Wednesday (07-March-2018) — New Jersey

Home Cooking. Hearty Whole Wheat & Rye Bread.

Whole Wheat Bread Recipe: Whole Wheat Flour (1 cup); Bread Flour (1 cup); Sprouted Wheat Flour (1 cup); brown sugar (2 1/3 tbs); dry milk (1/4 cup);  salt (2 tsp); egg (1 medium); unsalted butter (1/4 cup cubed); water (1 1/4 cup). Above ingredients added to Panasonic Bread Bakery. Yeast (2 tsp) added to yeast hopper and the unit set for Whole Wheat Bread (Rapid) and started. Three hours later, the loaf of bread was removed and allowed to cool. Probably need to cut back on the yeast or sugar a bit since the loaf totally filled the bread maker.

Hearty Whole Wheat & Rye Bread Recipe: Whole Wheat Flour (1 cup); Bread Flour (1 cup); Sprouted Wheat Flour (1 cup); Rye Flour (1 cup); brown sugar (2 tbs); dry milk (1/4 cup); caraway seed (1 tbs); fennel seed (1 tbs); anise seed (1 tbs), dill seed (1 tbs); salt (1 tsp); instant coffee (1 tbs); cocoa powder (1 tbs); egg (1 large); flax oil (2 tbs); water (1 1/2 cup); molasses (1/4 cup). Above ingredients minus the molasses added to Panasonic Bread Bakery. Yeast (2 tsp) added to yeast hopper and the unit set for Whole Wheat Bread (Rapid) and started. Once the unit started mixing the ingredients the molasses was slowly added. Three hours later, the loaf of bread was removed and allowed to cool.

Loaves of Hearty Whole Wheat & Rye Bread. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 1000, 18 mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)
Loaves of Hearty Whole Wheat & Rye Bread. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 1000, 18 mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)

Compare with the bread recipe I was using five years ago (06-March-2013).

Saturday (03-March-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey.

It took all night before the power line burned through the tree. I was fortunate that my power was restored after about 2 hours. Those further down the street had to wait. Later on, as the sun was setting the western sky lit up. It looks like light from the sun came in under some remnant clouds from the Nor’easter just before setting. I don’t really have a good western view from my backyard. I ended up going all the way back to the section I have cleared for a wildflower meadow. After all the rain and snow for the storm the section is now a muddy field. The sunset panorama is a composite of six images taken with a Leica CL camera and stitched together using AutoPano Giga Pro. Best viewed in full screen mode.

Tree after being burned by power line. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 55-135 mm lens (ISO 100, 133 mm, f/4.5, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Tree after being burned by power line. Image taken with a Leica TL2 camera and 55-135 mm lens (ISO 100, 133 mm, f/4.5, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Colored Clouds at Sunset. Composite of six images taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/2.8, 1/25 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and the composite created using AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)
Colored Clouds at Sunset. Composite of six images taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/2.8, 1/25 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and the composite created using AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)

Friday (02-March-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey:  Nor’easter Winter Storm.

The red clouds at dawn yesterday did turn out the be correct in predicting stormy weather. It rained most of last night with heavy winds. By 09:00 the rain started switching to snow. I found a daffodil that was trying too open too early. Also some Snow Drops with fresh snow in the background. By the afternoon, the snow was getting heavy. Then the power went off. I got a text message from PSE&G saying that power was off, and that it should be restored in 12 hours. The power was back in two hours. The snow switched back to rain, and the winds kept getting stronger. A police car and fire truck showed up across the street. One of the power lines was touching a tree and arcing. With a telephoto lens it appeared that the arcing wire was cutting the tree, and that a large branch would ultimately fall to the ground.

A daffodil flower about to open in the middle of a Nor'easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 720, 300 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
A daffodil flower about to open in the middle of a Nor’easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 720, 300 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Snow Drops with a bit of snow during a Nor'easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 360, 300 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Snow Drops with a bit of snow during a Nor’easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 360, 300 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)



Saturday (17-February-2018) — New Jersey

Winter in New Jersey. Backyard Maple Syrup Production.

The first maple sap to syrup boil-down started later than last year. Some due to weather, and some due to the setup of a new stainless-steel concentrator. Theses are some initial images taken during the operation. Time-lapse videos to follow when I get caught-up processing the images.



Individual images from the slide-show can be viewed here.

Thursday (15-February-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey.

There were some interesting clouds in the late afternoon. I took some images with a high-resolution camera/wide-angle lens combination (Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens) that I haven’t used recently.  The first image is a composite of 6 images looking southwest from my patio. I then went out to the middle of the backyard and took a series of 12 portrait and 12 horizontal images to get a 360 degree view of the sky and clouds. It took a lot of processing power to produce these images (Capture One Pro, AutoPano Giga Pro, Photoshop CC, and DxO Color Efex Pro). So much graphics processing that my computer (Microsoft Surface Pro) kept shutting down as the processor kept overheating. Ultimately, I needed to use an external fan to keep the Surface Pro processor from overheating. The images were getting to be over 2 GB in size. Best viewed in in a larger format (click on the image)

Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 6 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 6 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Three-hundred Sixty Degree Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 portrait images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Three-hundred Sixty Degree Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 portrait images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Little Planet Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 portrait images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Little Planet Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 portrait images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Inverse Little Planet Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 portrait images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Inverse Little Planet Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 portrait images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Three-hundred Sixty Degree Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 landscape images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Three-hundred Sixty Degree Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 landscape images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Little Planet Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 landscape images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Little Planet Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 landscape images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Inverse Little Planet Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 landscape images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)
Inverse Little Planet Panorama of Late Afternoon Winter Clouds and Sky Over New Jersey. Composite of 12 landscape images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/8, 1/100 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and AutoGiga Pan Promo. (David J Mathre)