Stuck In Customs

Newsletter full of Workshop Announcements!

The Stuck In Customs Newsletter #12 just flew out the door with more information on these two events. I’m only going to do two workshops in 2010, and these will be great weekend events. Each of them will be small and intimate, just like the one in Austin so there is plenty of one-on-one time.

Daily Photo – The Peaceful Ryokan Baths of Hakone

Whilst on my last trip to Japan, I did feel like a samurai photographer, traveling the countryside hard by day, and sleeping in ryokan by night.

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn, and they feature everything one might expect from the visions that are coming in and out of your head.  There is a tatami floor, with a mat or futon upon it.  The rooms are separated by classical sliding doors of rice paper.  There are also communal or private hot baths for relaxation.  In the one below, I had a private bath that overlooked the countryside near Hakone.  This room also came with a traditional Japanese dinner served by women in full and traditional Japanese outfits.

After dinner, and by the time I got myself out of that tub, I think I was more physically drained than I had ever been in my life… it was just wonderful… and I look forward to more ryokans on this next trip!

New Newsletter Soon!

We are putting the finishing touches on the next free Newsletter. Be sure to subscribe to get something free and pretty for your inbox… It’s my goal to make it the prettiest thing in your email each month! It’s really been growing a lot lately, thanks to you guys and gals forwarding it to family and friends. Thank you for that!

Daily Photo – The Overgrown Crypt

Here is another shot from La Recoleta cemetery in Argentina. Every crypt seemed to have its own story… I wish I could have heard the tales of each one. But, on the plus side, I did have my over-active imagination to fill in the blanks.

All of my shots from La Recoleta (click on the “Buenos Aires” tag here in the post to see the others) were handheld because my tripod was lost with the rest of my luggage. Usually, I never check my tripod for just that very reason! I just don’t really trust those people… And I’ve never had a problem bringing it on the plane except for one time when a busy-body security lady told me it was 1-inch too long. 1 inch!

Statesman Texas Social Media Awards

I was awarded one of the 25 winners without even knowing I was nominated. Cool! Really, it’s thanks to all of you… All I do is try my best to put up an interesting photo every day and share a little bit about the circumstances and the process. I’m glad it resonates!

Be sure to check that list – you are bound to discover a few other people in the Texas landscape that you may find interesting…

The Bridge – Edited with Topaz Adjust 4

I used Topaz Adjust 4 (try it on the Topaz Website) to help add a nice touch to the bridge photo today.  Have you guys noticed much difference between it and the previous Topaz Adjust 3?  I notice the UI is better, and a few other things, but no other big bullet points I can think of.  Adjust 3 was already good enough!  It has caused a few graphics problems for me from time to time, like it doesn’t quite complete processing the image.  Has anyone else noticed that?

Daily Photo – The Tolkienesque Bridge

I normally don’t put two photos from the same city (or even country!) back-to-back in consecutive days, but I decided to award Queenstown this honor. It is very high on my list of cities to move to! I just need to check on a few things like broadband availability and a good spot to plop the family down, and I’ll be in business!

This is from the main park in Queenstown. It was as quaint as could be. The evening light made everything a little bit extra-colorful, and some clever little hobbit-engineer, found it fitting to put this nice little stone bridge across the pond. It is all quite nice, no?

Bad News for Austin Photowalk

I was thinking about planning a mega SXSW photowalk in Austin, but I have decided not to. They take a lot of work to plan out and execute on… I’m afraid I just don’t have the time to make it happen!

I know many of you are coming to Austin for SXSW – maybe I will see you around the streets!

Daily Photo – Mountainstorm

I took an evening drive to Glenorchy, which is about 50 km outside of Queenstown. It’s one of the windiest drives in the world, especially in the middle of a violent storm! The rain stopped for a short time while I went on a short hike to capture the mountains across the lake.

The wind was so intense. After setting up the tripod and setting up the interval timer, I had to shield the whole thing with my body, by leaning into the wind on the more threatening side of the camera. As I was doing this, I was wondering if anyone would really want to be my assistant. it’s not nearly as glamorous as you might think!

Noiseware Review

During my talk in New Zealand, I was asked about noise reduction, which is always a problem!  I mentioned that I think most of the main noise reduction software packages are somewhat interchangable in terms of effectiveness.  It comes down, really, to whatever User Interface you think is easiest and most intuitive.  For me, it is Noiseware.  If you want more information and a quick sample, see my Noiseware Review.

I have some more screenshots I’ll be adding soon so you can see more samples of what it can do…

Previous Photo of the Tango

I posted this one about a year ago, and this is further evidence of how I slooooowly edit my photos from a trip… I still have heaps from Argentina! Anyway, I thought you might like to see this one, since I am posting another one of the same subject matter below.

Daily Photo – The Tango in Buenos Aires

Did you know that now that I am hosting my images at SmugMug that it is even easier to get the “data” about how I took the shot?

If you zoom in and click on it to get to the gallery video, on the mouseover, you will see “Photo Info” with a little blue “i”.  Clicking on that will give you the ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and all that sort of thing.  You’ll be in good shape!  Some people want me to put all that info into every blog post, but it just takes too long I am afraid… but it is all there and easy to grab if you are interested.

After I shot the high-altitude picture from the top of this tango show in Buenos Aires, I went down by the stage to get a closeup of some of the action.

Everyone loves the tango, don’t they?

Visit Ian Brodie at HobbitonTours!

Little did I know that one of my newsletter subscribers is also an HDR enthusiast and one of the guys at HobbitonTours.com! How cool! He sent me a nice note before I came, offering to take my family and I on a private tour of the Shire. Anyway, I wanted to make sure to link back to his website, even though he did not ask me for any favors. Also, I should tell you that Ian Brodie made the official guidebook for the Lord of the Rings tour around New Zealand, and it shows where every scene was filmed… kind of a fun way to do a travel guide!

One of the coolest things about this is that the set is currently being rebuilt for the two-part move of The Hobbit! The landscaping crew is already there, moving around trees, shrubs, and they even have the stakes in the ground to rebuild the Green Dragon. I understand that tours of the Hobbiton Movie Set will still go on, even while they are getting ready to film The Hobbit.

Much of the original set has been destroyed from rain and storms and general wear-and-tear, but you can still see where many of the main Shire shots were taken. If you are a fan of Hobbits, then you simply have to go!

Behind-the-scenes Video

Want to see how I made this shot? Here is a behind-the-scenes video of me talking about the shot with Ian.

Daily Photo – Bilbo’s Hobbit Hole and the Party Tree in the Shire

I showed my 8-year-old son all the Lord of the Rings movies prior to our trip to NZ. He then re-watched the first one three times on the car trip… so he was just as excited as I when we arrived.

You might remember Bilbo Baggins’ hobbit hole and all the scenes with Frodo and Gandalf inside. That is it right there, on the right hand side at the top. The huge tree on the left is the “party tree”, which was the centerpiece for the big party for Bilbo’s birthday. It was the one of the main reasons that Peter Jackson chose this remote farm outside of Matamata on the North Island.

Topaz Detail vs. Topaz Adjust?

The photo below was made using Topaz Detail. I get the question a lot what is better – Topaz Detail or Topaz Adjust? It’s a good question. I’m honestly not sure I have an answer. I use both a lot – they are similar, but different enough to stay two different products.

If you want to investigate more, I have a Topaz Adjust Review and a Topaz Detail Review here on the site.

Daily Photo – Japanese Badass Schoolgirl in Harajuku

Harajuku is one of the most interesting areas of Tokyo! It’s filled with some of the most interesting-looking people you’ll ever see. They get dressed up in all kinds of get-ups and parade through the streets (which also means they don’t mind being in a photograph). The stores in the area cater to everything from goth to glam-rock to 100 other variations that I can’t even describe.

I spied this one below, gliding through the streets and zoomed in for a quick one.

Thanks Christchurch!

I very much enjoyed the photowalk and talk yesterday. Everyone was genuinely nice and engaged. I got a bunch of good questions. People in NZ were even nicer than I expected! I look forward to seeing the Flickr group for the event…and perusing people’s shots! Feel free to post it below!

Daily Photo – The Flying Buttress

I mentioned during the photowalk tonight this effect of the wide-angle lens. Whenever you aim it above the horizon, everything leans in a bit. Now, I occasionally get negative comments that think that this “leaning” looks bad, unprofessional, and unrealistic. I have to disagree! It doesn’t bother me a bit. My eye adjusts, and, well, I think it just looks cool.

The church below is from Dresden, Germany.  I am 98% sure of this… I don’t know why I am having trouble remembering…  I think I am getting old.  I did have to wake up at 5 AM to go to the bathroom last night… a bad sign.

SmugMug Contest Winner Announced!

Our SmugMug Portfolio contest has a winner! Congratulations to Hunter Luisi!

He has won the fabulous prizes of:

• An Ultimate Version of the Stuck In Customs Textures Tutorial
• and… tuition payment for the new workshop: Vacation with Vanelli!

Daily Photo: Another Chihuly Masterpiece

Isn’t there some point when you can just stop saying “masterpiece”? I mean, isn’t everything he does considered a masterpiece? It’s like there should be a whole new elite lexicon – special words for descriptions, all of which mean “masterpiece” or better.

This gem is at his new gallery in Las Vegas. You just have to go see that place. The people inside were very nice and let me take my time to set up and properly get the light as it truly was. I’m not sure they could figure out what the heck I was doing with my camera and the process! But that’s okay. We kept up good conversation while I was going through my motions… and most of our conversation centered around how much we admire Dale!

New Video – What’s in Trey’s Camera Bag?

I put this video on a special Camera Bag page here on the site — and included the link in the recent newsletter that went out a few days ago. It has a few comments on there with model numbers and the like, if you are interested!

Cali Lewis and John P met me for lunch one day in Texas, and John had his handy-dandy video camera. I was just about to leave for a long photo-adventure, and we decided to use the opportunity to document what is in my bag. I know many people are interested in this, so here we go!

Cali can be seen on Calilewis.me and is the host of Geekbrief.TV. You can find John P at OneMansBlog.com. Thanks again – and I hope you guys enjoy seeing what is on the inside.

I mention some Photography Gadgets there in the video — and if you want more information on any of the things inside, see my “Reviews” area of the website.

Daily Photo – The Remarkable Mood

Oh wow do I love New Zealand!  Every city I have been to is remarkable in its own way, and I was particularly struck by the environs around Queenstown. It’s just an amazing place. I’ve been completely swamped with photo activities, but I stayed up till 4 AM in my “HomeCar” (as my daughter calls it) to process this photo. It’s all a perfectly magical place, as you can plainly see here. This was the beginning of a three-hour sunset drive that went around this same lake… every stop was more moody than the next.

That mountain range? It’s called “The Remarkables”. What a cool name.