Friday (11-December-2009) — New Jersey

Late Autumn Night Sky Over New Jersey: Star Trails and Time-lapse Video.

Images of star and jet trails plus a time-lapsed video looking south from my house in New Jersey. This was a couple of days before the Geminid meteor shower was supposed to peak, but I did catch a few meteors during the night.  A series of images were taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4, 30 sec). The star trail images are composites of 120 images combined with the Startrails program. A time-lapsed video of the entire set was also created using Adobe Photoshop CS5 export to video. When you see Orion, tell me what I did wrong…

Late Fall Night Sky Image of Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4.0, 30 sec). Composite of 120 images over 1 hour combined with Startrails program. Hour 2. (David J Mathre)
Late Fall Night Sky Image of Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4.0, 30 sec). Composite of 120 images over 1 hour combined with Startrails program. Hour 2. (David J Mathre)


Friday (27-November-2009) — New Jersey

Autumn Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Canada goose flapping its wings. Many of the Canada geese no longer migrate, but rather spend their winter here in New Jersey. Every fall and spring they join up and fly in circles for a couple of weeks ending up where they started. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-200 mm VR lens.

Canadian Goose in a Lake at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with Nikon D300 and 18-200 VR lens. (David J Mathre)
Canadian Goose in a Lake at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with Nikon D300 and 18-200 VR lens. (David J Mathre)

Monday (16-November-2009) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey.

Orion, Taurus, Pleiades and clouds. Looking South from my backyard. One of ~ 1000 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 30 sec). I transformed the series into a time-lapse video using Photoshop (720p, 24p).

New Jersey Autumn Night Sky. Image acquired with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4, 30 sec) (David J Mathre)
New Jersey Autumn Night Sky. Image acquired with a Nikon D3x camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 400, f/4, 30 sec) (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (18-February-2009) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey: Black-capped Chickadee.

I found this small bird trying to keep warm in my front doorway.  It looked like it was trying to make a nest in an old spider web.

Black-capped Chickadee trying to keep warm. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 18-200 mm VR lens (ISO 800, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, flash). (David J Mathre)
Black-capped Chickadee trying to keep warm. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-200 mm VR lens (ISO 800, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, flash).

Sunday (18-January-2009) — New Jersey

Wintertime Nature in the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

We had a bit of snow last night. I went for a short walk in the Sourland Mountain Preserve. When I got home I found this young deer eating my shrubs.

Winter Winding Road. Sourland Mountain Preserve. Nikon D300 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec) (David J Mathre)
Winter Winding Road. Sourland Mountain Preserve. Nikon D300 camera and 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).
Winter Grass with Snow. Sourland Mountain Preserve. Nikon D300 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens (ISO 200, 95 mm, f/7.1, 1/200 sec) (David J Mathre)
Winter Grass with Snow. Sourland Mountain Preserve. Nikon D300 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens (ISO 200, 95 mm, f/7.1, 1/200 sec) (David J Mathre)
Winter Grass with Snow. Sourland Mountain Preserve. Nikon D300 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/7.1, 1/200 sec) (David J Mathre)
Winter Grass with Snow. Sourland Mountain Preserve. Nikon D300 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/7.1, 1/200 sec) (David J Mathre)
Yearling Deer Eating my Shrubs in the Snow. Nikon D300 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/6.3, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)
Yearling Deer Eating my Shrubs in the Snow. Nikon D300 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/6.3, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)