The Original

I know many of you have already seen the photo below of the Taj Mahal. It’s one the most famous photos I’ve taken of India. It is related to the daily photo…

Daily Photo – The Rest of the India Story

So, I took the photo above from across a slow-moving river. After shooting, I explored a bit more as the sun was setting, then returned to the same spot, rotating the camera about 45 degrees to the right. This is what I saw.

In the distance, you can see how it is a layer of smoke in the air. This is where families come from all over the Agra area to burn the bodies of recently deceased loved ones. They then throw some ashes in the river to begin the cycle again. Indians come from all over the area to visit this river, see the Taj Mahal, and visit other local temples. It’s a very peaceful place… I hope this photo helps to describe the general feeling of the place.

Filed under the categories: Agra, India, Travel

Beautiful Video

I tweeted this out recently… I thought it was so unique — I wanted to share it with you here.

Lilac Wine from Matthew Landa on Vimeo.

Daily Photo – Forever Skies

The beautiful and endless skies of Iceland are a constant source of inspiration. Have you ever seen that movie, “What Dreams May Come”? Do you remember how it had these flowing, impressionist scenes? Iceland is kind of like that all the time! I wonder if the people that live there get used to it over time… I can’t say for sure. But I was keenly aware of every hue and color in the sky throughout the roadtrip.

If you recall, I also used to double-major in Geophysics, so I am into the geology of all these places. But, I end up getting frustrated when I can’t recognize different formations. Like, for example, that wonderful mountain-plateau there on the left… not sure how that was made. It’s different than all the other bits of these glacier-carved fjords. Anyway, I’m sure that one of the clever people in this audience can tell me what it is!

Filed under the categories: Iceland, Nikon D3X, Travel

Composition-on-the-scene

I did not include this photo below in my most recent eBook, but maybe I should have! It’s a pretty good example of setting up a composition on the scene… you can only do some things while there, and no amount of Photoshop can save a bad placement of the camera.

In this case, there was actually a big boring block of space in the sky. I kept moving my camera around until the string of lights ended up bifurcating the sky. Also, this gave us another leading line that stopped at a phi point, to help the eye travel around.

Frankly, I don’t like to over-analyze photos too much in text… it makes them lose their magic a little, don’t you think? But, on occasion, I will provide a little bit of play-by-play analysis!

Daily Photo – The Ultimate Carnival

I’ve been to Disney World many many times, but this is my first time as a grown-up to Disneyland. I always feel strange, by the way, calling myself a grown-up!

Disneyland has two parks on the premises. This one is from California Adventures, the second and newer park. Towards the backside, there is this perfect street, full of carnival-like activities. As most of you know, I’m a big fan of graphic design, so it was great fun to look at the delicious details in all of these signs.

Filed under the categories: California, LA, Nikon D3X, Travel

Tripod as an Easel

I recently swtiched to some Really Right Stuff tripod legs. They are awesome! I have them linked up on the HDR Camera Equipment page.

So, there are plusses and minuses to carrying around a tripod. Here is a “plus” that not many people think about.

Whenever you are carrying around the tripod, it takes a bit of effort and forethought to set up a shot. You need to positing it in a special place, at a certain height, and at a particular angle. I compare it to Renoir or Monet taking their time to set up their easel and canvas in the perfect spot. It makes a big difference if you walk 10 steps closer to the target area or 10 steps further from the target area. There is an extra consideration photographers have to use because of the lens that is on board, but it’s still a similar process. So, as much as I lament the extra hassle of a tripod, I do like that it requires me to go through a thoughtful process of setting up the shot.

Daily Photo – The Storm Hitting the Barn

It was about 3 in the afternoon and things were getting over-the-top warm. You know that feeling when the weather gets so uncomfortably warm that you expect something to happen soon? This feeling washed over me about 30 minutes before these violent clouds form to sweep over the Rocky Mountains towards the barn.

The tripod was nearby, so I grabbed it to go outside and set up the easel.

Filed under the categories: Montana, Nikon D3X, Travel, Yellowstone

Having a Great Time at OpenCamp!

I gave a little talk yesterday called, “Clever Tricks for Making Your Blog More Beautiful and Popular”. We had a good time, and I hope the crowd enjoyed it! If you want to know more about OpenCamp and the other speakers, including Chris Pirillo, Cali Lewis, and more, see this Open Camp Day One writeup by Phillip Coxwell.

Daily Photo – The Golden Knights are Bad Ass

I have not had much time this weekend to process new photos, but I did take a moment to process this one.

This was taken during an evening demonstration on the night before OpenCamp began. It was an unforgettable night with the Knights! After falling a few miles from the sky, the skydivers would open up their chutes & pyrotechnics and let loose. Since I had jumped with them the day before, they let me get up close on the landing to get some tight shots.

I also may go out to Fort Bragg, where they are based, and do a bunch more shots in the future. I look forward to that very much!

Visit the Golden Knights on their website, and follow them on Twitter at @ArmyGK.

Filed under the categories: Dallas, Nikon D3S, Texas, Travel

New Ebook!

I’m very proud of this new eBook!

Jump over to the “How to Compose Photos: Creating Order from the Chaos” page here on the site and have a look!

I look forward to getting into your hands to see what you think. We have several reviews that have already rolled in on the page. Thanks everyone for the positive feedback.

Here are just a few examples of what is inside the 50 page eBook!

• A detailed how-to about how to Compose Photos
• Countless examples of the how/when/why of setting up a shot on the scene
• Postprocessing:  the how/when/why to crop your image for more meaning and power
• Deep discussions on how viewers react to different compositions
• There is an equal emphasis on composing landscapes and composing people

On the way to the Jump!

This is what I look like right before I live this mortal coil.

Giovanni (@Giovanni) grabbed this shot of me on the way to my parachute jump with the Golden Knights… more to come soon… but I know many people were asking, so here is a quick one for you.

Filed under the categories: Travel

Best TED Talks Reminder

I like to collect some of the best TED talks. I’m always adding to the page. If you have suggestions, or things you’ve seen where you think, “Oh – Trey would like this!”, please leave a comment on the “Best TED Talks” page here on the site!

Daily Photo – The Mean Streets of Tokyo

Tokyo has amazing action all the time. There is never a good time to sleep or turn off the camera! Every minute I sleep, I feel like I am missing something!

This was taken close to midnight on another evening when I was just randomly walking around the downtown streets. It’s all a wonderland of lights, colors, people, and sounds. I’ve noticed there are many kinds of “sensory overload” – and they are all on a sliding scale from good to bad. The bad sort is the “Las Vegas” type of sensory overload. That’s the kind where you just simply need quiet in order to collect your thoughts. The kind in Tokyo is completely different. Yes, it is overloading, but it’s also stimulating in a good way… so it continues to feed you until you just absolutely crash. It’s great!

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikon D3X, Tokyo

I jump from a plane today!

This is a big lead-up to OpenCa.mp on Saturday and Sunday. I am speaking on Saturday at 11:30 AM — I hope if you are in the area you can stop by!

We’re giving away some awesome prints at the show as well. I’ll try to snap some shots of the event so get can get the vibe.

Today (Thursday), I’ll be jumping from a plane with the Golden Knights. It’ll be very exciting… I’m jumping out with Cali Lewis, Frederick Van, John P, George Ruiz, and several others… it should be a great time. Watch Twitter for live updates from the event!

The Horse of Sagas Print

I got so many requests to make this a print that we changed around our planned list of releases. This is my favorite HDR of an animal I’ve ever shot. These Icelandic horses with their wild hair prance around all night long, probably thrown off by the strange day/night cycles. This was taken around 1 AM, very near the summer solstice. The photo was totally blown out from behind, and I did not use a flash. Flash tends to upset the animals a bit… so I used the HDR technique instead on the RAW to bring out the true colors and light on his face. Of course, these were the actual colors and light levels I saw when I was there… it just reminds you of how limited a camera is by itself.

More Favorites of Icelandic Horses!

Aren’t these horses awesome? I wanted to take the opportunity to put together my other favorite two horse photos from Iceland below for you. Enjoy!

Filed under the categories: Iceland, Nikon D3X, Travel

22 Million Views on SmugMug this year!

As many of you know, I moved over my portfolio to SmugMug this year. Have you seen my SmugMug Review? The team there gave readers here the a 20% savings (!!) — use the SmugMug Coupon of “STUCKINCUSTOMS“.

So, I was recently checking stats and I was surprised at how many views we have gotten on SmugMug in such a short time. 22 million in just over half a year, compared to Flickr, which is at 21 million after 5 years! I have posted shots from SmugMug and Flickr below.

Now, most of those views are just because of the blog, but it does show how heavily I rely on SmugMug. There is one “hidden” feature that you may not know about…. and this is a little geeky, but it helps! I have big photos here on the website… you all know this. They are 900 pixels across. Well, Flickr does serve them up in many sizes, and 1024 across is on of the standards. With Flickr, I need to use the width=”900″ in the html, which forces the browser to make a costly size change.

SmugMug, instead, does the processing on their beastly servers.

For example, I can take the default Xtra Large size link from SmugMug: http://stuckincustoms.smugmug.com/photos/974189667_iqznc-X2.jpg

and change the end so that the server resizes to 900 pixels across: http://stuckincustoms.smugmug.com/photos/974189667_iqznc-900x900.jpg

This means that everything is served up super-fast. This is a minor and nerdy point… but it does make the blog a lot faster.

SmugMug has a pretty cool stat tracking system, even though they don't use commas.

I also like the Flickr Stats system, even though I'm 95% sure it is broken.

Still on Flickr

As you can see, I still post all my photos to Flickr as well. I still like Flickr a lot, but it is not where I keep my main portfolio. I find the viewing experience better on SmugMug. Now, SmugMug has less of a community, so that is kind of a minor knock against it… but it’s easy enough to put the photos in both places.

Daily Photo – A Gentle Kiss in the Hot Tub

These snow monkeys are the greatest. I spent so long with them, we almost had a three-way.

They are all wild (in the natural sense, mind you), and they come down from the mountains near Nagano, Japan, for several hours a day to play in the natural hot springs. They gallivant around, have fights, play with their kids, have a bit of sweet carnal monkey fun, check their email, and pose for my camera.

These two monkeys spent a lot of time together… they were in maximum “relaxation mode”. They lounged around in every possible position and took occasional breaks to do a bit of mutual grooming.

Video Recap – Heartbeats of Japan

We have many new people here on the blog that might not have seen this. There’s a lot more snow-monkey stuff in here for you… enjoy!

Filed under the categories: Japan, Nikon D3S, Travel

Burning Man PhotoWalk

See the Facebook event here!

You are all invited to join me at the Burning Man PhotoWalk! It’s free of course… Here are the details:

• Friday, Sept 3 at 6 PM
• Location: Center Camp: Look for all the people with the cameras, and me, possibly in Steampunk Goggles.

What we will do:

• Walk around together to take cool photos of Burning Man (for personal use only)
• Find cool art installations and activities
• Be cool (and not bother people with our cameras…)
• Learn more about our cameras
• Take some HDRs
• I’ll be there to answer questions whether you are a beginner or beyond!

More Resources:

• Photography Info for Burning Man
• Equipment Guide at Burning Man

See these cards below?  I’ll be handing them out around Burning Man…  It’s sort of a “gifting” place, where money is not allowed.  Since one of my only identifiable skills is photography, I am giving people the chance to learn more about their cameras.  I think we’ll have a good time and I hope to see you there.

Below is a Google Earth photo of Burning Man in a previous year… I think it’s pretty awesome.

See you soon at OpenCa.mp

I hope to meet a lot of you soon at OpenCa.mp in Dallas! In just a few days, I’m headed up to Dallas to begin the adventure by jumping out of a plane with the US Army Golden Knights. It’s gonna be a blast!

Daily Photo – Home of the Tree Samurai

This was my second trip to Kyoto, and I decided to return to this amazing treetop temple. At night, the delicate lights turn on and everything comes alive. It’s really brilliant… one of those scenes that makes you think the world is really a wonderful place.

This was right in the peak of the cherry blossom season. The soft pink of the blossoms grabs and reflects the light into an unbelievable prism. It’s all like something out of a dream, and I’ve done my best to bring it back to life here on the blog.

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

Video from The Tech Guy

We have some fun video from the appearance on Leo Laporte‘s The Tech Guy yesterday. When I was out at Leo’s cottage a few weeks ago, he brought up the idea of doing a photography podcast on his network. I gave him the thumbs up and said I thought it sounded like a good idea! He said he wanted to put it together with me, Lisa Bettany, and Ray Maxwell. If you want to hear the latest in those discussions, fast-forward to the 12:30 mark.

Otherwise, we talk about HDR, the DVD, we critique on of his HDR shots, and this sort of thing. As far as links we mentioned, you can go to the HDR Camera Recommendations and the free HDR Tutorial.

And, after the interview, I forgot I was still on Skype!  So, he caught me carrying my computer back to the office… but I did capture some more behind-the-scenes stuff that you may enjoy…hehe.  You may enjoy seeing what happens during the commercial breaks of these shows… !

If you want to subscribe to more of Leo’s podcasts, just visit his main TWIT site. He has everything from the hit weekly show This Week in Tech that has John Dvorak as a regular to my fellow Austinite Brian Brushwood on NSFW. They have it all there!

Daily Photo – The Giant Sun Sinks into the Tasman Sea

Despite what I said in the podcast, sometimes you do want to go beyond +2 to -2 !  I can’t go through every caveat in those short soundbytes… but this exemplifies such a case.  In this photo of the sunset over the Tasman Sea, off the coast of New Zealand, I did take 7 exposures form +3 to -3.  Whenever you aim the camera right into the sun, you need to expose even more range than normal.

I am going back to New Zealand for about a month in October. It will be a blast! This time, I’ll be spending most of my time on the South Island, exploring around… I hope to bring back more wonderful finds from the wild for you!

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Tasman Sea, Te Anau, Travel

This was shot with a Nikon D3S and the Nikon 50mm 1.4 Lens. This particular one was shot at f/5.6 (f/1.4 would have made the sign blurry beyond recognition). Other particulars are: ISO 800, 1/500 sec exposure.

Join me live on Video today at 1:30 PM PST

EDIT: See the video recorded here.

On Sunday, tune in to live.twit.tv and join up the chat (click Popout Chat at the bottom) to join in the fun! I’ll be answering photography questions, HDR stuff, and the like.

I’ll be on with Leo Laporte on his big show, The Tech Guy, which goes to over 100 US Cities and XM Satellite. Leo is a real photography enthusiast — plus, he’s cool because he’s into a lot of my other interest areas of science/tech/emergent sociology/etc. If you are looking for some good podcasts, check out some from his network!

The TWIT Cottage

For those of you that don’t know, Leo has established an incredible lineup of podcasts, all of which eminate from this unassuming cottage in Petaluma, California. I’ve been over to the cottage twice, and I grabbed a few photos on my most recent trip.

Most of his guests come in via video skype, but sometimes they come there to the cottage. I was on The Tech Guy a few weeks ago, and while I was there, I took these photos.

In the larger one down below, you can see some of the fudge my mom made for Leo. She said, “He seems like a very nice man.”

And he is! You always wonder… if these people are actually jerks in real life. But he isn’t… just as nice as your instincts hope he is. It’s a good indicator that talent + good karma is a winning combination for the future. Back in the olden days (especially in media), talent and good karma were practically useless. Now, thanks to the internet, clever guys like Leo have no need to succumb to the Machiavellian nonsense of corporate media structures. Even better, he has a direct feedback loop to the audience he serves. Smart.

Daily Photo – Leo, Hard at Work

This photo below is a 5-exposure HDR. It was shot with a Nikon D3X (see my Nikon D3X Review) in aperture priority. The five shots were at -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2. Of course, Leo was moving around betwixt the exposures, so there are some tricks to fix that. It’s all there inside the free HDR Tutorial.

But you don’t need a big expensive camera like that to make HDRs. I have good/better/best suggestions on my HDR Camera recommendations page.

Chat Room friends who like all the details can click to zoom into the original sized version. Just click on the "O" (for Original) on the top of the SmugMug page.

Filed under the categories: California, Nikon D3S, Nikon D3X, Petaluma

Live Video with Leo tomorrow (Sunday)! 1:30 PM PST

Hey everyone! On Sunday at 1:30 PM PST, I’ll be on The Tech Guy with Leo Laporte. You can tune in live to see me at Live.TWIT.tv. There is also a very easy to use Chat room there (see where it says “Popout Chat”?). We’ll be talking a lot about HDR, Photography, and other awesome geeky things.

A World in HDR, now in Chinese!

The book is now out in a new Chinese version! We had some very good talks with Chinese publishers about this through Peachpit, and I think the final product looks pretty good! Now, I’m not totally sure (since I can’t read Chinese), but it looks like you can order it through this site.

The Black Rock

I spent a several hours on a huge black sand beach. This was in the volcanic area of southern Iceland, not too far from the recent volcano eruption. Parts of the nearby town of Wik were still covered in ash while I was there, so it had sort of a light feeling of an Icelandic Pompeii.

There were no roads in this area, but I wanted to explore, so I drove my 4×4 boldly out into the black sand expanse. It’s strange just driving in a blue, soft morning light across an endless horizon of black sand. It’s almost like being in the middle of a huge black asphalt parking lot, with no lines, no curbs, and no end. Every few miles, enormous black rock structures would shoot up out of the flatness. I stopped at every one, almost like it was calling me.

Filed under the categories: Iceland, Nikon D3X, Travel, Vik, Wik

Free London PhotoWalk Details!

Everyone is welcome to come on out.  I look forward to meeting you…  If I don’t have a chance to introduce myself personally to you, please do not hesitate to come up and say hello whilst we wind about the streets of London together!

• Facebook Event: See FB Event Here
• Cost: Free! Like all my PhotoWalks
• Time Start:  Friday, Sep 10, 6PM.   (Critical sunset is at 7:30ish)
• Location: South Bank right outside the National Theatre (Google Map)
• Getting there: How to Get to the National Theatre.
• PhotoWalk End: We will end about 8 PM or so at a nearby Pub / Light Eating place…  And just hang out there, look at photos on the back of our cameras, geek out, talk, you can come over and introduce yourself, etc etc.  Very casual…
• Plan: After a quick hello, we will walk together and take photos.  I’ll stop 5 times or so and set up formally for a shot and talk through it.  You are welcome to listen, ask questions, or meander about.  We will start by going past the Festival Hall and down to the London Eye, where we should have a good shot of the Westminster / Westminster Bridge / Big Ben.

And thank you to Greg Annandale (@greg_a on Twitter), who will be joining us at the HDR Workshop in London as well, for helping to set this up!

By the way, do you have professional video equipment and want to do a little extra during the PhotoWalk? Let me know !

The Ultimate London Photography Poll!

Thanks for all the suggestions on places to shoot a few days ago! I’ve done my best to compile them here into a poll… (This is not for the PhotoWalk, but instead for my week or so in London). Also, maybe others can use this list in the future too!

You can select ONE to TEN (10) of your favorites!

What are the best subjects for remarkable photography in London?

• British Museum (including great court and roof)
• "The Gherkin" building
• Piccadilly Circus & West End in the evening
• London Wall
• Bishopgate
• Battersea abandoned power station
• Under London Bridge - secret artsy club inside abandoned train tunnels
• Canary Wharf near Strata tower & Elephant and Castle
• (near London) Epping Forest
• The Monument
• Borough Market
• Globe Theatre
• Tate Modern, Millennium Bridge, St. Paul (all nearby)
• Primrose Hill for view of entire city
• Fleet Street, the strand
• Victoria Embankment
• The Garage City Hotel (remains of orig stone wall at dusk, well lit)
• Serpentine Gallery Pavilion
• Central Saint Giles
• Leadenhall Market
• The Monument
• Greenwich Park (and Observatory)
• Ye Old Cheshire Cheese (Dickens pub with underground part)
• Hyde Park
• Regent's Park
• Harrod's
• St. Paul's Cathedral
• London Eye
• Bar on top floor of Tower 42
• Highgate Cemetery
• Imperial War Museum

View Results

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Daily Photo – The Lotus Sunrise

These delicate shapes are seen on a variety of temples all over southeast Asia, India, and other parts of the Far East. It is the shape of a Lotus Blossom, a timeless symbol, and it is repeated over and over here at Angkor Wat.

The lotus represents the purity of body, speech, and mind. Like the lotus, these should float above the muddy waters of attachment and desire.

The shot below was taken around 5 or 6 AM in the morning. While shooting, I was attended to by a small Cambodian girl that would bring me strong Vietnamese coffee whenever I ran out, which was often. I don’t know where she would go to get it — she would disappear off into the jungle and come walking calmly back every 15 minutes or so, smiling.

Filed under the categories: Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Siem Reap, Travel

Did you get your free upgrade?

About a month ago or so, we put out a free upgrade to the “Top 10 Mistakes in HDR Processing” book. There were so many sold — I think immediately we sold over 1,000 of these things. Our system sent out an email to everyone who purchased and gave them a free upgrade code. If you did NOT receive that email (perhaps it was blocked), please contact Support @ StuckInCustoms.com and the team can get you one. Just let them know your name so they can properly find you in the existing customer database.

I got a lot of great feedback on the Top 10 book — people wanted more examples, more sample photos, and a more detailed how-to. So it has been extended to 55 pages and should get every nook-and-cranny of your questions answered!

New eBook VERY Soon

This new eBook is really awesome. I’m super-proud of it.

It’s all about Composition and beyond. It’s called “How to Compose Photos: Creating Order from the Chaos“. It is a deep description of everything that I think about when composing a photo on the scene and later in post-processing about how/where/when/why I choose to crop.

This one is the longest eBook yet. It’s jam-packed with a ton of editorial text, descriptions, tips, and a deep discussion of many things that should be new to people. I know you all have high expectations, especially after the upgraded eBook above, and I think this will really be a nice addition to your growing collection of downloadable knowledge! (We’re almost to that scene in the Matrix, yes?)

Daily Photo – Alone at the Raging Waterfall of Gullfoss

After two weeks of being alone I was getting a bit, shall we say, lonely.

I was getting in the habit of waking up around 4 or 5 PM, having a leisurely dinner, and then jumping in the car to explore new parts of Iceland throughout the white nights. On this particular day, I decided to head deep into the center of the island. My goal was to go to the parts where all the major roads do not.

Along that path, I arrived here at Gullfoss about 11 PM. I’ve been here many times before, but there was always a few people around admiring the falls. This time, I was alone. It’s so strange walking around a place like this while the sun is setting and no one is around. The feeling is like those apocalypse movies where all humans have just disappeared… just me… my gun… a trusty dog… maybe a few Icelandic elf-zombies lurking about… the more and more time I spend alone, the more reasonable this begins to sound…

Filed under the categories: Iceland, Travel

New Print Available!

The Adventure Tree, one of my favorite, warm photos, is now available as a limited edition print. This is a wonderful tree I found sticking out alone in a forest in Patagonia. I used a variety and mix of textures to give it a warm and timeless feel.

Daily Photo – The Lego Dragon

There are these Lego stores popping up everywhere it seems. That’s okay with me… Who doesn’t like a good Lego set?

This one is just outside the Lego Store at Downtown Disney in Orlando. They have a few of those gigantic Lego beasts that were mysteriously built. Anyone that is sensible knows that it takes many hours to build something roughly the size of a human hand. So, these monstrosities must be either built by aliens or an army of industrious Germans that parachute in during the wee hours.

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