Re-processing

I know I’ve said time and time again I don’t re-process old photos. Well, that’s not exactly true. Maybe 5/10,000 photos I will reprocess, and this is one of them below.

I used the Dramatic Chipmunk preset from my Lightroom Presets (available in the Get Awesome Stuff link at the very very top). But I changed the preset a little to take out more grain and do a bit more noise-reduction. I’ve been re-doing some of the presets and making new ones. I was going to send out a little bonus package for free to all existing customers as thanks!

Daily Photo – The Lone Cypress Tree

This is kind of a famous tree, I think. Well, I guess it’s famous if you’ve heard of it, otherwise it’s completely unknown. It’s one of those things you find out is famous, and then every time you see it, you think, “Oh that is the famous tree.”

It’s kind of like when you play trivia games with annoying people. You know the ones. Every now and then, a question comes up that is INCREDIBLY TRIVIAL and some annoying person will guffaw, “Oh My God, that is sooooo easy!” Of course it is easy if they happen to know this incredibly small piece of arcane information! Either you know it, or you don’t.

Filed under the categories: California, Nikon D800, Travel

Download Now Available!

All of you that participated in the pre-sale event are now able to download your video! We’ll keep the $79 Special Pricing for the Landscape and Travel Photography Tutorial until the Live Video event on the 9th. So, you’ll have a few more days to get this special deal… as a special thanks to those of you that come to the blog so often!

Today’s photo below was taken during the event!

And here’s the little promo video in case you haven’t seen it.

Daily Photo – The Endless Fields of Queenstown

On the final night, we all started walking around these fields together to take photos. The sunset wouldn’t quit! It just kept going and going… like a painting that changed every few minutes. And a few steps this way and that way would completely change the color situation on the bottom half of the photo. Honestly, there were not many bad combinations!

If you get the full video above, you’ll hear me talk more about this shot, and you’ll also get to see full post-processing of seven different photos. I hope you love it! I’m sure you will!

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Nikon D800, Queenstown, Travel

Milford Sound Lodge

At the end of this scene, you end up at the Milford Sound Lodge. I’ve stayed there about 6 or 7 times now! You can get a few different types of accommodations… from hardcore backpacker to something with a bit more space. The prices are very reasonable, and you’re right in the middle of the action for the next morning for those sunrise photos!

Daily Photo – Waterfalls on the way to Milford Sound

There is a good question that will never be answered: Is the drive to Milford Sound equal to the epicness of Milford Sound itself? No one knows!! I can’t figure it out. But, one random element that comes into the equation is the rain. When it is raining (or a recent rain), there are over 100 waterfalls that decorate the steep valley.

It’s kind of hard to shoot waterfalls in the rain. Actually, it’s really hard. I usually amp up my ISO and drop my F-stop very low to make sure I get a quick picture before the rain settles on my lens.

Filed under the categories: Milford Sound, New Zealand, Nikon D800, Travel

Amazing Small World Story about Flatbooks.com

Justin Balog wrote an amazing little story on his blog.

Justin is one of the authors over at Flatbooks.com and he was randomly down in Belize. A local named Marvin walked up to him and they started talking about cameras. Marvin then actually mentioned the book that Justin had written! It is a small world!

And, as a bonus, Justin also wrote a story “Why Flatbooks Will Make The World A Better Place” !!

Daily Photo – Frogs in the Paris Opera

Can someone explain this to me? I cannot figure it out. Maybe they are just being quirky.

I took this with a fisheye lens inside the Paris opera. I can’t imagine what the internal bureaucracy is like within the Paris Opera for various art displays inside. And I can’t figure out how this one got through. But maybe there is a major art meme that I missed that includes well-dressed amphibians.

Filed under the categories: France, Nikon D800, Paris, Travel

Fun Show Last Night!

Last night’s show was a lot of fun. Be sure to check out Kate Russell from the BBC, Thomas Hawk, Brian Matiash, Don the Snowflake guy, Ollie Dale, and Gino Barassa… and Dave Veffer as always! We do the show every Monday night at 7 PM PT, 10 PM ET !

If you come here to the website just before the show, you’ll see the embedded player up and ready to run… and you can see last night’s show in the post below this one! You’ll even see a sneak preview of a documentary that I am in from Ollie called “Virtually Famous”.

Daily Photo – The Towering Medieval Hotel

I’m sure Europeans find this kind of architecture to be quaint and banal, but I rather like it. In fact, I’d say it’s just about one of my favorites! Whenever I see old buildings in this style, it makes me a little bit happy.

This one was in the village of Mont Saint Michel. It was one of very few hotels that are tightly woven into the old medieval walled complex. I didn’t go inside, but it felt like it was right out of Skyrim!

Filed under the categories: France, Mont Saint Michel, Nikon D800, Travel

A few days left for the special pre-sale event!

You can go buy it now and save money. This savings (and bonus!) only lasts a few more days. I wanted to do something special because I’m so excited about these new tutorial videos!

It’s $20 cheaper if you get it now, and you’ll get access to a special live event!

You’ll notice this photo of Clayton below in the little promo video on the site!

See you in Australia for the big Problogger Conference!

I was honored when Darren invited me to do this. You can find out more on the Problogger site!

Daily Photo – Clayton Morris from Fox News Balances

The water was slowly, slowly, slowly rising one morning in Milford Sound when we were all there together. We made a desperate retreat just as things were getting a bit too late. The last one to cross was Clayton, so I spun around quickly to get this shot while he was being all Cirque de Soliel with his tripod. And no, he did not fall into the water!

Filed under the categories: Milford Sound, New Zealand, Nikon D800, Travel

How about a few Family Photos?

I don’t share these very much… but I thought you might like to see a new batch! I took the family on a little road trip to visit some glaciers near Mount Cook, and then we came back home to Queenstown for a little Easter egg hunt!

By the way, these are all using some NEW Lightroom presets. I know a lot of you have already purchased the existing Lightroom Presets (thanks!). I’ll be sending these out with the new batch as a FREE update for you as a little thank-you gift.

I’ll put a little caption abve each one.

Scarlett reaches up to a huge iceberg that just flipped over, after breaking off the Tasman Glacier near Mount Cook.

Isabella gets ready to take our zodiac over to the next iceberg.

Scarlett begins the Easter Egg hunt in while the wolves chase her.

Isabella runs across the fairway on the 18th hole to try to find some eggs in the bunkers.

Scarlett walks along the path near the forest.

Isabella shows her sister a new stash of eggs

Scarlett takes a break to check how many eggs she has found.

Scarlett runs full speed to the next woods to get more eggs.

Filed under the categories: Arrowtown, Mount Cook, New Zealand, Nikon D800, Queenstown, Travel

Android Development of Stuck On Earth

Want to see some screenshots of the progress so far? Visit this thread on Google+ to see!

Daily Photo – The Amazing Bridge in Sydney

I think I took this during the Sydney photowalk – I am not sure! But those clouds seem very familiar. I took So Many Photos in Sydney… thousands… and I’ve processed hundreds so far. But I just can’t remember exactly when I took this one! Maybe someone from Sydney can confirm that I took this that evening.

I really wanted to get up there on the bridge, but they don’t let you take your camera, which is a real bummer. I wish I could get special permission some time. Whoever can get me special permission can go with me – that would be a blast!

Filed under the categories: Australia, Nikon D800, Sydney, Travel

Another shout out to the QT Sydney

Thanks again to the QT Sydney (a photo of my room) for hosting Tom and I! Stephen Howard did a great job showing us around and getting us here into the State Theater where we took the photo below.

Daily Photo – Tom in Sydney

That’s Tom Anderson there (the MySpace Tom). We had a very fun time running around Australia together, and especially here in the State Theater. It is an amazing place! The entryway, as you can see, is insanely ornate. And then once you enter, you go through one hall to the next, each as grand as the previous one.

I’d love to have an event here one night… I don’t know what I would do… maybe just bring in a bunch of people and we can all post-process all night together! That sounds lame but also kinda awesome.

Filed under the categories: Australia, Nikon D800, Sydney, Travel

I’m still enjoying Pinterest too!

I go to Pinterest almost every single day to pin a few things. I think my ratio there is I pin about 20% my own work and re-pin 80% other work. I know lots of people pin here too! If you like, drop your Pinterest page link below so others can find you !

Daily Photo – Trees in Yosemite

I’m not really an “expert” on Yosemite by any means! I’ve only been there once, and I know there are many photographers that have been there 5 or 10 or more times! I spent most of my time driving around the main roads and going off on little mini-hikes. But I didn’t really know the best places to go… so I would hike along little creeks and get shots like this.

I remember I did a little walk to a place called “Mirror Lake” or something. It sounded so awesome from the name! But then I got there, and it was just a puddle of ice. I felt ripped off! They should change the name of it every hour depending on what it currently looks like. There’s no way I would have walked to “Dirty Ice Ugly Lake”.

Filed under the categories: California, Nikon D800, Travel, Yosemite

Five New eBooks to Enjoy!

Wow! The authors are really putting out amazing stuff over at Flatbooks.com ! I think you’ll be impressed at all the new work over there and you’ll learn a great many things. Here is a selection of some of the newer books that have recently launched!

Boneyardby Troy Paiva contains over 60 full sized and zoomable light painted night images, shot in two separate aircraft graveyards, “The Secret Boneyard” and “Aviation Warehouse.” 50 of these images have never been shown before. These are not outtakes or stiffs the author never bothered to do anything with. Half is a body of work from 2008 that has only now been allowed to be displayed publicly by the property owner. The others are a fresh set of A-list images shot in the summer of 2012.

Travel Photography Exposed by Mike Marlowe is a collection of thoughts, examples and practical tips on life as a roaming travel photographer. This is not an academic theory book; this is a collection of no-nonsense advice from a photographer that does this every day. More importantly, it’s about helping you to do the same. Whether it’s a one-off two-week trip or you want to live your life on the road, this ebook will help you get on the right path.

Seeing the Unseen – How to Photograph Landscapes at Night by Alister Benn is a complete guide to night photography. This book doesn’t just provide the photographer with a quick set of rule-of-thumb generalizations that make sweeping assumptions and teach you nothing; instead the author shows you how to assess the light that is available and make meaningful and breath-taking images as well as any professional.

This book is suitable for all levels of experience – leading the beginner through the fundamentals, but stretching the boundaries of very experienced night photographers with contemporary advanced techniques.

A first for Flatbooks – an in-depth video-only tutorial! From Scott Detweiler, author of Conceptual Portraiture comes an hour-long video called Creation of Succubuson creating his portrait titled The Succubus. Using Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4 we will step thought the complete workflow that was used to create this image from scratch.

At 3,310 meters, Cusco ranks within a thousand feet of the highest and most inhospitable cities on the planet – yet everyone from the millennia-old Killke culture to modern adventurers the world over has somehow made their way to this mountain Mecca. This book, The Travel Companion: From Cusco to Machu Picchuby Brian Hoffsis will take you on a journey through Peru from Cusco to Machu Picchu, with 48 photos and individual stories.

Daily Photo – Bryant Park in New York City

This is where I ended my walk with Luke that night in New York City. It was sort of a lazy, meandering walk… going here and going there. But my hotel was right by this park. I lament that I never got a shot inside the awesome library, but the tripod police were out in full force. I actually felt like I was in more danger there than in the middle of this New York City park in the middle of the night!

Filed under the categories: New York, New York City, Nikon D800, Travel

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Daily Photo – The Gardens of Queenstown

The class took a nice stroll through these gardens. I challenged people to try to get five different photos of this bridge, and this was one of mine.

The actual shot I took was much bigger, but I decided to crop down in post to focus on the water. I liked the way they all looked like brush strokes. It made me begin to understand why Monet spent so much time trying to capture the strange light that comes from water and plants.

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Nikon D800, Queenstown