Tuesday (09-April-2013) — New Jersey

Indoor Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

It is getting warmer. I actually started opening windows, and kept them open last night. It is great to air out the house after a long winter. On the down side, the large stink bugs have started coming out of hibernation. Maybe, I should have left the spider inside the house. In addition to the Stink Bugs, I also have Western Conifer Seed Bugs (thanks to Chris Mallory for the ID). Apparently, these also have a reputation to be stink bugs, but at least they are not the blood sucking Triatominae (which look similar)

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug - Indoor Spring Nature. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec) and ring-flash. (David J Mathre)
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug – Indoor Spring Nature. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec) and ring-flash. (David J Mathre)
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug - Indoor Spring Nature. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec) and ring-flash. (David J Mathre)
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug – Indoor Spring Nature. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec) and ring-flash. (David J Mathre)
Stink Bug? - Indoor Spring Nature. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens with a TC-E III 20 adapter (ISO 400, 210 mm, f/9, 1/60 sec) and ring-flash. Not a brown marmorated stink bug. (David J Mathre)
Western Conifer Seed Bug- Indoor Spring Nature. Image taken with a Nikon D3s cameraand 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens with a TC-E III 20 adapter (ISO 400, 210 mm, f/9, 1/60 sec) and ring-flash. Not a brown marmorated stink bug. (David J Mathre)

Thursday (15-November-2012) — New Jersey

Indoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey: House Pet Returns.

Scutigera Coleoptrata (House Centipede) — Not a Silverfish, one of my creepy crawly house pets appeared again this afternoon. Still waiting on the Drobo upgrade to complete, so spent some time taking macro images — until it got tired of the flash and went away.

Scutigera Coleoptrata (House Centipede) -- Not a Silverfish. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR Macro (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/22, 1/250 sec) with SB-700 Flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS6. (David J Mathre)
Scutigera Coleoptrata (House Centipede) — Not a Silverfish. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR Macro (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/22, 1/250 sec) with SB-700 Flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, and Photoshop CS6. (David J Mathre)

Five-Years Ago (08-October-2007) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Monarch Butterfly. Five-years ago while driving home from work I saw purple wild flowers on the side of the road at an abandoned golf course in Hillsborough. I pulled over to see if there was a picture. The purple wildflowers attracted dozens of Monarch butterflies providing more colors.  I took this image with my favorite 80-400 mm telephoto zoom lens. The hard part was working at the minimum focus distance for the lens (~ 7 feet). I needed to keep stepping back to get the image in focus. One more reason I always have a camera with me.

Monarch Butterfly. Late Fall Nature in Central New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Monarch Butterfly. Late Fall Nature in Central New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

 

Four-Years Ago (16-September-2008) — Utah

Gone to See America 2008. Moab Utah Photography Workshop with Winston Hall. Day 2: Dead Horse State Park, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park.

Orange Dragonfly on a Car Antenna. I noticed this orange dragonfly while waiting for the group to assemble on day 2 of the Eastern Utah Photography Workshop. It landed on a car antenna and remained still long enough to get several images. I really like the 80-400 mm VR lens since I can hand-hold it and get macro images of insects from 8 feet.

Orange Dragonfly on a Car Antenna. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 640, 400 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Orange Dragonfly on a Car Antenna. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 640, 400 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)