New Jersey - David Mathre Photography

Thursday (30-June-2011) — New Jersey

Summer in New Jersey: Independence Day Fireworks.

Montgomery Township in New Jersey typically has their Independence Day Fireworks celebration a few days before the 4th of July. This year it will be tonight. I have a great location to view the fireworks just down the road from my house. It is on a hill that looks down on the high school where the main event occurs.

Winston Hall has published an online guide for Photographing Fireworks with a DSLR camera.

I set up one camera set to do time-lapsed images (D3x with 180 mm f/2.8 lens), and a second camera do DSLR Video (D3x with 85 mm f/1.4 lens). The following 12 images were from the D3x and 180 mm lens. I haven’t used the 180 mm f/2.8 prime lens for some time and forgot how sharp this lens can be.

Montgomery Township Independence Day Fireworks 2011. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 180 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 180 mm, f/11, 4 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6. (David J Mathre) — Montgomery Township Independence Day Fireworks 2011. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 180 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 180 mm, f/11, 4 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6.

Thursday (30-June-2011) — New Jersey

Summer in New Jersey. Independence Day Fireworks Video.

I finally had a chance to process the DSLR video of the 30-June-2011 Montgomery Township Fireworks display. The Nikon D3s camera is limited to 5 minute HD (720P) video segments. I ended up with three 5 minute segments. I left the in-camera sound recording on to get the sound effects of the fireworks. I also got commentary about the fireworks from a family sitting in front of my tripod. At one point you can hear a train whistle. The other clicking sound is the shutter of my other cameras. I used Adobe Premiere Pro to combine the first and third segments, zoomed in a bit so the firework display takes up more of the image, and increased the volume. I also used Premiere Pro to add a title page to the video.

Three-Years Ago (29-June-2008) — New Jersey

Early Summer Nature in New Jersey.

Image of a bullfrog at the Sourland Mountain Preserve near my home in New Jersey. I found this when going back are reviewing some old images. I realized that it was a very productive day, and that I have a lot of other images from the day that I should publish — wildflowers, butterflies, bees, and dragonflies. I need to check the location out this weekend to see what is present this year.

Bullfrog at the Sourland Mountain Reserve. Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 500, 400 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, NIK Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Bullfrog at the Sourland Mountain Reserve. Early Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 500, 400 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, NIK Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

Tuesday (28-June-2011) — New Jersey

Ann DeCamp Retirement Celebration.

We had a retirement party for Ann DeCamp today in Rahway. Ann has been a colleague for over 25 years. She will now be able to sepend more time with her family and her photography (Ann De Camp Photography). Best Wishes.

Ann DeCamp Slicing Her Retirement Party Cake. Image taken with a Leica D-Lux 5 camera (ISO 800, 14.9 mm, f/3, 1/80 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Topaz DeNoise 5, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Ann DeCamp Slicing Her Retirement Party Cake. Image taken with a Leica D-Lux 5 camera (ISO 800, 14.9 mm, f/3, 1/80 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Topaz DeNoise 5, and Photoshop CS5.

Ann DeCamp Retirement Party Cake. Image taken with a Leica X1 camera (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Topaz DeNoise 5, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Ann DeCamp Retirement Party Cake. Image taken with a Leica X1 camera (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Topaz DeNoise 5, and Photoshop CS5.

Monday (27-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey.

While sitting on my deck this evening, I captured images of some Grey Catbirds. Although the birds are pretty drab, they are good for practicing good long-lens technique. I used a Nikon D300 camera. The smaller DX sensor gives the illusion of 1.5x magnification for the 600 mm lens. I can get the same effect by using the D3x camera and cropping to the same size. Down side for the D300 camera is that the sensor is not as good in low light, and that the processing speed and buffer is not as fast as the D3 series camera bodies.

I also saw a Ruby Hummingbird, however it was too close to focus with the lens I was using. There is nothing much in bloom right now, so I might get a hummingbird feeder to see if I can get some local hummingbird images.

Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 250, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 250, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.