Tag: Troll

Wednesday (16-September-2020) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

While out mowing the yard, one of the Trolls guarded a Mushroom growing in the backyard. After mowing, I cleared some of the invasive “mile-a-minute” vines, and came across a Praying Mantis. I tried to move it to safety, and if female hope it is able to lay eggs for next year.

Troll guarding a Mushroom. (David J Mathre)
Troll guarding a Mushroom while I mow the lawn. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and 24-90 mm lens. (David J Mathre)
Praying Mantis. (David J Mathre)
Praying Mantis. Image taken with a Nikon N1V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. (David J Mathre)

Afternoon at the Birdfeeders: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Gray Catbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.


Afternoon at the Birdfeeders. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Contact me if you are interested in a Time-lapse Video of the Afternoon session at the Birdfeeders. My setup for the birdfeeder images is a Nikon D850 camera and 200 mm f/2 VR lens set to take one image every 5 seconds over a 5 hour period (~3600 images). The new time-lapse video format is 720p (1080 x 720 pixels) and 1 frame/second. The length of the video is about 1 hour in a 1 GB MP4 file. The previous time-lapse videos of the birdfeeders were at 12 frames/second, and to be honest were too fast to identify the birds.

Daily Electric Energy Used (41.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (47.2 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. More sun. A surplus of 6.2 kWh.

Thursday (05-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Even though it has been relatively dry, I noticed one of the outdoor trolls happy to find a mushroom that popped up overnight. While set up with the Nikon D850 camera with a 105 mm f/1.4 lens on a tripod to a focus-stacked portrait session, two garter snakes passed by next to my feet. I needed another camera, but didn’t have one with me. ARRG! The troll did jump up on top of the mushroom when it saw the snakes.

Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 50 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/1.8, 1/2500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 50 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/1.8, 1/2500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll guarding his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll standing on his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Happy Troll standing on his Mushroom. Composite of 70 focus stacked images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 105 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 64, 105 mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro Helicon Focus (method C, smoothing, 4). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (37.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More clouds, and cooler for a net surplus of 4.4 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

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Thursday (18-July-2019) — New Jersey

Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily Walkabout. My back still hurts and it continues to be hot and humid outside. I only went out for a short time with an even lighter kit than yesterday — Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens. Tiger and Spicebush Swallowtail, Monarch, and Skipper (?) butterflies. Two types of Clearwing Moths — Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) and Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). The deer were out later in the afternoon before the heavy thunderstorm (2.24″, 57 mm)


Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Monarch Butterfly. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Skipper (?) Butterfly. Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.



Click on the above image to access the individual slideshow images in my gallery.


Daily Power Use (53.4 kWh) from Sense and Solar Production (34.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy most of the day progressing to heavy rain in the afternoon. So I ended up using 19 kWh more energy that the solar panels could produce.

Current Weather Conditions

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Three-Years Ago (11-May-2016) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

Nisse Tending his crop of spring mushrooms in the forest. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 60 mm f/2.4 macro lens. (ISO 200, 60 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec).

Troll guarding mushrooms. Backyard spring nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 60 mm f/2.4 macro lens (ISO 200, 60 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Troll guarding mushrooms. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 60 mm f/2.4 macro lens (ISO 200, 60 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)

Twelve-Years Ago (25-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Vacation. Day 5: Hurtigruten Coastal Voyage Traveling North.

On the second full day of the northbound Hurtigruten voyage, the ship only stops in two ports: Trondheim (06:00-12:00) and Rørvik (20:30-21:15). Having six hours in Trondheim allowed us to spend some time to see the city. Our first stop was at Nidaros Cathedral. The exterior of the cathedral is a target rich environment for religious statues and gargoyles. But it was cold outside. I would love to go back with a perspective control lens to record all sides of the exterior of the cathedral. After leaving Trondheim, we stopped at Rørvik. The ship only stopped for 45 minutes, so we only had a short time to visit the Rørvik Coastal Museum.

Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec) (David J. Mathre)
Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec) (David J. Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/40 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/40 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 250 mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 250 mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 250 mm, f/5.6, 1/45 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 250 mm, f/5.6, 1/45 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)
Gargoyles Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)
Troll in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 28-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 400, 52 mm, f/3, 1/40 sec) (David J Mathre)
Troll in Trondheim, Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 28-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 400, 52 mm, f/3, 1/40 sec) (David J Mathre)
Rørvik Coastal Museum at Night. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 50 mm f/1.4D lens (ISO 400, 50 mm, f/1.4, 1/30 sec) (David J Mathre)
Rørvik Coastal Museum at Night. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 50 mm f/1.4D lens (ISO 400, 50 mm, f/1.4, 1/30 sec) (David J Mathre)