Trey’s Variety Hour #35 – Personal Photo Projects

Dallas Nagata White, Ed White, Ron Brinkmann, Todd Sisson, Varina Patel, and Scott Kublin join me and talk about their personal photo projects. We share photos and stories behind them and have just a dandy old time. Ron reveals his cool new app FreezePaint!

Podcast Options – Great ones! Get it first via…

Option 1: Subscribe for free in iTunes: http://goo.gl/ZAKd8
Option 2: It’s not in “podcast” form, but you can subscribe to My YouTube channel. http://www.youtube.com/stuckincustoms
Option 3: There are other subscription options avail on the TWIT page at http://twit.tv/tvh

“Famous” Things in Asia

I’ve noticed that Japanese and Chinese people often over-use the word “famous” in relation to things.  I’ve heard countless times:  ”See that?  It is a very famous rock.”  Or, we might pass by a cafe and someone would say, “This is a very famous cafe.”  I hear it sometimes a dozen times per day.  All these famous things, and I haven’t heard of any of them!  So, this leads me to believe that their “famous” is equivalent to our combination of words:  ”Considerably well-known to a small group of locals.”

Daily Photo -The Wild Japanese River

Here is another photo from Japan (two days in a row) – this time from a more crazy scene!

I hired a boat to take me down a rough river near Nikko.  There were many sights to be seen that I could get to from the river, so I decided to take all my equipment on this ride.  That was a bad idea!  It wasn’t my first (or last) bad idea.

Things got a little crazy in the boat sometimes, and the guys that were “steering” us down the rapids often looked pretty nervous and panicked.  When they got panicked, I got 2x panicked!

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikko, Travel

Behind-the-scenes

Enjoy this brand new video that we just shot down in the islands!

Daily Photo – The Mining Coast

And here is the final shot from the how-to video above!

Filed under the categories: Caribbean, Nikon D800, Travel, Virgin Gorda

The Histogram eBook

We have a new eBook over at Flatbooks.com about Histograms! Go grab it — it’s filled with great information and I think you’ll really enjoy it!

Favorite Fish?

While posting this photo, I was thinking of my favorite fish restaurant in the world about 20 km from this spot below.  They didn’t have my favorite kind of fish, which is black cod, but they did have a delicious selection.  What’s your favorite?

Daily Photo - Lonely River in Iceland

I wonder sometimes if I project my own emotions onto the landscape around me.  I’m really not all that dramatic, but sometimes this does seem to be the case, especially in Iceland.  Since I spend so much time there alone, I end up thinking that parts of the environs seem kind of lonely too.  And I think there is probably a lot of truth in it because I hardly ever see any other humans, so everything is very lonely!

Filed under the categories: Iceland, Isafjordur, Nikon D3X, Travel

The new Photoshop CS6 – what is your “line”?

Like you, I’ve been watching the videos of CS6 and playing with it myself. (notice the important “it” in that sentence)

Things are gettin’ a little crazy with post-processing eh? What are your limits for what you’ll do with your photos? It’s a very personal thing… I won’t judge you… I’m just interested! Here’s my post-processing line (which I reserve the right to change at any time):

I will:

• I will remove things like lightposts or ugly animals or tourists wearing Spice Girls T-shirts
• I will use HDR to bring out the colors in the shadows and dial back bright areas
• I will sharpen to bring emphasis to one area or another
• I’ll take multiple exposures on a tripod and fix one area of a photo with another exposure

I will not:

• I will not take a foreign object from one photo and put it into another (like pasting a moon over a mountain)
• I will not take a sky from one photo and paste it into the landscape of another

I might:

• Use the new Content-Aware-Move in CS6. I can’t decide! It’s a slippery slope. For example, in the photo below, I had to work so hard to find and frame these boulders in this EXACT way. Man, it would have been so easy just to go to an easier location and then re-arrange the boulders using CS6 Content-Aware-Move. But maybe that doesn’t even matter! I can’t decide… And it is soooooo slippery… If I will allow myself to “Move a Boulder 10 feet” — then maybe I would also also “Move a Moon Behind THAT Mountain” — then maybe I would also…. well… where does it stop? It’s almost like I am 6-years-old and moving stickers around a sticker book! Hehe… I’m confused… my “line” is constantly being challenged… like the border between two countries in a good game of Civ!

Daily Photo – France in Epcot

These little fabrications of countries around Epcot try really hard at being authentic, and they are often quite successful!  Sometimes bits and pieces here are a little cheesy, but I get the sense that the people that build, model, and landscape these things put a lot of time and effort (and love) into it.  I’m sure it gets down to the detail of trying to choose the right kind of fonts for the clock.

This evening was a particularly lucky one because of the clouds and the light in the sky.  This situation is so rare that I went photo-crazy for about 15 minutes while it lasted!

Filed under the categories: Disney World, Florida, Nikon D3X, Orlando, Travel

Museum Photography

Do you like to take photos in museums?  It’s very challenging…  To me, I like to try to take a photo of the actual museum or a photo of some art and its relation to the museum.  I find taking photos just of the art itself to be a little boring. It seems so obvious… and it seems like kind of a disservice to the art itself, unless you are adding something new or seeing it in a new light. It depends on the art, of course. A photo of a painting always falls flat, but a photo of a statue can be interesting.

Daily Photo – He Watches

And so it was with the emperor here in the Capital Museum in Beijing.

Do you know how hard it was to get permission to use a tripod in here? It was very very hard. And, the permission part had to be in Chinese, which adds a whole new layer of complexity to the permission-gaining-process. But, luckily I had a little team there helping me out with this stuff, and that made life a lot easier. After all the paperwork was squared away and three redundant layers of government officials were satisfied, the light was perfect for this shot. I rushed over to take it before the ink was dry!

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D3X, Travel

Behind-the-scenes – A War Worth Fighting

My friend Curtis Simmons posted this story on his blog — some more about what has been happening recently behind the scenes

And… speaking of funny YouTube videos

My kids and I love watching funny animal-related YouTube videos… the more the better!  Any you want to share with me?  I promise, I’ll click on any YouTube link that has some possible destination of animal hilarity!

Daily Photo - Suspicious Chipmunk

Why is the chipmunk so suspicious?  How much intrigue and backstabbing can there be in the world of the woodland creature?  What are the other unexpected emotional states of chipmunks?  Mildly-surprised-chipmunk?  Angst-ridden-chipmunk?  Walk-of-shame- chipmunk?  Only the internet knows…

And the internet DOES know… go do a Google video search for “Dramatic Chipmunk” – you’ll never forget it

Filed under the categories: France, Nikon D3S, Paris, Travel

YouTube Reminder

You can visit youtube.com/stuckincustoms and click “Subscribe” at the top.  Also, while there, you can dig around and find some older videos you might have missed.  Hope you have fun!

Daily Photo - Selling Flowers in South China

It was a wet, humid, but cool night when I was walking through Feng Huang.  It was one of those nights where you are not sure if you want to wear a sweatshirt or just something light.  Wearing something heavy holds the threat of getting moist and making you more uncomfortable… wearing something light holds the threat of keeping you too cold.

I saw this lady selling flowers on the side of the road.

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Travel

Behind the Scenes

Here is a new video that I just made down here in the Caribbean for you. It shows how I set up to take the photo below, along with a few others!

To see my camera equipment, lenses, and stuff, jump over to the Camera Reviews page.

Daily Photo – The Abandoned Engine Room of the Coppermine

This coppermine on the edge of Virgin Gorda was a great find thanks to Stuck On Earth! I knew about many of the main places around the island to take photos, but I may have missed this place if I wan’t using the app. Be sure to go download it – and yes – we have plans to make it for other systems as well.

Filed under the categories: Caribbean, Travel, Virgin Gorda, Virgin Islands

iPad for Photos

I remember when I was in this spot, I saw two different people using their iPads to take photos.  They were not Americans — they were Chinese people.  And then, after that, I started noticing this more and more.  I think Americans are more “embarrassed” (for lack of a better word) to use their iPads for photography, but this is just anecdotal… I’ll have to look around more to see if this trend is consistant across cultures!

Daily Photo - Along the River in Lijiang

While I walked along one of the many little streams that flowed through the village, restaurants, cafes, shops, and homes lined the sides.  Each one was decorated a little bit differently with unique lanterns, fauna, decor, windows, furniture, and flowers.  You could stop almost anywhere to take a photo!  So, well, I did.

Switching lenses is still a bit of a pain.  The two lenses I used the most there were the 14-24 and the 28-300.  But many shots were kind of right around that 20-35mm zone, which menat I was never really sure of which lens to use… so I would end up swapping back and forth a lot until it felt right!

Filed under the categories: China, Lijiang, Travel

Zorbing on the South Island

Do any of my NZ experts know if there is any zorbing on the south island anywhere?  I know there is a lot around Rotorua and stuff… where there are green hills the multiply like rabbits… but surely there must be a few options in the south, yes?

Daily Photo - Cart Racing in Queenstown

This may be my son’s favorite thing about Queenstown!  In the summer, they open up this area at the top of the mountain where you can luge all day long.  He never gets tired of it – and neither do I!  When we go back, we’ll have to see if we can get some kind of a season pass or something.

He gets a little rough, and he’s a little bit ruthless.  But I have a good 100 pounds on him, which helps everywhere except for the curves.  He spins around the corners like Yoshi, and I’m a little more like Bowser…

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Nikon D3X, Queenstown, Travel

New Flatbooks Available

So many great authors and topics now! Hit Flatbooks.com right now to see the latest offerings. You’ll be impressed – and I’m sure you’ll find something you like there!

Daily Photo – Sunset in Virgin Gorda

I’m having a great time in Virgin Gorda! I took this a few nights ago while waiting on the Supermoon! I was here on the rocky coast (Savannah Beach) all alone when I took this photo, and I had an idea for a photo plus processing… it turned out to be much more painstaking than I originally thought, but I learned a few things along the way… the light and the motion of the water was so… intoxicating… that I wanted to bring it back to life here for you all…

Some Details

I know most of you don’t zoom into 100% on these photos, so I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the details of this one in particular.

Filed under the categories: Caribbean, Travel, Virgin Gorda

My D3X on eBay – Ends Soon!

If you want to get my Nikon D3X on eBay, you better bid soon… time is running out!

Sunrise vs. Sunset Panic

Even though I love a good sunset or sunrise, now most of mine have an element of “panic” built into them.  No matter how  much I prepare, there are always last-minute adjustments in my camera settings, location, composition, and other miscellaneous things that are happening.  I rarely go to a “special lookout” where a bunch of other photographers go.  Those can be kind of easy… because you just kind of chill out and wait around like everyone else.  There are SOME locations like that, but for the most part, I’m trying to squeeze out as many photos, compositions, and scenarios as possible within a highly compressed time.

And, if I am going to panic, I’d rather run around and panic at sunset rather than sunrise.  Mostly because the sunrise has me a little groggy and out-of-sorts from putting on my socks inside out in the dark…

Daily Photo - San Francisco Before Sunrise

Before I started going to the main location, Tom and I pulled over to the side of the road in Sausalito to get this picture.  The water was too blue and the colors were too interesting to drive on by!  We wanted to be quick though… so we didn’t miss the sun peaking over the horizon at the main location.

Filed under the categories: California, Nikon D3X, San Francisco, Travel