Gone to See America October 2008 Road Trip. Eighth Annual Nikonian Photography Adventure Trip. Day 1: Yosemite National Park.
Sunset Panorama of Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View. There were many photographers (in addition to the Nikonian group) lined up at the Tunnel View parking lot to photograph sunset. Many left thinking nothing was going to happen, then all of a sudden sunlight came in from the west under the clouds to light up both sides of the valley with this incredible orange color.
Sunset Panorama from the Tunnel View Observation Point. Composite of 5 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens. Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite created using AutoPano Giga. (David J Mathre)
Best viewed in full screen mode — double-click on the image.
Gone to See America October 2008 Road Trip. Eighth Annual Nikonian Photography Adventure Trip. Day 1: Yosemite National Park.
Reflections on the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. Images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/16, 1/30, 1/50, 1/80, 1/125, 1/200 sec). For many years I would take an exposure bracketed series of an image. For example with three images (-1 EV, 0 EV, +1 EV) or with five images (-1 1/3 EV, -2/3 EV, 0 EV, +2/3 EV, +1 1/3 EV). Then either pick the best exposure, or use a post processing program to combine two or more of the images to get a high-dynamic range (HDR) image. This allows more detail by recovering data from dark underexposed areas or blown-out overexposed areas in the image. This was especially important when dealing with digital images with 8-bits of dynamic range (i.e. jpg). The sensors in modern digital cameras are able to record images with 12 or 14 bit of dynamic range. This allows programs such as Capture One Pro to pull out more data from a single image to simulate a HDR image without needing to combine data from multiple images.
Above images processed with Capture One Pro (Built in Style, Legacy, Landscape, Landscape Color 2)
Reflections on the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/16, 1/80 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro (Built in Style, Legacy, Landscape, Landscape Color-2). (David J Mathre)
Best image with further adjustments using the High Dynamic Range Highlight and Shadow sliders
There is a lot of yard work that needs to be completed before winter. I set up the Garmin VIRB-360 camera to record the day on the front of my Lawn Tractor. I’ve ordered a powered mounting bracket to mount the camera in my car. A lot easier than when I mounted a camera on a tripod sitting in the passenger seat for recording time-lapse videos of cross country road trips.
Gone to See America 2013. Crystal Geyser near Green River, Utah.
While driving from Colorado to New Mexico, I made a stop in Green River, Utah. I wanted to spend a day visiting the Crystal Geyser. This is a unique cold geyser powered by underground carbon dioxide and not underground geothermal heat. I saw Crystal Geyser erupt twice before in 2009, and 2010 and hoped to see it erupt again. Unfortunately, the eruptions were on this day were very small. Just slight increases in the flow of water coming out of the ground. I spent most of the day at the site just waiting. I set up three cameras to record any action. One camera (Nikon N1V1) was in the car, and the other two closer to the eruption site (a steel tube sticking out of a hole in the ground. I also took images of the rust-stained Travertine that formed from water released from the geyser.
Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.
Fungus Among Us!! Since I got back from the Fall Semester at Sea Voyage six years ago, everything had been damp and wet. I’ve never seen a blue mushroom before. This one had a slug feasting it. The images in this post are all from my driveway where mushrooms are abundant.
Blue Mushroom and Slug. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 100, 60 mm, f/16, 1/13 sec) + SB-910 flash. (David J Mathre)
Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.
