Tag: New Jersey

Friday (22-April-2011) — New Jersey

Springtime Nature in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.

I found a Canada Goose nesting near the pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. This was the first time I visited this spring, and only had a small Leica point & shoot to take any images. The bird is well hidden, and has filled the nest with a bed of feathers. I’ll need to get back and check the nest out with a DSLR with a telephoto lens.

Nesting Canadian Goose, Sourland Mountain Reserve. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 20 camera (ISO 200, 49.2 mm, f/4.9, 1/125 sec) (David J. Mathre)
Nesting Canada Goose, Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 20 camera (ISO 200, 49.2 mm, f/4.9, 1/125 sec)

[pw_map address=”40.473080000, -74.69383333″ width=”600px” height=”400px” enablecontrols=”true” “key=”AIzaSyDzSJfuf50JPAE5AllQz8iLyENq3jp1rR”]

Thursday (21-April-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey

Pink Flower — Macro and Wide Depth of Field. I used the pink flower from yesterday as an exercise to practice with a macro lens, flash, and Helicon Focus to get a macro image of a flower with an extreme depth of field in focus. Ten images of the flower were taken from rear focus to front focus by manually adjusting the focus distance on the lens. The raw images were processed with Capture One Pro, converted to 16 bit Tiff files, and then processed with Helicon Focus. Even though the lens was set at f/22, the actual focus plane was very narrow and thus needing several focus distances for Helicon Focus.

Pink Flower Macro and Helicon Focus Study. Image taken with a Nikon D3x, 200 mm f/4 macro lens, and SB-200R flash (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/22, 1/60 sec). Composite of 10 focus layers combined using Helicon Focus. (David J Mathre)
Pink Flower Macro and Helicon Focus Study. Image taken with a Nikon D3x, 200 mm f/4 macro lens, and SB-200R flash (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/22, 1/60 sec). Composite of 10 focus layers combined using Helicon Focus. (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (20-April-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Can You Identify this Shrub with Pink Flowers? I have been told that this is a Mountain Laurel, however when I search the web the flowers do not seem to be the same. It blooms in early spring, and the deer also avoid it. If you know what it is, please let me know. I need to get a better image with a macro lens.

Pink Flowers. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)
Pink Flowers. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/50 sec).

 

Tuesday (19-April-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

First Dandelion of Spring. I noticed this spot of yellow in my driveway when getting home. An early dandelion — I’m sure many more will show up in the backyard soon. The local deer avoid eating dandelions and daffodils, but eat most any other spring flowers.

First Dandelion of Spring. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
First Dandelion of Spring. Image taken with a Leica X1  Camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec).