Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Star Trails Looking West.
Night sky view from the back of the house. This was the first time I did star trail series looking west. The first composite is from 336 images taken between 18:30-23:59 (PM), and the second composite is from 375 images taken between 00:40-05:40 (AM). All taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). There is significant distortion due to the wide-angle lens. I should look at reprocessing the data using the DxO image processing program to remove the distortion.
Star trails looking west (18:20-23:59 PM). Composite of 336 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)Star trails looking west (00:40-05:40 AM). Composite of 375 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)
Contrail, clouds, and silhouettes of trees without leaves early this morning. Composite of eleven images taken with a Nikon Df camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens. Let me know if you like the version in color with the pastel clouds, or the one converted to B&W.
Backyard Autumn Clouds at Dawn. Composite of 11 images taken with a Nikon Df camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1/125 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite produced with AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)Backyard Autumn Clouds at Dawn. Composite of 11 images taken with a Nikon Df camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1/125 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, composite produced with AutoPano Giga Pro, and converted to B&W with Nik Silver Efex Pro (David J Mathre)
Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey: Talking Doe.
I was testing the sharpness of the Nikon 600 mm f/4 lens coupled with a TC-E III 20 teleconverter (effective 1200 mm, f/8 aperture).
Talking Doe. Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens with a TC-EIII 2x teleconverter (ISO 1400, 1200 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
I was out in the backyard using a rototiller to prepare a new section for the expanding wildflower meadow. The land had been a farm years ago, but this section had become overgrown with brush. The brush was cleared last year, and this summer the section was covered with a black tarp to solarize the soil (kill the weeds, especially the invasive “mile-a-minute” vine). The rototiller found lots of rocks, and roots from the brush. At one point, I noticed something silver being thrown back by rototiller. It turned out to be a spoon. The rototiller blades did a bit of damage to the spoon. I brought it inside, and washed it off. The only identification of the spoon was an imprint on the back of the handle “Oneida Silversmiths”. After doing some research online, I think I identified the design of the spool as Oneida silverplate “Clairhill-Fairhill (1978). One site had it on sale for less than eight dollars. So, not an antique 🙁 . The house was built around that time, but how the spoon got 200 feet behind the house is a mystery.
Oneida Silversmiths Spoon. Backyard Archaeology in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/16, 1/3 sec) (David J Mathre)Oneida Silversmiths Spoon. Backyard Archaeology in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 200, 105 mm, f/16, 1/3 sec) (David J Mathre)
The leaves on the Japanese maple tree have faded from bright red to brown. Yesterday, some birds found the newly renovated bird bath. They will have to wait until next spring for me to install the solar-powered fountain. The three inquisitive but wary does looked on as I was taking pictures of the statue on the bird bath. Now that it is hunting season, the deer know that they need to stay within 400 feet of a house in order to stay safe.
Newly Renovated Bird Bath and Stature. Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/4, 1/400 sed) (David J Mathre)Trio of wary does in the afternoon sun. Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 55-135 mm lens (ISO 100, 135 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
