Three-Years Ago (15-January-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky Over New Jersey — Comet Lovejoy.

It was cold, but very clear out on the night I got some images of Comet Lovejoy. I set up a Nikon D4 camera with a 58 mm f/1.8 lens to take 5 second exposures. Normally, when shooting star trails I go for longer exposures. The comet was visible as a faint, fuzzy blue-green ball. Three different views — still images (with different crops), as star trails, and a time-lapse video


Star Trails and Comet Lovejoy on a cold but clear winter night. The comet is the blue-green fuzzy streek moving from the center to the right of the photograph. Composite of 379 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 58 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 58 mm, f/2, 5 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC. (David J Mathre)
Star Trails and Comet Lovejoy on a cold but clear winter night. The comet is the blue-green fuzzy streek moving from the center to the right of the photograph. Composite of 379 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 58 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 58 mm, f/2, 5 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC. (David J Mathre)

Six-Years Ago (04-January-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky in New Jersey: Star and Meteor Trails.

Winter Night Sky -- Star Trails -- Quadrantids Meteors. Composite of 122 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2, 59 sec) combined using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre)
Winter Night Sky — Star Trails — Quadrantids Meteors. Composite of 122 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2, 59 sec) combined using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre)

Six-Years Ago (03-January-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky in New Jersey: Star Trails North and South.

Star and jet trails looking north from my deck. Composite of 368 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2, 59 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite created using Photoshop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum), followed by Silver Efex Pro to convert the image to B&W. (David J Mathre)
Star and jet trails looking north from my deck. Composite of 368 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2, 59 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite created using Photoshop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum), followed by Silver Efex Pro to convert the image to B&W. (David J Mathre)


Star, moon, and jet trails looking south from my deck. Composite of 361 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 59 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro (including conversion to B&W), and the composite created using Photoshop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Star, moon, and jet trails looking south from my deck. Composite of 361 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/4, 59 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro (including conversion to B&W), and the composite created using Photoshop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)


Nine-Years Ago (02-January-2009) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky: Star Trails and Night Sky Videos.

Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 343 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/4, 25 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 343 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/4, 25 sec) (David J Mathre)

 

Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 328 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/4, 25 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 328 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/4, 25 sec) (David J Mathre)

 

Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 343 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 16 mm, f/2.8, 25 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 343 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 16 mm, f/2.8, 25 sec) (David J Mathre)

Two-Years Ago (05-December-2015) — New Jersey

Late-Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Jets Through the Star-trail Vortex

These are not fireworks. The challenge here is for someone to explain how I created this star-trail image… The Fuji X-T1 camera and 18 mm f/2 lens was mounted on a tripod just outside my backdoor.

Star-trails with jets going through the vortex. Composite of images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 18 mm f/2 lens (ISO 400, 18 mm, f/4, 30 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star-trails with jets going through the vortex. Composite of images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 18 mm f/2 lens (ISO 400, 18 mm, f/4, 30 sec). (David J Mathre)