summer - David Mathre Photography

Sunday (03-July-2011) — New Jersey

Early Summer Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

I got up early this morning to drive to the High Point monument in northern New Jersey. It was raining when I left, but I hoped that it would clear up by the time I got there. Just the opposite — heavy rain when I got there. Furthermore, the front gate was still locked. I gave up and drove back the long route along the Delaware River. Because of the rain there was very little traffic. I’ve used up most of my vacation this year between the Patagonia workshop with Thom Hogan and the Central America & Panama Canal Enrichment Voyage – Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. As such, I know that I am not going to be able to do a cross-country road trip this year so it was good to get a long drive in this holiday weekend.

When I got home there was a lull in the rain and I saw that the wild raspberries were starting to ripen. In order to get an image of a cluster of the berries in focus with everything else out of focus I took a series of images using a focus rail to adjust the camera to subject distance over a 3 cm distance with a macro lens. I then used Helicon Focus to make a composite image from the 20 images. The first image is the result. The next three images are the first (front focus), mid (middle focus), and last (back focus) images. Even though there was some (not much) movement due to wind, Helicon Focus did a great job adjusting the images so all of the composite images were correctly registered.

Wild Raspberry Cluster. Early Summer Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 100, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) with SB900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. Helicon Focus composite of 20 images. (David J Mathre) — Wild Raspberry Cluster. Early Summer Backyard Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens + TC-E III 20 teleconverter (ISO 100, 210 mm, f/6, 1/60 sec) with SB900 flash. Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5. Helicon Focus composite of 20 images.

Thursday (30-June-2011) — New Jersey

Summer in New Jersey: Independence Day Fireworks.

Montgomery Township in New Jersey typically has their Independence Day Fireworks celebration a few days before the 4th of July. This year it will be tonight. I have a great location to view the fireworks just down the road from my house. It is on a hill that looks down on the high school where the main event occurs.

Winston Hall has published an online guide for Photographing Fireworks with a DSLR camera.

I set up one camera set to do time-lapsed images (D3x with 180 mm f/2.8 lens), and a second camera do DSLR Video (D3x with 85 mm f/1.4 lens). The following 12 images were from the D3x and 180 mm lens. I haven’t used the 180 mm f/2.8 prime lens for some time and forgot how sharp this lens can be.

Montgomery Township Independence Day Fireworks 2011. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 180 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 180 mm, f/11, 4 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6. (David J Mathre) — Montgomery Township Independence Day Fireworks 2011. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 180 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 180 mm, f/11, 4 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6.

Monday (27-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey.

While sitting on my deck this evening, I captured images of some Grey Catbirds. Although the birds are pretty drab, they are good for practicing good long-lens technique. I used a Nikon D300 camera. The smaller DX sensor gives the illusion of 1.5x magnification for the 600 mm lens. I can get the same effect by using the D3x camera and cropping to the same size. Down side for the D300 camera is that the sensor is not as good in low light, and that the processing speed and buffer is not as fast as the D3 series camera bodies.

I also saw a Ruby Hummingbird, however it was too close to focus with the lens I was using. There is nothing much in bloom right now, so I might get a hummingbird feeder to see if I can get some local hummingbird images.

Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 250, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 250, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Grey Catbird. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/200 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.

Monday (27-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summer Nature in New Jersey.

As this doe was eating clover, she was being eaten by a swarm of flies. She didn’t have her fawn along this evening.

Doe Covered with Flies Eating Clover. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 500 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Doe Covered with Flies Eating Clover. Early Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 500 mm f/4 lens (ISO 200, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Focus Magic, Nik, and Photoshop CS5.

Friday (24-June-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Early Summer Nature in New Jersey.

Image of a Yellow Prickly Pear Cactus flower taken just after an early summer thunderstorm. Unlike the White Yucca flowers, the deer don’t appear to be interested in the Prickly Pear Cactus flower.

Yellow Prickly Pear Flower after Rain. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica D-Lux 5 (ISO 80, 19.2 mm, f/3.3, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Yellow Prickly Pear Flower after Rain. Summer in New Jersey. Image taken with a Leica D-Lux 5 (ISO 80, 19.2 mm, f/3.3, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CS5.