Nine-Years Ago (01-September-2006) — Wyoming

Gone to See America 2006 Driving Tour. Day 7: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

Two weeks before my “Gone to See America 2006 Trip” I bought my first DSLR camera (a Nikon D200, based on a recommendation from my brother) and two lenses. I admit I didn’t know how to use the camera, and the manual was not much help. As soon as I got back from the trip I knew I needed to learn a lot more. Even back then I could tell that there was good and really bad information on the web. Tom Hogan’s D200 book was much more helpful than the Nikon manual supplied with the camera.

Today I am including a before and after image from that trip. When I went on the “Gone to See America 2006 trip” I didn’t know any better, and only saved JPG images — which meant there was much less information available later for reprocessing. Since then, I only saved the RAW image data. You need to look at the full images to see the difference of nine years of better programs, and better knowledge of how to reprocess images (and this was using the out of the camera JPG image, not the full RAW image data which I didn’t have). I have to admit since then I have saved every image — good, bad, and ugly. You learn from the bad and ugly. Never know when a new program will be developed to convert it to something useful. You also get ideas if you ever go back to the same location.

I hope to hear from viewers if they do see a difference in these images.

Jenny Lake and Reflections. Grand Teton National Park. Image taken with a Nikon D200 camera and 18-70 mm kit lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). Original JPG processed with Nikon Capture NX2 (David J Mathre)
Jenny Lake and Reflections. Grand Teton National Park. Image taken with a Nikon D200 camera and 18-70 mm kit lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). Original JPG processed with Nikon Capture NX2 (David J Mathre)
Jenny Lake and Reflections. Grand Teton National Park. Image taken with a Nikon D200 camera and 18-70 mm kit lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). Original JPG processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and NIK Color Efex Pro (David J Mathre)
Jenny Lake and Reflections. Grand Teton National Park. Image taken with a Nikon D200 camera and 18-70 mm kit lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). Original JPG processed with Capture One Pro, Photoshop CC, and NIK Color Efex Pro (David J Mathre)

Six-Years Ago (30-August-2009) — Alaska

Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 09: Alaska Marine Highway on the MV Columbia.

Bald Eagle on Channel Marker 54 along the Wrangle Narrows.  From the deck of the MV Columbia on the Alaska Marine Highway. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 280 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec).

Bald Eagle on Channel Marker 54 From the deck of the MV Columbia (Alaska Marine Highway). Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 280 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)
Bald Eagle on Channel Marker 54 From the deck of the MV Columbia (Alaska Marine Highway). Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 280 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)

One-Year Ago (07-August-2014) — Finland

Gone to See Europe 2014. Day 68: Semester at Sea, Summer 2014 Semester Voyage. Rovaniemi, Finland.

Tourist Trap, Santa Village in Rovaniemi, Finland. The white line marking the Arctic Circle that just happens to lead to Santa’s Workshop is off by 50 meters (~150 feet). After entering the “free” Disney like/horror house and finally reach Santa’s chamber we found that no cameras were allowed, and you need to pay 40 euros to have you picture taken next to Santa. There were several folks with me that wanted to take my picture next to Santa to compare beards. We walked out. The next day my beard fell off… Reindeer and Sami Field Trip. Image taken with a Fuji XT1 camera and Bower 8 mm fisheye lens (ISO 400, 8 mm, f/8, 1/4000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC 2014.

Tourist Trap, Santa Village in Rovaniemi, Finland. Image taken with a Fuji XT1 camera and Bower 8 mm fisheye lens (ISO 400, 8 mm, f/8, 1/4000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC 2014. (David J Mathre)
Tourist Trap, Santa Village in Rovaniemi, Finland. Reindeer and Sammi Field Trip. Image taken with a Fuji XT1 camera and Bower 8 mm fisheye lens (ISO 400, 8 mm, f/8, 1/4000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC 2014. (David J Mathre)

Five Years Ago (06-August-2010) — California

Gone to See America August 2010 Road Trip. Day 6: Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant. Bodie State Historic Park.

Our third stop on the second day of the Eastern Sierra Photo Workshop at Bodie State Historic park. This is a gold mining ghost town maintained by California in a state of arrested development or decline. There are lots, and lots of folks that visit to photograph the many buildings and artifacts in the park, so you often have to wait to get images free of tourists or other photographers. After a while, I didn’t mind including people in the images to give prospective. This is part three of three sets of images from Bodie.


Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.

Five-Years Ago (06-August-2010) — California

Gone to See America August 2010 Road Trip. Day 6: Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant. Bodie State Historic Park.

Female Grouse Hiding in the Grass.  Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/16, 1/50 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC. It was really hard getting close to the bird with a wide lens… Note that I initially thought this was a Ruffed Grouse, but after reviewing location maps, think it is a Sooty Grouse. Thoughts???

Female Grouse Hiding in the Grass.  Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/16, 1/50 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC. (David J Mathre)
Female Grouse Hiding in the Grass.  Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/16, 1/50 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and Photoshop CC. (David J Mathre)