I noticed that one of my local rabbits had some big ticks on its neck. It was trying to rub them off without much luck.

I wanted to see and photograph the annular eclipse today. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the road trip out west due to a meeting in New Jersey that I need to attend Monday. I do hope to photograph the Venus transit early in June. Weather permitting this should be possible from New Jersey.

Rabbit Trying to Remove the Big Ticks on its Neck. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 900, 500 mm, f/4, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)

I know that tadpoles grow fast, but I don’t think this fast!!!! Compare with 11-May-2012.

Bull Frog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Spring Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 400, 200 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). FOV = 540 mm with a 35 mm sensor. (David J Mathre)

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GPS: N40 28.135 W74 41.962
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The Rhododendorn’s that the deer didn’t eat last winter are currently in bloom. The following five pictures are the same image processed differently. The first image is the straight out of the camera imbedded jpg image with no post processing. Next next four pictures were processed with Phase One Capture One Pro 6; Nikon Capture NX2; Adobe Lightroom 4; and Adobe Photoshop CS6.

I’m interested in comments which version you like or dislike.

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Out of the camera imbedded jpg image. (David J Mathre)

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Phase One - Capture One Pro 6 (vivid, levels, vignetting). (David J Mathre)

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Nikon Capture NX2 (levels, noise reduction). (David J Mathre)

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Lightroom 4 (Adobe Camera Raw 7). (David J Mathre)

Cluster of Rhododendron Flowers. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 and 30-100 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 41.2 mm, f/4, 1/60 sec). Raw image processed with Photoshop CS6 (Adobe Camera Raw 7). (David J Mathre)

I stopped by the nearby Sourland Mountain Preserve on the way home from work to see what is new this spring. I was mainly looking for wildflowers and butteflies. One of the first things I found was hundreds, if not thousands of tadpoles at the edge of the pond. In a few weeks there are going to be a lot of frogs!

Tadpoles -- The Frogs Will Be Coming. Pond at Sourlands Mountain Nature Preserve in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon V1 and 85 mm f/1.4G lens and FT1 adapter. (ISO 100, 85 mm, f/5, 1/250 sec). FOV equiv to 230 mm on a 35 mm full frame camera. (David J Mathre)

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GPS: N40 28.135 W74 41.962
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ANPAT (Annual Nikonians Photography Adventure Trip) 12 was announced yesterday. It will be in New Mexico this October. I previously attended ANPAT 7 (Grand Teton & Yellowstone), ANPAT 8 (Yosemite), and ANPAT 9 (Denali) but missed the last two ANPAT 10 (Olympic Pacific Northwest) and ANPAT 11 (Utah Bryce & Zion). I look forward to seeing old friends again, little sleep, and lots of photography. For more information check out: ANPAT 12

New Mexico Official Scenic Historic Marker for the Trinity Site. Image taken with a Nikon D200 and 18-70 mm kit lens (ISO 400, 62 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec) (David J. Mathre)

While visiting Rocky Mountain National Park five years ago today, I found this butterfly warming itself in the sun on a pile of snow and ice. I was surprised to see a butterfly out this early at a high elevation.

Butterfly Warming in the Sun on Snow and Ice. Early Spring in Rocky Mountain National Park. Image taken with a Nikon D200 and 18-200 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 200 mm, f/9, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)

Early this morning NASA launched five sounding rockets from Wallops Island, Virginia over seven minutes to study the jet stream in the upper atmosphere at the edge of space. Once the rockets reached the thermosphere they were set to release trimethyaluminum that would react to create a cloud of aluminum oxide. This mission has been canceled several times waiting for clear skies from New Jersey to South Carolina. I set up a Nikon D3x camera with a 14-24 mm f/2.8 wide angle lens and pointed it south east to capture an image every minute starting just after midnight to see if I could to catch something from the mission. The rockets were launched starting just before 5 AM (EDT).

The following is a composite of 40 images combined using startrails showing the release from all 5 rockets. You see the star trails, a couple of jet trails, all five of the ATREX rocket cloud releases and as a bonus a meteor trail.

NASA ATREX Jet Stream Study Lights up The Night Sky. Composite of 40 images taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec) processed using DxO Pro, and Startrails. (David J Mathre)

I also created a time lapsed-video of the launch.

I have gone the entire winter and only saw a couple of Stink Bugs in the house. So tonight, while cooking dinner this Stink Bug decided to become a target while I was cooking dinner.

Just wondering if anyone is viewing my “Image of the Day” photoblog”. I have not posted anything for the last month, and didn’t get any feedback wondering where I was or if there would be more posts. The blog has been getting 20-40 spam messages a day to older posts, which I do not pass forward. At the same time, I have been posting images almost every day to Google+, mainly to various “Daily Photography Themes“. For these posts, I get many pluses (+) and comments. I am trying to figure out if there is a real audience to “My Image of the Day” photoblog. Please comment either to this blog or by e-mail (link upper right).