Camera Straps – Many Flavors!

We recently gave away a bunch of camera straps at the event in Austin. These things are hard to keep in stock. We also sold out of all the t-shirts right away… then we ordered more AND got more girl sizes! Anyway, everything is back in stock now and ready for you. There are a few different camera straps for you to choose from as well. Let me know if you have any questions! This leather one pictured here is pretty cool because it slides up and down your diagonally across chest AND allows you to attach it to your tripod. Usually it’s one or the other… but I wanted one that did both since I’m often on-and-off the tripod. It’s all hand-made with leather and metal fittings and stuff… quite a bit of labor goes into each one, and they are all unique in that way.

Daily Photo – Morning on the wet decks

On the Disney Cruise, I made it up for sunrise about 4/7 mornings. That’s not so bad. My goal was to do 7/7 mornings, but I’m only human.

The room was always cool and dry, and the outdoors was warm and wet. My lenses needed more time to wake up than me. That foggy-covering lasted a good 10 minutes, and then I gave it a bonus 5 minutes because there is a very slow final ramp-down of the moisture upon the glass. I heard that if you keep your camera in a ziplock bag then take it out that the moisture will form there instead of on the lens. I don’t know if I believe it, but I will try it next time.

Filed under the categories: Disney World, Florida, Travel

Karen’s Vita-Mix

When Karen Hutton came to stay with us in New Zealand for about two weeks, she brought her Vita-mix. We liked it so much that we bought it from her. This was fine with Karen because, for some reason, she had three of them. Anyway, it’s a pretty cool thing… and I like it better than juicers because you get all the little bits of the veggies in there too. It even works pretty well in tricking the kids into adding more veggies into their daily regimen. If we could just somehow make them less “green”, then there’d be less ‘splainin to do.

Daily Photo – Across the Little Lake at Sunset

Here’s a little tip for shooting and getting those sun rays that burst out like that. So, you may have heard that you can set your f-stop as high as it can go… say, f/22 or something. But, you actually don’t have to go quite that high. The bad part about maxing it out is that you’ll see all the dust on your sensor and all the little bits on your lens. That takes a long time in post to clean up. Instead, try around f/16 or f/14… you can still get that nice effect without all the junk getting in the way!

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Queenstown, Travel

More from Amateras

I’ve posted a few photos from this amazing place we stayed. If you’d like to see more, visit the Amateras website!

Daily Photo – A View From our Balcony at Amateras

We stayed in two different places on Virgin Gorda while we were waiting to move to New Zealand. This is one of the two places, and this outdoor area was a magical place to come out and read each night. I remember I was reading a physics book then called “The End of Time” by Julian Barbour. I recommend it if you’re into geeky science stuff like me!

Filed under the categories: Caribbean, Nikon D800, Travel, Virgin Gorda

Small Rental Car

If you’re going to rent a car in France (or most other places in Europe), you had better not say you want a “small” car. If you do, the car will be smaller than you expect. In fact, it will be smaller than both you and your bags expect. It’s best to ask for 4 doors, otherwise you may not have room for anything other than yourself and a small espresso cup. I found this out the hardway on a roadtrip here through Bordeaux with Tom! Anyway… a little word of warning there!

Daily Photo – The Towering Old Village

Aren’t medieval places the best? Yes! I wonder what it would be like to live here all the time. Maybe you’d get tired of how charming and Hansel & Gretel everything is all the time… I doubt it though!

Around this old monastery of Mont Saint Michel is a curtain wall where you can easily walk along the top. It’s quite cool because every few steps there is a good view of the village and the tower above, each view offering another good photo op.

Filed under the categories: France, Mont Saint Michel, Nikon D800, Travel

iPad Mini (and QatQi)

I lost my bigger iPad on a QANTAS flight from Melbourne, which was kind of a bummer. So I decided to try the iPad mini. I didn’t think I would like it as much as I do! I was worried that my photos would feel small and not as impressive… but I don’t find that to be the case yet. I’m really enjoying the form-factor, and reading books on the Kindle app is very nice… Oh, and here’s a fun word-game app recommendation for you: QatQi. Tell me if you make it all the way to the Sunday puzzle and can finish it !

Daily Photo – The Skyline of Melbourne from Across the River

Melbourne has one of the most “walkable” skylines I’ve seen. It runs all up and down the river and looks pretty from both sides. It also works out well because there is very little to obstruct your view. It’s the complete opposite, of, say, Bangkok, where getting a view across the river is next to impossible.

I look forward to going back to Melbourne to walk along this river many more times!

Filed under the categories: Australia, Melbourne, Travel

NPS Australia is a model for the other NPS branches

Nikon is a confusing company. The way the NPS (Nikon Professional Services) territories have been separated by the Japanese-corporate-groupthink causes a lot of confusion. I know it’s “just the way they do things,” but that is a sorry excuse from an old-style company that refuses to change and be more like, well, Apple. The way products are sold with distributors and middlemen that create this “grey-market” is absolutely perplexing to the well-meaning customer. I never get a “grey-market” iPad. Wherever I buy an MacBook, for example, I can take it into any Apple store around the world and get it fixed.

A few months ago I wrote a blog entry called “Bad Experiernce with Nikon Professional Services“. I’ve now put an update at the top of that blog entry with this sweet “exception” about NPS Australia!

If NPS does decide to change things up, they should put the team from NPS Australia in charge of the whole shootin’-match. These guys are awesome.

Thanks to my friend Alexia Sinclair and her new husband James, they hooked me up with NPS Australia while I was there with Tom. I had a problem with my 14-24mm lens. It would not reset the aperture between shots. The NPS Australia team got the lens, fixed it, and cheerfully delivered it to me in Melbourne a few days later. This is of course exactly what I would expect from a Professional Services organization. Compare this to dozens of multi-paragraph emails and countless confusing phone calls with other NPS branches, and, well, you get the picture.

(and thanks to all the other Big Camera Companies that contacted me during this dark period in my life… but I’m still staying with Nikon for now… your Australian outfit saved the day!)

Daily Photo – Through The Mists of Milford Sound

The mornings are the best in Milford Sound, I think. I’ve been here about seven times now. Even though I had one amazing sunset, I think that the mornings tend to have better luck for photos. Note this is all anecdotal, and I’ll be more sure after I visit 100 times, which I plan to do, by the way! It’s only a few hours from my home… I really have no excuse, do I?

Filed under the categories: Milford Sound, New Zealand, Nikon D800

Comments while on the road

This week, I’m at SXSW in Austin, so it’s a bit harder for me to respond to comments on the blog. But, I still read THEM ALL. So, have no fear… when it comes to feedback and reading what you have to say, the blog is always my first stop! And yes, I will always try to respond as much as humanly possible… thanks!

Daily Photo – Forest on the road to Paradise

When you leave Glenorchy and start driving on the dirt road to Paradise, there are a few little wet forested areas that you’ll pass through. It’s worth pulling over your car and just going on a random walk. I recommend following a stream or river so you can always find your way back. Because if you get more than 100 meters from your car and you lose your way, you’ll never find your way again! The heaviness and thickness of the forest is totally confusing, and you’ll be hopelessly confused… but following a little stream is usually a good ticket to find your way back.

Filed under the categories: Glenorchy, New Zealand, Paradise, Travel

Updated Dutch Tutorial

I forgot to mention the Dutch tutorial has been updated… And I think that Japanese and Hebrew are on the way soon too!

Links International HDR Tutorial!

• Sie sprechen deutsch? Herzlich Willkommen zum HDR-Kurs auf Deutsch.
• Parlez-vous 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.
• تتكلم العربية؟ اضغط هنا!
• Speak English?  Howdy! Come to the English HDR Tutorial

Daily Photo – Germanialand

This is the German area of Epcot at DisneyWorld. I know it’s always a bit disappointing when I say this, isn’t it? I wish it was all real too… but, it is close-enough to real, so that’s not so bad. It’s like getting a pretty good milkshake or an above-average massage. No one complains about these things. And I didn’t complain while here either… the architecture and feel was pretty cool… the food was good… no bitter-looking German tourists… a pretty good combo!

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

PhotoWalks!

The Austin SXSW PhotoWalk is coming up soon! Check that link for details

By the way, remember the great London PhotoWalk? There’s a little recap on that link!

Many people took many “behind the scenes shots of the event”. Some interesting ones from Gergio Amiti (5ERG10) and KBTimages.co.uk(uk_photo_art). Just click on the photos below to jump over to their photostreams to see more!

Daily Photo – Old Londontown

Here’s a fun photo I took while crossing the bridge on the way to Westminster Abbey. You’ll also notice it as one of the main shots featured in that video we put up on the StuckInCustoms YouTube video.

A big reason I ended up tilting the photo wasn’t just to be quirky or artsy or whatever, but I felt like I really wanted that cool light fixture in the photo without losing balance. A normal shot ends up with the light and abbey quite prominent, but a lot of “dead space” in the upper left. I don’t know if I explained that right… I don’t mind white space in a shot, but I feel like it should still be balanced.

Filed under the categories: London, Travel, UK

Aoraki Village

This photo below is very close to Aoraki Village. This is a very small place at the end of a dead-end road. This idea of a village at the end of a road that is encompassed by mountains is very interesting to me! I think it’s so cool, since most places have at least two (or more) ways in and out of the town. Anyway, once you reach the end, there are two places to eat or have a snack. One of them is the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre Café and Bar, named after the famed Kiwi explorer himself!

Daily Photo – The Valley of Mount Cook

One of the most unexplored (but easy to explore!) areas of Mount Cook is the valley. After you pass the lake, the valley opens up into a tremendous plain. There are thousands of little bits here and there to find. This is one of many gentle streams that flows across the valley floor. I walked along this one for a few kms… getting interesting shots throughout. Plus, no one is around… so, once again, you are off on your own!

Filed under the categories: Mount Cook, New Zealand, Nikon D800, Travel

Lightroom Fun

You’ll notice today’s photo has a certain “look” — that comes from one of my favorite presets in Trey’s Lightroom Presets. Thanks again for all the good feedback and whatnot… I’m working on a special secret gift for everyone that has already purchased it!

Daily Photo – Old Boats in the Afternoon

Maybe I arrived in the low part of the tourist season, but I rarely saw these boats out and about on the river. They were always tied up here on the dockside. This was good for me, since it allowed many easy shots after I got around all the slippery bits. BTW, if you are by a dock in a small town in China, and the dock looks slippery, well it probably is SUPER SLIPPERY. That’s my little hard-earned piece of advice for the day…

Filed under the categories: China, Feng Huang, Nikon D800, Travel

Light Camera Version 1.2 Updated

Pop on over to http://lightcameraapp.com and you can grab the new version of Light Camera. We’ve completely reworked the way overlay effects operate with the interface – hope you like it!

Daily Photo – Four Bums in Beijing

I was in one of the art-studios area of Beijing when I saw this most unusual statue! As you can see, there are a lot more than four bums in a row, so it was a bum-composition-issue that I had never faced before. Notice the ears too.

Actually this kind of “Avant Garde” art in Beijing is very unusual. It’s strange to find a Chinese artist that goes way outside of the norm to try something new… most of them are traditionally trained and do traditional, predictable work.

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel