Sunday (14-May-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

I went for a walkabout in my backyard with the Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Plants, flowers, mushrooms, and a deer.


For individual images in the slideshow check out my PhotoShelter Gallery.

One-Year Ago (14-May-2016) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Rabbits, deer, and a maple leaf.


Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Six-Years Ago (14-May-2011) — Belize

Gone to See Central America and the Panama Canal. Semester at Sea Spring 2011 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. Day 18: Belize.

Green Kingfisher in Belize. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec)

Green Kingfisher in Belize. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec) (David J Mathre)
Green Kingfisher in Belize. Image taken with a Nikon D3s  camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec) (David J Mathre)

Saturday (13-May-2017) — New Jersey

Photography Techniques — Focus Stacking.

I have been using Helicon Focus to make composite focus stacked images for several years. It is great for doing macro images with much more depth of field than can be done with single images. I spent the day doing some focus stacked images on some small cactus flowers. The images were taken with a Nikon Df camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens. The camera was set up on a tripod on with a linear tracking head. The first set was with 13 images, in 5 mm intervals — which wasn’t enough. The second set was 24 images over 9 cm. That one looked better. I then added a TCE-3 III teleconverter (converting the focal length to 210 mm). The camera was set closer and did 33 images over 9 cm. The slide-show below shows all of the images. It includes one image from each set at a single distance. To see the individual images check here


Friday (12-May-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

After several days of cold, cloudy skies, and rain things cleared up for a bit. The clouds turned pink at dawn (only for an instant). Later on I saw a robin hunting in my backyard. It found a caterpillar for breakfast. One less butterfly this year… (check out a similar image from three years ago 03-May-2014). I took a cluster of rhododendron flowers inside to practice focus stacking. It was too difficult outside with the wind moving the flowers. I used a 9-cm focus rack. For the first two, the images were taken after adjusting the camera in 0.5 cm increments. For the third one, the camera was adjusted 6 cm in 1 mm increments. The images were processed using Helicon Focus (ver. 5.3) software. Let me know if you like method A (weighted average), B (depth map), or C (pyramid) for processing the images

Pink clouds at dawn from my back door. Spring in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 11-23 mm lens (ISO 100, 11 mm, f/3.5, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)
Pink clouds at dawn from my back door. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 11-23 mm lens (ISO 100, 11 mm, f/3.5, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)
Robin with a caterpillar. One less butterfly this year. Spring in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon N1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Robin with a caterpillar. One less butterfly this year. Image taken with a Nikon N1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)


Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.