Auto-Align Update for Photomatix

I have news! Well, news to me. Or, let’s say, news that is ever-evolving.

I used to not like the auto-align feature very much with Photomatix. I thought it didn’t do such a great job, but now it has made great strides and the algorithm continues to improve! This shot, for example, was handheld in pretty low light. Not only did Photomatix do a perfect job of aligning the -2, 0, and +2 exposures, but it also made everything perfectly sharp and lucid.

BTW, in case you are new to the site, here is my Photomatix Review.

Also, if you use a Mac to edit your photos, check out Aurora HDR Pro! I worked with Macphun for over a year to build the ultimate HDR software!

I’ve been doing more and more auto-aligning lately with Photomatix, and it really feels like it has come a long way. So now, if I occasionally have to do handheld shots, I feel happy to all my trust in there.

Daily Photo – The Sunset Bathes the Deck of Disney’s Wonder

Right after dinner was the best time to hit the top decks for some photography. Most nights we had amazing sunsets, so I feel lucky for that.

See that little room to the left with the glass? That’s where I spent most of my days, relaxing, reading, drinking coffee, and working on photos!

The Sunset Bathes the Deck of Disney’s Wonder

Photo Information

---

• Date Taken2013-07-18 17:40:06
• CameraNEX-6
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/40
• Aperture4.5
• ISO400
• Focal Length10.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Next Disney Cruise

We liked the last one so much that we booked another cruise. This time, we are going to try the Alaska cruise, which should be pretty awesome. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the cruise, since I’m not really a cruise-kinda-guy, but the Disney ones are very nice!

Daily Photo – Full Speed Engines on the Disney Cruise

I woke up early almost every morning on the Disney Cruise to see what I could see. When you can see the horizon, it makes it pretty predictable that you’ll get a good sunrise. I did go through that painful routine of waking up early and staggering over to the window to open the curtains and look at the clouds. Whenever I saw there were just a few clouds, I’d go for it! Otherwise, if there were a ton of clouds or rain, I would just get back in bed. I swear that is one of the best feelings in the world!

Full Speed Engines on the Disney Cruise

Photo Information

---

• Date Taken2012-04-06 08:20:39
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/250
• Aperture8
• ISO200
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+1

Officially Released, The Light Camera Mark I

More info at TheLightCameraApp.com — or a Direct iTunes link. in limited supply of 50,000!

Quickly, all you need to know is that the “cool” thing about this camera is that it has all real-time Live filters and effects, in addition to real-time edge detection and live sharpening. You can also use your fingers to adjust the intensity of the effect, move around lens flares, etc etc… it’s cool!

Tell All: (what’s really goin on here???)

Why did you do a Limited Edition App? Are you Crazy?!?

Why would anyone want to limit the upside? We didn’t do this with our other camera app, and it had over 1 million downloads… so, yes, I know it is a little crazy! And, I don’t know if anyone has ever done a limited-edition app, but here is my thinking, in case you were curious. I mean, I might as well be totally transparent about my motivations and desires and stuff, right?

So, I think this real-time edge-detection and sharpening feature is really cool. There are so many apps out there, and I wanted this one to be different and special. I love filters, and the idea of Live Filters is really cool… you know when you put on someone else’s funky sunglasses and everything looks kinda crazy-cool? That’s what this is like, but with more intense effects.

Anyway, I wanted people to actually try it and get excited about it. There are currently two pretty good working theories about marketing and stuff online… and if you want more info on this, read some of the books of Guy Kawasaki , Kevin Kelly, Gary Vaynerchuk or many other people out there!

Long-Tail – This is the idea that something might be niche and low price, but it continues to make money for years and years and years. This is what we did with our other apps… it’s neverending as long as you have a quality product.

Rarity – People do want what is rare. In many ways, this is the opposite of the “inifinte” supply of the Long-Tail above. If people can have something that others cannot, they just want it! It’s just the way humans are hardwired, as irrational as it may be. So, the idea that you can have an app that your friends don’t is, well, just kinda cool!

Combo-Theory – so, with this, I thought it would be fun to experiment and combine the two above into my Combo-Theory. _I think we can do something that has a Long Tail AND is Rare_. We’ll have The Light Camera: Mark I here until it sells out. At that point, we’ll look at the good/bad of the camera… what people liked and what people hated (we will of course fix bugs in free updates!)… and then we will improve upon everything for The Light Camera: Mark II, which will also be in limited quantities… then the Mark III, etc etc. We will continue this until we run out of ideas (hard to imagine) or if people get really tired of camera apps (also hard to imagine)! Anyway, this is the idea we are going for here.

Also, thank you very much to the team here at Stuck In Customs that helped out with this app – Mark Powell, Curtis Simmons, Will Kelly, Luke Lakatosh and more!

Logistically: How do you make something limited in the app store?
Okay, THIS is a problem! Hehe… for one, I don’t want to “remove” it from the app store, because then customers cannot get the free updates and bug fixes that I promised. So, instead, I just have crank up the price to something INSANE like $999 or however high it goes. I know, it’s kinda wierd… and people that arrive late will be thinking, “WTF!” And they may buy it for $999 and then write a horrible one-star review that says, “This app is NOT worth $999!” But, really, honestly, that’s okay… they can write a one star review for $999. I’m only kinda kidding… but… just thinking into the future of things that might happen.

Android Support?!?!? Let me head this one off at the pass! I already know I’ll get many questions about this. The GOOD news is that we have begun Android development of Stuck On Earth, the Free travel app ( www.stuckonearthapp.com)! But our Android team is small, and execution is the problem. Personally, I am an Android user (!!), so I am very anxious to get all these apps on the Android ASAP. Like you, I know that Android is

Daily Photo – On Top of the Disney Fantasy

This was my first Disney cruise, so I don’t know if I was lucky with the clouds, or if they are usually full of oceanic-drama. I know some of you in the audience are big ocean-sailing-boat people, so you would know…

What you see here is one of the “Adult Only” areas of the ship. I was surprised that there were many of these areas spread around, and at least three pools just for grown-ups. It was a nice surprise! 🙂

On Top of the Disney Fantasy

Photo Information

---

• Date Taken2012-04-06 07:51:15
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/8
• Aperture8
• ISO200
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Gelaskins and Trey Ratcliff

Well, I guess that is Gelaskins and Me — check out that link if you are looking for some goodies for your mobile device! 🙂

Daily Photo – Hard Drinking on a Disney Cruise

I guess if that is what you want to do on a Disney Cruise, this is the place to do it. What an amazing bar this is! This is the second photo I posted from this location, and it shows another one of the dynamic backgrounds that swap in and out every few minutes.

I spent most of my time up very close to the screens. Not only do they change — but they are also fully animated, showing all the traffic of cars and pedestrians as they move around the city.

Hard Drinking on a Disney Cruise

Photo Information

---

• Date Taken2012-04-04 02:18:04
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time4
• Aperture4
• ISO200
• Focal Length22.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Newsletter Preview

Did you miss My Recent Newsletter? Click there for a preview!

You can sign up for the Newsletter for free here.

Daily Photo – The Sphere of Influence

I thought this sphere was so unusual when I saw it the first time. There’s a radar under there, but the design of the housing is pretty cool and modern… And it sits in the middle of an awesome adults-only swimming pool on the front of the Disney Fantasy… very cool.

The Sphere of Influence

Photo Information

---

• Date Taken2012-04-06 08:23:23
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/125
• Aperture8
• ISO200
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Disney Cruise Lore

So, I am not one with the “cruising culture” by any means. And, I was shocked (and somewhat entertained) to find out that such a deep subculture exists!

Since we were on the maiden voyage of the Disney Fantasy, we discovered that there were a great many people on this boat that had been on at least a dozen other Disney cruises. A dozen! And they had everything figured out — I mean everything. And they weren’t afraid to tell you. Oh no. Give them two seconds of silence, and they’ll spit out facts about the ports of call of the Disney Dream in May of 2009. They were like baseball statisticians, effortlessly spouting out Cy Young winners from 1972 and the W-L record of the Cleveland Indians from the same year.

And it was in this environment I found myself when these two great Disney ships docked together in Mexico. This was a Big Deal. I had at least five other somewhat annoying couples come up to me and offer up information about how rare this event is, and then they would recite the dates of all other ship-meetings.

To me, it was just cool to see two huge ships together over a narrow dock…

Daily Photo – The Towering Ships

So I got down to the end of the pier and aimed the 14-24 pretty high. There’s no way to get around the “leaning lines” — but that all adds to the overall effect. And, believe, me, standing down there, you feel the immense weight of them all about to topple over.

If you look up at the Disney Fantasy on the right, you can see where the waterslide juts off the edge of the ship…

Closing Presentation, broken down by question…

I had a nice person break down the closing Google+ event with timestamps. I know some people have particular questions or interests within here… You can see them all below the video.

[0:00:00 – 0:10:27]
Slideshow Presentation – quality on recording is CRAPPY – best quality at http://goo.gl/fo4hm.

[0:10:41 – 0:12:07]
Scott Kelby opening remarks; Trey Ratcliff introduction.

[0:12:07 – 0:17:39]
Trey introduces Hangout Panel participants.

[0:19:58 – 0:23:43]
Fast-moving technology, future of computational photography.

[0:23:43 – 0:25:38]
Post-processing images; photograph as a sketch; taking the shot is the beginning of the journey; some photographers’ resistance to post-processing

[0:25:41 – 0:27:20]
Trey’s recommended books… featuring one from +Patrick Rothfuss

[0:27:31 – 0:29:08]
Being alone with the music; enjoying the journey of post-processing; left-brained clever photographers and how to unlock the right brain; music making things cinematic.

[0:29:24 – 0:32:06]
New photography mediums; something beyond HDR; being pigeonholed as “HDR Guy;” Socratic reductionism; new kind of photo between a photo and a video; capturing fleeting moments.

[0:32:10 – 0:32:45]
What would superpower be?

[0:33:37 – 0:36:06]
Travel and family relationships; “strange brain” when alone; balance of art, family, business, friends.

[0:36:13 – 0:37:02]
New Zealand move and reasons.

[0:38:51 – 0:43:30]
Dealing with trolls and naysayers; strong-emotion people, extreme joy and extreme sadness. (Asked by Brian Rose).

[0:43:51 – 0:45:00]
HDR hate/love; photographs that shouldn’t be taken but justified through HDR.

[0:45:18 – 0:47:37]
Trey’s paintings; inspiration for painting; Impressionists; challenging status quo.

[0:47:54 – 0:51:16]
Replicating success; evolution vs. splintering of photography.

[0:51:24 – 0:53:21]
Mirrorless cameras.

[0:53:21 – 0:54:53]
Showing up to a paid gig with a small camera; selling clients on portfolio.

[0:54:55 – 0:55:02]
Clarification on still using D800; transitional hinterland.

[0:55:50 – 0:59:26]
What can we do together as a community going forward? Exciting time in history; best “NOW” ever; Internet like a brain; building out the right brain of the Internet and establish the art and culture of the Internet; Decade of the Artist;

[0:5

Daily Photo – Swabbing the Decks

The Disney Cruise aboard the Fantasy had deck after deck after deck – something was always happening – everywhere! It was pretty stimulating as a photographer to try to figure out where to be at different times.

This is the deck where the running track is. It goes around the outside of the ship, and I like to run so I was out there almost every day. I noticed around a certain time that these guys come out in yellow outfits to swab them down. So I made a point to get out there the next day and set up for this image.

Swabbing the Decks

Photo Information

---

• Date Taken2012-04-03 16:28:22
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/1000
• Aperture4
• ISO100
• Focal Length15.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

SmugMug Review

Are you looking for a place to host your photos? I’m still quite happy with SmugMug.  See my SmugMug Review for more information.  I’m about to have a portfolio re-design there on the site… so get ready for that too!

Fireworks Tip

Here’s a quick one… if you have “Long Exposure NR” turned on (which it is by default), be sure to turn it off when shooting fireworks.  The camera can take a LONG time to do that NR (Noise Reduction) processing, which will keep you from taking the next exposure.

Daily Photo – Fireworks on the Disney Cruise

I was not sure where exactly the fireworks shot off the top of the Disney Fantasy, so I gambled and guessed that this area on Deck 13 in the “Adults Only” area of the ship would be best.  There is a little curving area that juts out that I thought would be perfect…  I asked a few cast members, and they told me to be over on the starboard side, but I tried to explain that I wanted to get the boat in the shot too — this confounded them… so, anyway, I was over in this spot pretty much by myself… which is fine with me!

http://stuckincustoms.smugmug.com/Portfolio-The-Best/your-favorites/10668747_nxsXfB/1785229927_4rg

Daily Photo – Morning at Sea

I’ve been waking up at Ouch-o’clock every morning to see the sunrise off the front of the boat. It’s always been worth it… listening to music, moving around the boat, pretty much totally alone except for a few members of the crew out doing their morning duties.

This morning, we went to Castaway Cay, which is Disney’s private island in the Bahamas. I thought it would be kind of lame (I’m both cynical and optimistic!) — but it was really awesome… we had a great time there!

Daily Photo – Disney Fantasy Cruise – The Skyline Bar

Which city do you think this is??

This is the coolest bar on the ship.  I was in here this night with John Lasseter (I think!) – but he was sitting with a group of people and I didn’t want to interrupt him to say hello.  Anyway, these walls are filled with images of different cities that change out every 12-14 minutes or so.  And, if you get up close to these hi-def walls, you can see movement!  People walk around the streets, cars move, lights flicker, people go about their days inside their homes, etc.  It’s endlessly fascinating.  I also have some video of this too — I’ll release that as soon as I have more bandwidth at dock!