Sunday (04-June-2017) — New Jersey

Backyard Early Morning and Daytime Spring Nature in New Jersey.

I got up really early this morning to set a camera up to try and catch a NASA launch from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The sounding rocket was supposed to release some chemicals to form artificial clouds that would glow blue, green, and red. Unfortunately, the launch was scrubbed due to high altitude clouds. Mission Update Five-years ago I caught a previous launch from the Wallops Flight Facility. I did get enough images for a composite star-trails image. Later in the morning I took my lonely Leica T camera out to check out the new wildflowers in my backyard.

Startrails looking southeast. Backyard night sky in New Jersey. Composite of 30 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 16-35 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/4, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)
Startrails looking southeast. Backyard night sky in New Jersey. Composite of 30 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 16-35 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/4, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)


Nine-Years Ago (25-February-2008) — Colorado

Elderhostel “Photography in the Southwest” Workshop Day 1. Kelly Place & Canyon of the Ancients National Monument.

The first full day of an Elderhostel/Road Scholar photography workshop at Kelly Place — a Bed & Breakfast near Cortez, Colorado. I was attending the workshop with my Father and Brother. I went out on my own in the morning to take some pictures of Sleeping Ute mountain. After lunch walked around the site to look at some of the historical buildings and then went for a short hike into Canyon of the Ancients National Monument which is right next to Kelly’s Place. After it got dark, I set up a camera to take some star trail images.

Sleeping Ute Mountain and moon panorama on an early winter morning at Kelley's Place near Cortez, Colorado. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 20 mm, f/16, 1/1.7 sec). (David J Mathre)
Sleeping Ute Mountain and moon panorama on an early winter morning at Kelley’s Place near Cortez, Colorado. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 20 mm, f/16, 1/1.7 sec). (David J Mathre)



Larger size images from the slide show can be viewed and purchased here.



Larger size images from the slideshow can be viewed and purchased here.

Nine-Years Ago (11-February-2008) — New Jersey.

Backyard Night Sky in New Jersey: Star Trails.

Winter star trails looking south from my backyard. Composite of ten images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 17-35 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 17 mm, f/4, 600 sec). A Nikon MC-36 intervalometer was used to trigger the camera for the 10 minute exposures (with a 3 seconds delay between exposures to allow the data to be written to the CF memory card.

Winter night sky -- star and jet trails looking south. Composite of 10 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 17-35 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 17 mm, f/4, 600 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite created using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Winter night sky — star and jet trails looking south. Composite of 10 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 17-35 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 17 mm, f/4, 600 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite created using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)

Backyard Night Sky in New Jersey: Star Trails.

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

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

Star and jet trails looking north and south from my deck. Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite created using Photoshop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum).

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)



Seven-Years Ago (31-August-2009) — Alaska

Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 10: Alaska Marine Highway on the MV Columbia. Haines, Alaska.

After arriving at Haines, Alaska we disembarked from the MV Columbia. I could have slept in the RV, but decided to splurge and spend the night at the Halsingland Hotel (B&B). They even put benchmarks in the ground to mark the location of hotels in Haines — 118 feet above mean sea level. I set a camera up looking out my window to capture night sky star trails. I also managed to capture Northern Lights which I was not expecting.

Hotel Halsingland Bench Mark -- 118 Feet Above Mean Sea Level. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-300 mm lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)
Hotel Halsingland Bench Mark — 118 Feet Above Mean Sea Level. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-300 mm lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)


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