One-Year Ago (27-August-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Startrails Looking North. The moon was out, lighting up the chimney and Sycamore trees. Composite of 60 images taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 10.5 mm, f/4, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro with the composite processed using Phototshop CC Statistics/Maximum.

Startrails Looking North. Composite of 60 images taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 10.5 mm, f/4, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro with the composite processed using Phototshop CC Statistics/Maximum. (David J Mathre)
Startrails Looking North. Composite of 60 images taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 10.5 mm, f/4, 120 sec).(David J Mathre)

Four-Years Ago (27-August-2012) — North Atlantic Ocean

Gone to see Europe. Semester at Sea. Fall 2012 Semester Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 05: At Sea, North Atlantic Ocean.

A Bit Rough Crossing the North Atlantic Ocean. Splash from the waves made it up to my deck 5 cabin on the MV Explorer. I didn’t get sea sick, but there were not many that showed up for lunch or dinner.  Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5, 1/320 sec).

Heavy Seas. Waves breaking up to my cabin window.  Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Heavy Seas. Waves breaking up to my cabin window.  Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/5, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)

Ten-Years Ago (27-August-2006) — Michigan

Gone to See America 2006 Driving Tour. Day 2: Northern Peninsula of Michigan.

Miners Castle at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Image taken with a Nikon D200 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 85 mm, f/4.5, 1/750 sec). Apparently there was a 2nd pillar of rocks on top of the castle that collapsed in April that year.

I only had the camera a few days, and reading the Nikon manual didn’t help much. Unfortunately, I didn’t know better and only shot jpg images during my “Gone to See America 2009 Roadtrip”. Every now and then I surprised myself with an image that I really liked. And thus got hooked on digital photography.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan. Image taken with a Nikon D200 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 85 mm, f/4.5, 1/750 sec). (David J. Mathre)
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan. Image taken with a Nikon D200 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 85 mm, f/4.5, 1/750 sec). (David J. Mathre)

Ten-Years Ago (27-August-2006) — Michigan

Gone to See America 2006 Driving Tour. Day 2: Northern Peninsula of Michigan.

Ring-billed Gull (imm.) Mackinac State Park. Image taken with a Nikon D200 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). It was ten years ago, and I wasn’t good at focusing or composing an image (without cutting the foot off).

Ring-billed Gull (imm.) Mackinac State Park. Image taken with a Nikon D200 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Ring-billed Gull (imm.) Mackinac State Park. Image taken with a Nikon D200 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Friday (26-August-2016) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

American Goldfinch Really Like Thistle Seeds.  Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/7, 1/800 sec).

Goldfinch Eating Thistle Seeds. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/7.1, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)
Goldfinch Eating Thistle Seeds. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/7.1, 1/800 sec). (David J Mathre)

It was too hot Wednesday when I did my walkabout through the Sourland Mountain Preserve. I didn’t try it yesterday, but gave it a short try today as I am still recovering from Lyme disease. I told myself that I wouldn’t stay out more than an hour, but ended up spending almost two hours. I have three goals at this time of the year: 1) Monarch Butterflies, 2) Hummingbird Clearwing Hummingbird Moths, and 3) Praying Mantis. Bonus points for Praying Mantis with prey. I got all three plus a couple of  bonus images I wasn’t expecting today. I ended up spending nearly two hours out on my walkabout and was really overheated when I got home. A short list of images I took : 1) Turtle; 2) Fritillary butterfly; 3) Hummingbird Clearwing moth; 4) Praying Mantis; 5) Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly mating; 6) Monarch butterfly; 7) Praying Mantis with a Tiger Swallowtail for lunch; 8) American Goldfinch; 9) Frog in the pond; and 10:) American Bittern. I ended up spending two hour in the Sourland Preserve, and was exhausted after getting home. It was way too hot.

Question for those that actually read this far. Should I only do single image in a post, or are albums/collections OK? If albums/collections are OK, only 4 images (so all will be seen, and users understand how to see the image in full screen mode) or as many images as I feel are good? Is it OK when I post images from this day of the year (going back 10 years)? Should they be as processed when first posted, or reprocessed using current photo editing tools (or both)? Is it OK when I post time-lapsed videos? It doesn’t seem like anyone views the time-lapse videos.

Both my “Image of the day” photo blog https://david.mathre.com
and my photo gallery http://davidmathre.com need significant updates and/or redesign. I am interested in comments about what does and doesn’t work as I start on a redesign project.