See you today at B&H Photo for the Talk!

Hey, for all those not in New York, can I pick you up anything? Just dump your whole Christmas list in the comments! hehe…

I’ll be speaking today at B&H Photo in their Event Space. It starts at 12 noon sharp, and I’ll be talking about HDR as well as giving a short tutorial… If you have your own book or want a new one signed, I’m happy to do that too!

The Yellowstone How-To Video on Grand-Prismatic

Here is another free video for you all. This one is a bit different than the others, and I go into more details of everything that went into the shot of the Grand Prismatic Spring, which you can see below. Enjoy. And let me know if you want to see more videos like this in the future!

Daily Photo – The Grand Prismatic

This place is awesome and huge. Want to know how huge? Look at those people standing there on the boardwalk towards the top. Amazing, eh?

Getting this shot (and all my others!) was no cake walk! But I am happy with the way it turned out. One thing you don’t see in the video is how dirty I got on the way down the mountain when I decided to take a “short cut”. It was a bad idea for both me and my jeans.

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

All Prints Going Offline – Going Dark

We are changing the way we handle prints here. In the past, we have done what everyone else does, which is dump a ton of prints into an online printing service. I’m not convinced that’s the best way thing for our customers. We are going to do something different and bold, and we are launching in a few days. I think it will be much more meaningful for fans, collectors, and everyone in between.

For now, we are taking all printing options offline. Stay tuned for Friday for the big announcement!

Photoblog Awards – Come Vote

Thanks for all the votes already!  There are just a few days left, so now is the perfect time to vote.  If you do enjoy the images here and think the world should know, then I would certainly appreciate it!

Daily Photo – Entering The Forest Alone

It’s not often I use a zoom lens to do landscape photography (this is 125mm), since the conditions have to be just right (at least, for me).  You do get this strange thing called “compression”, which will be a new concept for people that come here not familiar with photography techniques.  Maybe you have seen this in horror movies…  You know, someone gets some shocking news, and then the camera does this strange thing where it pulls out and the background flexes while the actor remains still.  Well, compression is kind like that, but not really.  But it can bring things in the far distance “forward” to appear bigger than they really are, as is the case with the distant blue forest in this shot from Yellowstone.

Believe it or not, I was so exhausted after I took this shot, I pulled over and slept for two hours in the backseat.  There is nothing worse than waking up, groggy in the backseat of a strange car, and a tripod jamming you in the small of the back.

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

Lenses I want for Christmas

I have two lenses on my Christmas list this year. They are the Nikon 300mm 2.8 and the 85mm 1.4. Both look like a lot of fun! If anyone has an older one they are selling, let me know. What’s on your list?

I have another discussion thread on this on the FB fan page.

Daily Photo – The Frozen Granite

Getting to this spot in Glacier National Park wasn’t easy. It was even tougher trying to get Ethan and Tina into the exact spot too. Even though this area had all this cool granite around it, there was a bit of a swamp there that we had to traverse first. And, just around the corner was a nice sandy beach!

Filed under the categories: Glacier Natl Park, Montana, Travel

New York, New York

I’m coming to Manhattan very soon! Rick Sammon gave me his ultimate secret spot for shooting some HDR, so I’m excited about that. I’m also going to be making another Stuck in Motion style video while there, so I’m looking forward to that. Keep an eye out for me if your in those parts! I’ll be the one with the camera.

Previous Videos

I’ve been adding a lot of videos in the last 6 months eh? There is a new one below, and I’ll be adding more soon with the upcoming book. It makes reference to a few unreleased videos here on the site, so I’ll be sure to get them up soon. If you want to see previous one, just see the “Videos” section there on the right!

Daily Photo (and bonus video!): The Shapes in the Shire

This is another shot from Yellowstone accompanied by a little video I shot with my Flip video camera. It’s not a high quality camera, and it’s awfully shaky. Sorry for that. But, I hope the content is good for you. I know people always like to know how many exposures I’m taking… this and that… so I’ve got all that info in there.

In the video, I show another photo, which you can see large right here.

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

I felt lucky to have a wild sunset in Yellowstone! I’ve probably been to Yellowstone 5 or 6 times, and you never know what you’ll get! This night was perfect… I had woken up early, so I was tired by mid-afternoon.. I took a catnap in my car and woke up to see the sun was going down in less than an hour! So, I looked at my map and figured out some good spots to go. While walking down this little dirt road, I thought the sky was too perfect to ignore, so I set up for a quick shot!

Also, I got a note from Patrick at onOne software. Their new Plugin Suite 5 is avail! Cool! I use their plugins a lot with my photos. Although I haven’t done a full review, I did review Genuine Fractals, which is part of their suite. I understand that the “STUCKINCUSTOMS” code will save you 20% on all their products. Whenever I have time to write the full review, I will!

Filed under the categories: Montana, Travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone

The photo below was shot in the Norris Geysir Basin of Yellowstone. I put together another “Walking Around Yellowstone” video with some HDR how-to activity. I think you will like it! I go through three shots and show three finished products. This is one of them. I should release it sometime in the next week or so.

Also, I got good news on A World in HDR, the new book that’s shipping before the holidays! Our publisher, Peachpit, is going to put about 20 pages from Chapter 2 online for viewing on Friday! So, come back around 1 AM CST or so on Friday morning and I’ll put up a sneak preview! Very exciting! I know you guys and gals have really been anticipating it, so I’m happy for you to see it!

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

Before I get started, I finally had a chance to comment (#184!) on the “The Moments Between” post from a few days ago. I’m very happy people are actively guessing and experimenting to do the same thing! I think that’s very healthy and much better than just getting an answer (but I will give an answer in the future !! ).

It reminds me of last night. I was in San Francisco with a bunch of very nice people from Peachpit, the company that is publishing the upcoming book. After Indian food, we all went out to walk the streets of San Francisco so I could give them a few tips on HDR shooting. One of the gals, holding her D60 without a tripod, was asking me about “What happens if I set the ISO down to 100?” I said. “Hmm… I wonder what would happen… Why don’t you try?” (of course I knew the answer)… but better that she finds out herself. (she did).

This photo below is from Fire Lake. Yes, I dipped my hand in. I had to! I could not resist. It was really hot. Oh god was it hot. I had to do it twice just because I couldn’t believe how hot it was the first time.

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

I’ve always thought that when old trucks go to die, their final drivers seem to park them in a spot that will be perfect for photography some day. That’s kind of them.

This truck was found when we were leaving the dinosaur dig in northern Montana. Sometimes it pays to get off the main road and drive around these tiny old towns like Rudyard. Small, out-of-the-way towns are always fun to drive through, but I try to get off the main street and do random zig-zagging looking for nicely composed scenes… old trucks… you know, the sorts of things that are just sitting around waiting for a photo.

Also, you may notice a new feature go live today (or soon) at some point on the site here. It’s called the Meebo Bar, and I think you’ll like it! The best feature, to me, is the ability to drag a picture and very easily share it. I think you know that I invite you all to share these works freely with your friends, and this should make it easy and fun.

Filed under the categories: Montana, Rudyard, Travel

The triceratops definitely falls into one of those “Top 5″ dinosaurs of my youth. Now there are so many, I hardly know where to begin. I go through my son’s dinosaur books and I am shocked at how many different names there are. I can’t keep track of all that. Plus, the names are kinda rough. Each one seems to have over seven syllables.

This was shot at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. It’s one of the top dinosaur museums in the world and the curator is Jack Horner. I was lucky enough to get a personal tour through it with Jack… he showed me all kinda of secret stuff throughout. Awesome! I have another friend up there named Dr. David Sands who actually found one of the triceratops that is in the museum. I can’t imagine finding something that big… If I did, I think I’d tell everyone I know the first time I met them. Hi, I’m Trey, I found a Triceratops!

I also made a new page here on the site in tribute of my favorite photographer, Edward Curtis. I mentioned him in a recent interview and it occurred to me people may not know who he is! So, I put together a grouping of some of my favorite photos of his. Be sure you read the bit about his ex-wife.

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

The visions of a farm bracing against a Montana storm had come true that afternoon. I’m sure the last thing I was supposed to be doing was taking a photo of the swirling maelstrom, but I couldn’t help it. What else are you going to do with a good tripod and a nice Nikon? I don’t carry around this stuff so I can go inside when dire and picturesque events are about!

Thanks again for all the nice feedback on the recent Newsletter (note, if you subscribe now for free, you get links to the previous release). So far, it’s been opened by 157.2% of the people on the list! I think this is because people are forwarding it around to their friends and family… that’s cool – thanks! I get all these stats from this cool newsletter software that manages all that stuff for me called AWeber. If you need to do a newsletter for your group, church, school, or whatever, I highly recommend it.

Filed under the categories: Montana, Travel

I finished up one of the bonus videos tonight for new textures tutorial. I was very pleased with the way this one turned out, so I wanted to upload it! There is not much on this one… just a few secret effects.

This forest was all steamy and foggy in the morning. Part of the steam was caused by this little stream flowing through here. It had been a few days since I had seen my family, so I pulled out my Flip and made a little video. I went over to the steaming water and dunked my hand in there. It was pretty hot, but not burning hot. If I had more time, I probably would have crawled inside… so… I was trying to explain to my kids they should not touch steamy water at Yellowstone… but sending them mixed messages as I was dunking my own body parts in the middle of them, showing them how awesome it was!

I think we might be able to get a new video up for you tomorrow that was shot by my friend Scott in Atlanta. The newsletter is almost finished too, and it will include a special link to the longer, 45-minute uncut video. Scott was nice enough to share that one too!

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

I am still working on this new Stuck In Customs Textures Tutorial. This is one I edited this evening while recording the how-to video. I commented in the beginning of the video that the initial photo was good and there may not be a need to add textures! But, then you end up with something that is also good, just different. It’s like deciding which of your kids you like better! They are all different and good! (Well, most of the time).

These horses came thundering onto the scene while I was walking down the road. I got myself behind a tree so I would not get trampled like Mufasa. I was lucky that they started kicking up dust in the right position relative to the sun so that their legs cast shadows through the cloud. I can’t take credit for that one!

Filed under the categories: Montana, Travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone