst on the MV Columbia Alaska Marine Highway Between Bellingham, Washington and Haines, Alaska -- Queen Charlotte Sound, British Columbia - Canada. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/22, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Silhouette, Shadow, and Sunburst on the MV Columbia Alaska Marine Highway Between Bellingham, Washington and Haines, Alaska — Queen Charlotte Sound, British Columbia – Canada. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/22, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)

Tuesday (30-December-2008) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky Over New Jersey: Time-lapse Video

The ClearSky folks didn’t have a good forecast for the whole night, but I still recorded the night sky looking south. You can see the clouds kept passing over, so no star trails.

Tuesday (23-December-2008) — Florida

Gone to See Florida 2008 Road Trip Day 2: Fort De Soto Park.

I drove to Fort De Soto park early in the morning with a goal of photographing the sun rising through the Sunshine Skyway bridge. I then spent a few hours photographing birds at various locations at the park.

Sun rising under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge from Fort De Soto Park. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 200-400 mm f/4 telephoto zoom lens (ISO 800, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Sun rising under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge from Fort De Soto Park. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 200-400 mm f/4 telephoto zoom lens (ISO 800, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)