David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Firefly Trails. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 3200, 600 mm, f/8, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro 8, and Photoshop CC. Individual images can be viewed here.
After the rain stopped last night I put two cameras out to capture some firefly trails early this morning. The first one is a composite of 300 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and a 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 3200, 600 mm, f/8, 30 sec). The second one is a composite of 90 images taken with a Nikon D810A camera and a 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 3200, 200 mm, f/8, 60 sec). You really need to look at the 2nd one in full-screen mode.
One trick for doing the firefly trails is picking the aperture and focus distance. This impacts the number of fireflies that are in or out of focus. I really like the D810a camera since I can do exposures longer than 30 seconds without an intervalometer. Also, the sensor seems to be able to handle longer exposures without generating excess noise (even when it is warm outside).
Backyard Fireflies. Composite of 110 images taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 2500, 600 mm, f/13, 25 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro, Startrails (used to stack the images), and Photoshop CS5.
Firefly Trails. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 70-200 mm lens or Nikon D4 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens. Need to work on getting the aperture and focus synchronized. The first image has both sharp and blurred images, whereas the second one has more blurred images.
Firefly Trails. I had seen the fireflies in the Yucca flowers during the day so set up a camera to see them at night. Composite of 311 images (~156 minutes) taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 200 mm f/2 VR lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/2.8, 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 8, and composite processed in Photoshop CC.
The amazing thing — the deer haven’t eaten the Yucca flowers yet!!!
