100 Cameras in 1 now on Windows!

100 Cameras in 1 recently passed over 1 million downloads. I’m so glad you all like it! We’re working hard to bring the app to every popular platform. I’m excited to let you know that 100 Cameras in 1 is now available on Windows. You can download it today via the Intel AppUp store!

On TV in China

I don’t think I ever posted this ridiculous behind-the-scenes scene when I was interviewed for Chinese TV.  It was filmed by my assistant with an iPhone, so it is awfully shaky.  Also, I talked a little extra-slow for the translator…  not that it helped me be more understandable or anything…

Daily Photo – Private Gardens in the Forbidden City

On a recent trip to China, I was invited to a private residence inside the Forbidden City.  I had a two-hour tea service that was pleasant and relaxing.  After this, I was allowed to wander the private gardens and inner cloisters for a while.  I took as many photos as I could, and here is one of them.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, 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

Trey’s Variety Hour #32 – The Google+ Photographer’s Conference

Join me, Guy Kawasaki, Vic Gundotra, Jeremy Cowart, Nicole S. Young, and RC Concepcion for a fun-filled evening! Besides talking about the upcoming conference organized by Scott Kelby (more at http://gpluspc.com/ ) we share some photos, hang out… you know… just chill out on camera with other photographers and stuff… keepin’ it real or whatever that means…

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

Daily Photo – Old Man on Steps near Drum Tower

While I was circling the Drum Tower in Beijing, there was a small community of people that were outside exercising, milling around, talking, and watching the world go by.  Many of the homes in the little houtong had their doors painted red, and that was a common element that tied everything together.  I had my hip-shooter with me too so I could capture this one.

And Nearby…

Here is the Drum Tower that I mentioned above…

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

Camera on Horseback

Have you ever carried a bunch of camera equipment while on the back of a horse?  I don’t recommend it.

Daily Photo – The Horse and Carriage

I stayed in an amazing place when I was in the south of China, and every morning this horse and carriage would pull up in front.  And, like any good model, the horse didn’t complain while I went around and took a bunch of shots while fiddling with my camera.

This photo was taken with my 50mm lens at ISO 200 f/1.4 and the shutter was 1/8000.  I don’t know why I just told you all that… I guess some people really like to know.  BTW, all that info is avail if you click through to the SmugMug version.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Nikon D3S, Travel

The Free International HDR Tutorial!

We do have the tutorial available in many languages now! I continue to make little updates to the tutorial here and there as I discover new things… I hope you enjoy it!

• Speakey le English? HDR Tutorial.
• Sie sprechen deutsch? Herzlich Willkommen zum HDR-Kurs auf Deutsch.
• Vous parlez français? Bienvenue sur le Tutoriel HDR en français.
• Parli italiano? Leggi il tutorial HDR in italiano!
• Fala Português? Confira o Tutorial HDR em Português.
• Hablas Español? Clic Tutorial HDR en Español.
• Mluvíte česky? Pokračujte zde!  HDR Tutoriál v českém jazyce.

Sony NEX-7 Review

shhh…. tomorrow is the official day, but if you want to watch me “build” the review today as I add new photos and make changes, see the inchoate Sony NEX-7 Review page now…

More from China

Click the China Category to see a bunch more stuff from the country.  I spent about a month there recently, so there is a bunch of new work that I’ve published.  Once you scroll to the bottom of the screen, you can select “PREVIOUS” to see even more.  Enjoy!

Daily Photo – The Nest

I took this photo while I was outside another tower in the open air with Joe McNally.  It was a great time..  It was also a bit scary.

For this one, I took my 28-300 and turned it upright to portrait mode and zoomed in quite tight.  I liked the way the layers of the city stacked upon one another into the distance, and that was lost in the wide-angle landscape mode.

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

TechCrunch – Video Interview – The Rise of Social Photography

Visit the video and article.  I’ve posted a lot of videos here in the last few days!  Sorry I know some of you may get tired of hearing me say variations on the same thing… well… I hope not… BUT, right before our Austin PhotoWalk, I did this interview with Colleen Taylor from TechCrunch TV.

Daily Photo – Father and Daughter in Beijing

I was in one of my favorite artsy/bohemian areas of Beijing with my D3S doing some people-photography.  It’s some of the best people-watching in the world around there.

This area is full of all sorts of galleries, shops, curio-stores, antique shops, and other various unique Chinese shopping.  The crowd ranges from the wildly artistic to families out on a little escapade.  While I was weaving through the crowd myself, I spied this father and daughter walking in my direction…

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

Category and “Previous” Reminder

I’ve been taking photos of different places around the world for many many years now, and you might enjoy a few deep dives into the history of it all!  To see more of any particular country, go choose it from the lower right.  Try, for example, Argentina.  After you scroll down through a page of photos, click “Previous” to see another page.  Most regular readers here know this, but new people pop in all the time — so there you go!

Daily Photo - Little Beijing

While at the top of one of new towers built for the Olympics, I was able to get a good vantage back towards different parts of the city.  Beijing is so spread out — there does not seem to be a central focus in the traditional “skyscraper” sense.  I’ve taken a few other downtown shots you might recall (click on the”Beijing” category), but this spot was kind of cool and unique because of this tower I was in.

I happened to be outside with Joe McNally, after we finally convinced the officials to let us get beyond the inside and dirty windows.  We were out in the “5th ring” where many Olympic venues were built.  And so, here was this huge tower in the outskirts, looking back towards the city.  It seemed like a good situation for a zoom-in compression shot.

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

Hawaii PhotoWalk!

This one will be fun – for all the details, see the post from Tom Anderson on G+.

How to Remove Soundcloud App from FB?

A few weeks ago my friend Peter Gorges sent me a FB link to listen to some music, and I accidentally ended up installing the Soundcloud app into my FB stream.  Now, even though I keep deleting the updates, it keeps re-appearing.  I can’t figure out how to remove the dang app!  Any ideas?  (so annoying…!)

Daily Photo – Walking in the Park

Instead of describing this photo, I’ll talk about a little trick.  See how the background is all blurry and quite flat (not complex)?  This happens when you use a very low number for your F-Stop.  In this case, it was 1.4 on the 50mm 1.4 lens – although this would have also worked with the less inexpensive 1.8 lens.  Anyway, if the person (or object) you are shooting is a lot closer to you than the distant background, the entire area back there will be very washed-out and flat.  Behind her, there was actually a lot of complexity.  There was a park with trees and sky and lights and everything, but it all gets washed away with this technique.

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

New Authors Coming Online

We have many new authors over at Flatbooks.com (as well as many new ebooks!).  Check out the Authors section to see who is working on upcoming books.  Very exciting!

Daily Photo – The Forbidden City

Early one morning I decided to hike up the biggest hill in the middle of Central Axis to get a shot of the Forbidden City.

Once up there, it was an amazing view of the old city.  There’s not many cities in the world that have kept such a huge area so well preserved.  It’s about as close as you can get to time travel in the real world (so far).  And then, when the light is right in these strange hours, it is a completely transportive experience.

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

Schemer

Have you heard of Google Schemer?  I believe it is in beta.  That is a link to my personal page… It’s a fun way to find things to do “in the real world” and I’ve been using it from time to time.

If you want an invite, watch my Google+ Stream later today for a little giveaway…

Daily Photo – From The Top of the Great Wall

Far in the north, this area of the Great Wall has been overgrown with vegetation.  Birds and little creatures are all over the place.  A path has been made over time, and it weaves in and out of these overgrown bits.  The wall is so wide that it’s sometimes easy to forget that you are standing on top of a huge structure.

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

Live Hangout Thursday Night!

Topic: DSLRs are Forever? Subtext: You don’t always need DSLRs now or in the future to get DSLR-quality photos…

• NEW Guests: +Romain Guy from Google, one of the minds behind the camera phone for the new+Android Galaxy Nexus… maybe can goad him into hot tips! +James Brandon from Digital Photography School; +Gordon Laing from CameraLabs.com ; +Frederick Van Johnson from This Week in Photo ; +Kelli Seeger Kim from Behind the Lens; and +RC Concepcion from Kelby Media.
• Time: Thurs at 8 PM PT – Your World Time
• Where:  Watch my Google+ Stream for the embedded player.

Daily Photo – The Bird’s Nest From Above

I was at the top of this tower late one night in Beijing.  It’s a cool tower (I don’t have a photo of it), but it’s the kind of tower that will look awful in about 10 years.  Anyway, this photo is not about the tower.

The famous Bird’s Nest stadium was spread out beneath me.  When I saw this scene, I knew I was going to shave off the top and the bottom.  The bottom was kind of interesting.  The top was dreadful.  It’s a bit painful to take a photo when I know I’m going to be cutting out so much, but I do it quite often anyway.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

Announcement! A Photography Workshop at Google Giveaway!

Are you in LA and want to join me for a great day at Google for a photography workshop? Watch my Google+ Stream today for instructions on how to win the giveaway. It will be an amazing time!

Textures

This photo below, like others you see on occasion, use a texture method that I get a lot of questions about. We have a popular Textures Tutorial here on the site that comes with a ton of different textures in case you are curious to learn more…

Daily Photo – The Long Path to the Temple of Heaven

It was a beautiful morning in Beijing. It was cool and crisp, and I walked around this historic area while locals were doing yoga and various other exercises. There are many ancient, repeating structures that cover the grounds in a very orderly manner. This is one of the many long structures that helps to connect various areas of the complex.

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