Video on YouTube – Japan: Heartbeats of Time

A little tweety birdy told me that smooth operator Frederick Van mentioned this video on This Week in Photography. So, I thought I would use the YouTube occasion to bump it back to the top!

If you want to know how I did this, visit the Stuck In Motion page.

So, I have a dumb question for all you video-smarties out there! I first put this video on Vimeo. By default, it has HD and seems to produce a smooth, HD signal. YouTube, on the other hand, has a more tricky HD Embed option. When I choose it, YouTube tries to force it to 1300 pixels wide, which is wider than this page. I’d be happy with 900 across. Any ideas?

Daily Photo – Traditional Japanese Woman in Tokyo

A few weeks ago I said I was working on some tips and tricks for taking photos of people. I haven’t forgotten about that promise! I’ve just been super-busy. And now I will be in Iceland for about two weeks… but it is still on my to-do list!

Japan is of course a great place to take photos of people… and, if you are like me (I suspect you are, since you are a regular), you like watching people. It’s especially nice to watch people when they look a little different and their mannerisms vary slightly from what we expect. Making that whole experience even more intense is the pure fun of trying to capture a whole person with a single photo.

Tokyo was full of all sorts of pedestrians. Most of them are modern — or, rather, neo-modern. They sport the latest fashions and are as flamboyant as any nation that is comfortable with itself. But, on occasion, you see a traditional Japanese woman gliding through the streets. These sorts of anachronisms are wonderful subjects.

You may also notice her traditional two-toed shoes.  I wore these a lot inside ryokan — the big toe goes into the first slot and the rest of your nonsense toes go into the other part.  They’re a bit like mittens… strange but quite comfy.  How she kept hers dry and clean in the wet streets remains a mystery!

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikon D3S, Tokyo, Travel

Two Weeks in Iceland! Watch for me Live on This Iceland Webcam. I should be strolling in and out of those from time to time. To the right, you can see some of my upcoming notes from the trip. I’ll be focused on the coasts with a concentration on the fjords in the northwest part of the country. We are getting close to 24 hours of daylight, so I think this will be an amazing time to go. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, feel free to let me know! As you all know, Iceland is one of my favorite places in the world for photography. You can see the entire Iceland Photo Collection here — several pages there for you to enjoy!

Full Photomatix 4.0 Preview

I’ll be sure to post it when it is ready on the Photomatix Review page. Actually, even better than a preview, I will do a quick head-to-head with Adobe Photoshop CS5. It’s all pretty much complete… just want to get a few more metrics for you.

I would like to get it up this weekend… not sure – a lot of busy stuff lately!

Daily Photo – The RAW Fireworks (and yes, that is a handheld single shot)

So, I have in my hot little hands an Advance Copy of Photomatix Pro 4.0 (BTW, the STUCKINCUSTOMS Coupon Code will still save you the most money). Wow this thing is cool! I’m in the middle of a full review/preview. This isn’t really it… just a preview of a preview. I know… how lame of me, but I am so excited that I want to leak out a few details.

Today’s fireworks photo below from Disney World a few nights ago was just processed with Photomatix 4. This is from a single RAW photo. This was a handheld shot as I was walking along a pathway near the Crystal Palace. Amazing, eh?

Well, I can’t take all the credit – so much goes to Photomatix Pro. Here are a few points for you to chew on:

• There is all new Noise Reduction code in there…  a fresh dialog appears when loading a RAW photo like this one.
• If you already own Photomatix Pro 3 (or buy it now), the upgrade to Photomatix Pro 4.0 is FREE.  (cool!)
• There is a new way to control ghosting… very nice.
• So far in my testing, it’s way way way faster than Photoshop CS5′s new HDR feature.  But I am still testing with metrics… full results soon.

Filed under the categories: Disney World, Florida, Nikon D3S, Orlando, Travel

What Projects Am I Working On?

I am working on more cool stuff than I can talk about!

But, upcoming, I do have a full comparison of the new Photomatix (see the current Photomatix Review) and the Adobe CS5 Photoshop HDR stuff. I’ve been doing massive testing, as you might expect… and I am trying to put together something cogent for release soon. But, very briefly, so far Photomatix is faster and better with my recommended workflow.

Upcoming in the near future, I have a very long-form article about a wonderful adventure in Hollywood. It is taking forever to put together and is quite different from the usual post… but I think you will like it!

Besides all that, I’ve also been working on a huge new art project that I hope to display to you in the next few weeks. You guys may hate it… I dunno… I guess we’ll see. I’ve received too much rejection in life to worry about it, so I’ll just float it out there and see what you think!

Daily Photo – Kea Campers in New Zealand

While I was in New Zealand, I got up close and personal with my Kea Camper.  That thing was my home for almost a month, and my wife, two kids, and I lived the heck out of it.  Before the trip, I did a lot of research to find the best one… I wasn’t disappointed.  In fact, I liked it so much, I grabbed a bunch of pics of it!  I’ll add them to the New Zealand Campers page in a bit. I will also add a bunch more information on there about suggested routes, tips, tricks, and more. I’ve been meaning to do that for a while… can’t find the time.

Also, the Kea Campers people know about me and the site – they wanted to offer you a special deal. Just mention STUCKINCUSTOMS when you reserve, and you’ll get all free camping equipment! Cool deal, eh?

I put a few things about the “Camper Van” experience on that page… the good and the bad. The best part? The kids having a blast in their “Clubhouse” upstairs above the driver. The worst part? Getting that beast up curvy, tight, uphill mountains… that caused a bit of unnecessary stress!

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Travel

My Best Tweet Ever

Some of you follow me on Twitter to get regular useful and useless updates throughout the day. Sometimes I check back to see which tweets get “ReTweeted” the most. By far, the best tweet ever was:

@TreyRatcliff This guy traveled the world in the early 1900s & captured it all in COLOR http://bit.ly/apc4MK

If you follow me, I promise never to tell you when I am standing in line at a coffee shop. I try to do 33% inspirational tweets about interesting art and cultural finds, 33% connecting people with others, and 33% links to my own personal latest works. The last 1% is “Wildcard” (said in the Charlie voice from It’s Always Sunny).

Daily Photo – Aerophilia

Is aerophilia a word? Probably not. People that are really into planes probably have a very specific word for this, and the “wrong” word probably really irritates them… so I apologize in advance.

This wondrous place is the new Air and Space Museum in DC. I thought I knew a lot about planes until I got here. I would recognize this and that, but the whole gestalt of the place was completely overwhelming. Overwhelming in an awesome way, of course.

I only took the Nikon D3S in here (see my Nikon D3S Review) because they would not allow tripods. The D3S is so much better at quick shots with low noise. All of my HDRs in here were handheld, so I had to be sure that I took the photos quickly and with very little noise.

Filed under the categories: Nikon D3S, Travel, Washington DC

Free Breakout Session at Vanelli’s Workshop!

I’m giving away a few goodies at Vanelli’s Workshop.

• All members of his workshop get a free copy of my new Workflow eBook
• One lucky winner will get to attend a free breakout session with Randy Van Duinen

To sign up and see if you are winner, visit Vanelli’s Workshop page!  Now, that session will be in St. Augustine, Florida… so I suggest that you only register if you are in that immediate area.

Daily Photo – Mikimoto

It wasn’t until my third trip to Tokyo that I finally got to explore more of Ginza. It’s a pretty high-toned area that is filled with the best of the best. Every elite store you can think of is fully represented, and the designers have pulled out all the stops to make sure they get noticed.

Although not on the main street, this amazing Mikimoto store grabbed my eye. I walked around the building a few times to find an interesting angle and shot away!

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikon D3X, Tokyo, Travel