Wednesday (20-June-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Late Spring Nighttime Nature in New Jersey.

Firefly Trails. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 70-200 mm lens or Nikon D4 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens. Need to work on getting the aperture and focus synchronized. The first image has both sharp and blurred images, whereas the second one has more blurred images.

Firefly Trails. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 400, 70 mm, f/4, 1/30 sec). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 400, 70 mm, f/4, 1/30 sec). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/2, 1/30 sec). (David J Mathre)
Firefly Trails. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/2, 1/30 sec). (David J Mathre)

One-Year Ago (17-May-2014) — Texas

South Texas Birding Photo Safari with Jason Odell Day 2.

Male Painted Bunting about to have a bird bath in a pool at Campos Viejos Ranch in Southern Texas. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 640, 600 mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 8, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC 2014.

Male Painted Bunting Having a Bird Bath at Campos Viejos Ranch in Southern Texas. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 450, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/2500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Male Painted Bunting About to Have a Bird Bath at Campos Viejos Ranch in Southern Texas. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 450, 600 mm, f/5.6, 1/2500 sec). (David J Mathre)

Two-Years Ago (19-May-2012) — New Jersey

Springtime in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.

I had gone for a walkabout at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. There was a family of Canada Geese swimming in the pond near the parking lot. After trying a number of different angles, I finally managed to catch them in formation. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 adapter + 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). FOV = 540 mm with a 35 mm sensor.

Two Canadian Geese + Seven Goslings. Sourland Mountain Preserve in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 adapter + 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). FOV = 540 mm with a 35 mm sensor. (David J Mathre)
Two Canadian Geese + Seven Goslings. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 adapter + 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)

Six-Years Ago (04-May-2008) — Colorado

Early Spring Nature in Colorado.

Horned Lark at Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge.  Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).

Horned Lark in the wetlands of the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/1250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Horned Lark in the wetlands of the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/1250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (01-May-2014) — New Jersey

Backyard Spring Nature in New Jersey.

Carpenter Bee in Flight. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 800, 300 mm, f/4, 1/640 sec). This is a crop from the full image. I did this hand-held, and had to manually focus. No VR with this lens. So lots of out of focus images to get one or two in focus.

Carpenter Bee in Flight. Backyard Spring Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 800, 300 mm, f/4, 1/640 sec). This is a crop from the full image. I did this hand-held, and had to manually focus. No VR with this lens. So lots of out of focus images. (David J Mathre)
Carpenter Bee in Flight. Backyard Spring Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon Df camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 800, 300 mm, f/4, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)