The Winners of the All-Expenses Trip to New Zealand and the Sony A7!

We recently had a live video hangout to announce the winners! It was part of the release of the new HDR Tutorial on Video. To see the winners, and all the runners-up, check out the video. Enjoy! :)

Daily Photo – The Busiest Sheep in Iceland

See that little sheepy there on the left? I think he must eat the tall parts of all the grass in that entire field to keep it looking perfect.

In fact, I’m often amazed at these huge fields of perfect grass. No one ever mows them, and usually there is almost no sheep. I have no idea how the grass is so perfect all the time. It’s really mind-bending and I stop thinking about it too much after a while because it begins to hurt. It’s that same kind of brain-hurt that you think about when you wonder what things would be like if there was no universe. I put it up there on that scale.

The Busiest Sheep in Iceland

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2010-06-12 23:51:00
• CameraNIKON D3X
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/15
• Aperture11
• ISO125
• Focal Length45.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+3

Live on TWIT Photo and MacBreak Weekly Tuesday

I’ll be at the TWIT Studios on Tuesday for two shows – you can watch live at Live.TWIT.tv.  MacBreak Weekly starts at 11 AM PT and TWIT Photo starts at 1 PM PT.

Patrick Rothfuss Behind-the-Scenes

We had a hangout a few weeks ago with Patrick Rothfuss.  Here’s what happened before-the-show!  🙂  If you want to see the FULL show, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0enw-G5Din0

In this little pre-show, which we did not intend to capture, we talk about D&D, programming, Infocom games, sleeping, and a bunch of other stuff…

Daily Photo – The Distant Mist

While in Iceland, I traveled through a lowlands area early in the morning.  A mist — a video-game-mist — started moving quickly across the ground and through the distant hillocks.  It was all so surreal that I barely remembered that I should be taking a photo of this.  That was a strange feeling, since the whole reason I was there was to take photos! 🙂

New Facebook Timeline Activates?

My personal Facebook Profile (you can subscribe) has been using the new Timeline feature for a while, but you probably could not see it unless you were an FB developer that also had it turned on. But maybe everyone has it activated now? I was wondering… and are you enjoying your own timeline if you have it?

Reminder for TWIT Photo with Leo Laporte Tomorrow

Tune in Live at 1:30 PM PT at Live.Twit.TV. See you there! We’ll be talking about Photography and more!

Daily Photo – Farmhouse and Roosting Birds at Dusk

I only got to stay in this magical place for one night.

If you’re really into birds, then you may notice a thing or two about this photo. Iceland is known for many species of birds, and you can see a bunch of them roosting back in the cliff there.

#2 in the app Store!

Stuck On Earth (iTunes Link) hit #2 in the travel section of the app store! Awesome! Thanks again everyone. If you want an update on upcoming versions, watch the Stuck On Earth page in Google+.

The app is still free — all I ask is that you tell your friends…. not once or twice, but more than that! Thanks 🙂

On DTown

I recently went out to Florida to visit Scott Kelby and see his setup there. While in the studios, I did an episode of D Town with my friend RC Concepcion. It was great fun, as you’ll see below!

Daily Photo – The Edge of the World

This was one of my first times on a black sand beach, and it was even stranger because it was at least eight hours since I had seen another human.

The sound the black sand made was something between normal beach sand and fresh snow. It was a slippery crunch with a slight wet sucking sound as my foot pulled up.

This place is pretty close to one of the recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland. Very close to the town of Vik, this is on the other side of a tall and narrow mountain range. You can kind of drive anywhere. Anywhere. And this looked interesting and kind of scary… so I just drove and drove across the black sand until I got to this place… like something a wicked map designer would make in Skyrim.

What is your Google+ ID?

I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit (my Google Profile). Please put your Google Profile in the comments so that people can circle you. Perhaps a “Stuck In Customs” circle for people in this community? Pretty good idea, if I do say so myself!

Daily Photo – Horse in Landscape

Remember what I said a few days ago about reasons for no stopping for almost every horse photo in Iceland? Forget I said that. I don’t know what I was talking about. Go ahead and stop… I mean, how on earth can you pass this buy?

These horses remind me a bit of the sirens in Odysseus, distracting me from my destination… But, really, that analogy falls apart because I had no destination in mind, so I allow myself plenty of wonderful distractions.

Horse in Landscape

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2011-06-13 21:54:27
• CameraNIKON D3X
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/10
• Aperture5.6
• ISO1000
• Focal Length230.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+1

HDR Tutorial in 6 Languages

And growing… find your language below and enjoy!

Welcome to the International HDR Tutorial!

• Speak English? Howdy! Head on over to the HDR Tutorial
• 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 ?esky? Pokra?ujte zde!  HDR Tutoriál v ?eském jazyce.

New Interview with Nikon

Nikon has an official podcast where they talk all about Nikon stuff and stuff stuff like that. I didn’t know what it was going to be like before I was on, and I envisioned it would go like this:

[begin Stock Music Intro reminiscent of background music in porn movies]
Host: “So do you like stuff?”
Trey: “What, like Nikon stuff?”
Host: “Oh yeah, totally.”
Trey: “Well, yes, I do like Nikon stuff.”
Host: “Like all the Nikon stuff?”
Trey: “Well not all the Nikon stuff, but you know, some of the stuff.”
Host “Yeah totally.”
[fade out with same silly music]

But it turned out not to be quite like that…well, except for the music which I was spot on about… BTW, Nikon doesn’t pay me or give me free stuff stuff or any of that stuff.

Just click that lonely looking play button below:
[display_podcast]

If you want to see all my camera and lens suggestions (yes there is even a Canon in there, ahem!), see my HDR Camera recommendations page.

Daily Photo – Church in the Fog

I was driving along the southern coast of Iceland on the way to Vik, and I started going throw an area of lowlands. Around midnight or so, the sun was getting pretty low in the west, and it gave the sky a slight pink glow in almost every direction.

I shot this one at a 200mm at F/6.7. I don’t often take out my zooms for landscapes, but it does provide a nice compression that gives an unexpected feel to the final photo. It’s really hard to explain in words, but maybe you can sense of this framing in the final result. It just can’t be done with a wide-angle lens, even if I was a lot closer.

http://stuckincustoms.smugmug.com/Portfolio-The-Best/your-favorites/10668747_AuyBk#1279298374_Z3LWwws-A-LB

Woopra Review

I still use Woopra quite a bit to make sure the site is nice, spiffy, and fun to everyone. It’s hard for me to tell what works and what doesn’t work unless I measure. I put this new video below on the Woopra Review page. It’s free for all the basic services (which is all most people need).

Daily Photo – Remote Farmhouse with Waterfall

On one of my first nights in Iceland, I was driving along the southern coast. Pristine farms are plopped along the side of the road every few miles. As I began to approach one of the volcanic areas, the terrain changed enough so there were huge waterfalls in many of the vistas. This one was nestled deep behind the farmhouse, and it seemed like a nice little spot for a photo.

Speaking at Google China

On October 11th, I’ll be heading over to the Google China offices in Beijing to give a talk on art, photography, HDR, and everything in between.  If you’re part of the Google team here in China, then I look forward to meeting you! 🙂

If you missed my first Google Talk at their HQ in California, just follow that link.

Daily Photo – A Lonely Night in Iceland

I was in the southern area of Iceland, only a few kilometers from the big volcano eruption. There was still a bit of ash scattered around, and I was driving down random side-roads. I made a deal with myself that I would randomly take exits off the main highway to see what I could find. This was one of those occasions.

On the way back to the highway, I saw new things. It’s hard to have a 360-degree sense of all compositions while driving. Usually my viewing cone is fully stimulated at 180 degrees while moving forward! So, moving back and forth along roads sometimes provides surprises.

I had just spent a few hours around midnight on a black-sand volcanic beach on the shore. I was the only one there, as usual. It’s very creepy, in a way, being on a gigantic black beach in the middle of the night without another car or human anywhere in sight. And I know that it is even beyond my sight for a long way because I had not seen anyone on the drive there. I listened to music and took photos all the while, of course. And on the way back, I saw this tiny lit church against some distant mountains, so I popped out for another shot.

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.

The eBooks are Selling Great!

Click on either of the two book covers to the right for more info. And thank you very much everyone for trying these out! I’m glad you like these, and I do need to make more. But who has the time? I’d like to churn more of these out, but they do take a lot of thought and work… For now, these will have to do. But thank you for all the feedback and keep it coming!

Daily Photo – The Cavebirds in the Gentle Evening

How awesome is his little gem in Iceland?

It’s a small town not too far from that big volcano called “Vik”. It is the home to many different birds, and a lot of them nest inside these tiny caves in the cliff walls. In this area just north of the town, the local residents decided to light the side of the cliff at night to give it a special feel.