Stuck In Customs

Rock Guides on Road Trips

If you’re planning on taking a road trip through a state or area, you should try to get these Rock Guides for each State. I have forgotten the exact name, but it tells you what you are driving past. Like it would say, on Highway 5, just before you get to So-and-So, you’ll pass a rock-cliff wall full of the a special kind of granite that was used to build the Texas State Capitol or whatever whatever. Okay that was a stupid example, but these guides are actually really cool… I recommend them!

Daily Photo – The Crazy Colors of Death Valley

I had no idea Death Valley would be so full of colors! Of course, the HDR process takes the existing colors and really helps them to stand out… and, as everyone knows, that’s perfectly cool with me!

I was close to this area back in college when I used to have a double-major in geophysics and computer-science. I ended up dropping the geo bit of it because of a fight with the professor, but I’ve always kept my fascination with rocks. I don’t know enough about everything I see… like, when I see this below, I have a few ideas on what probably made it like this, but I don’t know for sure. Either way, it’s awesome… I’m glad for all the sulfur and iron in the area and its apparent randomness!

The Crazy Colors of Death Valley

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-08-26 12:44:15
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/500
• Aperture5.6
• ISO100
• Focal Length190.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Preparing for the Private Live Show on the 9th

For those of you that are participating in the live event in a few days (that bought the thing I mentioned yesterday on the blog), we have some surprises in store! Joining me are Karen Hutton, Scott Kublin, Lorenzo Montezemolo, Clayton Morris, and Bel Jones! They all joined me in New Zealand for the filming of this event, and they’ll share some of the things they learned as well; another perspective, if you will. I’ll have them share some of their own photos so you can see how they chose to process some of the same things in a slightly different way — it should be very educational and interesting!

Helping me out as always in the live hangout are Dave Veffer, Curtis Simmons, and Luke Lakatosh — it will be a fun get together! 🙂

Daily Photo – A Weaving Path Through the Wetlands

I’ve revisited this path in Glenorchy a few times now. You’ll see this in the new New Zealand video that is available now, by the way. I took a ton of different photos while there, but this one did not look so great in color. It was curious to me because there was something about the photo that I liked… but it looked so dull in color. And then I realized it was the shape and the contrast that was most interesting! So I decided to emphasize that with the black and white treatment using Silver Efex Pro.

A Weaving Path Through the Wetlands

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-02-07 12:22:31
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1.6
• Aperture6.3
• ISO100
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-2

Re-processing

I know I’ve said time and time again I don’t re-process old photos. Well, that’s not exactly true. Maybe 5/10,000 photos I will reprocess, and this is one of them below.

I used the Dramatic Chipmunk preset from my Lightroom Presets (available in the Get Awesome Stuff link at the very very top). But I changed the preset a little to take out more grain and do a bit more noise-reduction. I’ve been re-doing some of the presets and making new ones. I was going to send out a little bonus package for free to all existing customers as thanks! 🙂

Daily Photo – The Lone Cypress Tree

This is kind of a famous tree, I think. Well, I guess it’s famous if you’ve heard of it, otherwise it’s completely unknown. It’s one of those things you find out is famous, and then every time you see it, you think, “Oh that is the famous tree.”

It’s kind of like when you play trivia games with annoying people. You know the ones. Every now and then, a question comes up that is INCREDIBLY TRIVIAL and some annoying person will guffaw, “Oh My God, that is sooooo easy!” Of course it is easy if they happen to know this incredibly small piece of arcane information! Either you know it, or you don’t.

The Lone Cypress Tree

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2009-10-16 21:10:45
• CameraNIKON D3X
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/30
• Aperture16
• ISO50
• Focal Length42.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Download Now Available!

All of you that participated in the pre-sale event are now able to download your video! We’ll keep the $79 Special Pricing for the Landscape and Travel Photography Tutorial until the Live Video event on the 9th. So, you’ll have a few more days to get this special deal… as a special thanks to those of you that come to the blog so often! 🙂

Today’s photo below was taken during the event!

And here’s the little promo video in case you haven’t seen it.

Daily Photo – The Endless Fields of Queenstown

On the final night, we all started walking around these fields together to take photos. The sunset wouldn’t quit! It just kept going and going… like a painting that changed every few minutes. And a few steps this way and that way would completely change the color situation on the bottom half of the photo. Honestly, there were not many bad combinations!

If you get the full video above, you’ll hear me talk more about this shot, and you’ll also get to see full post-processing of seven different photos. I hope you love it! 🙂 I’m sure you will!

The Endless Fields of Queenstown

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-02-10 11:23:07
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/60
• Aperture16
• ISO200
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+1

Milford Sound Lodge

At the end of this scene, you end up at the Milford Sound Lodge. I’ve stayed there about 6 or 7 times now! You can get a few different types of accommodations… from hardcore backpacker to something with a bit more space. The prices are very reasonable, and you’re right in the middle of the action for the next morning for those sunrise photos!

Daily Photo – Waterfalls on the way to Milford Sound

There is a good question that will never be answered: Is the drive to Milford Sound equal to the epicness of Milford Sound itself? No one knows!! I can’t figure it out. But, one random element that comes into the equation is the rain. When it is raining (or a recent rain), there are over 100 waterfalls that decorate the steep valley.

It’s kind of hard to shoot waterfalls in the rain. Actually, it’s really hard. I usually amp up my ISO and drop my F-stop very low to make sure I get a quick picture before the rain settles on my lens.

Waterfalls on the way to Milford Sound

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-10-27 04:43:45
• CameraNIKON D3S
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/500
• Aperture2.8
• ISO200
• Focal Length82.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Amazing Small World Story about Flatbooks.com

Justin Balog wrote an amazing little story on his blog.

Justin is one of the authors over at Flatbooks.com and he was randomly down in Belize. A local named Marvin walked up to him and they started talking about cameras. Marvin then actually mentioned the book that Justin had written! It is a small world!

And, as a bonus, Justin also wrote a story “Why Flatbooks Will Make The World A Better Place” !!

Daily Photo – Frogs in the Paris Opera

Can someone explain this to me? I cannot figure it out. Maybe they are just being quirky.

I took this with a fisheye lens inside the Paris opera. I can’t imagine what the internal bureaucracy is like within the Paris Opera for various art displays inside. And I can’t figure out how this one got through. But maybe there is a major art meme that I missed that includes well-dressed amphibians.

Frogs in the Paris Opera

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-11-09 15:39:13
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/4
• Aperture2.8
• ISO200
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Fun Show Last Night!

Last night’s show was a lot of fun. Be sure to check out Kate Russell from the BBC, Thomas Hawk, Brian Matiash, Don the Snowflake guy, Ollie Dale, and Gino Barassa… and Dave Veffer as always! We do the show every Monday night at 7 PM PT, 10 PM ET !

If you come here to the website just before the show, you’ll see the embedded player up and ready to run… and you can see last night’s show in the post below this one! You’ll even see a sneak preview of a documentary that I am in from Ollie called “Virtually Famous”.

Daily Photo – The Towering Medieval Hotel

I’m sure Europeans find this kind of architecture to be quaint and banal, but I rather like it. In fact, I’d say it’s just about one of my favorites! Whenever I see old buildings in this style, it makes me a little bit happy.

This one was in the village of Mont Saint Michel. It was one of very few hotels that are tightly woven into the old medieval walled complex. I didn’t go inside, but it felt like it was right out of Skyrim!

The Towering Medieval Hotel

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-11-12 20:48:27
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-2

A few days left for the special pre-sale event!

You can go buy it now and save money. This savings (and bonus!) only lasts a few more days. I wanted to do something special because I’m so excited about these new tutorial videos!

It’s $20 cheaper if you get it now, and you’ll get access to a special live event!

You’ll notice this photo of Clayton below in the little promo video on the site! 🙂

See you in Australia for the big Problogger Conference!

I was honored when Darren invited me to do this. You can find out more on the Problogger site! 🙂

Daily Photo – Clayton Morris from Fox News Balances

The water was slowly, slowly, slowly rising one morning in Milford Sound when we were all there together. We made a desperate retreat just as things were getting a bit too late. The last one to cross was Clayton, so I spun around quickly to get this shot while he was being all Cirque de Soliel with his tripod. And no, he did not fall into the water! 🙂

Clayton Morris from Fox News Balances

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2013-02-09 22:59:56
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/1250
• Aperture2.8
• ISO800
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

How about a few Family Photos?

I don’t share these very much… but I thought you might like to see a new batch! I took the family on a little road trip to visit some glaciers near Mount Cook, and then we came back home to Queenstown for a little Easter egg hunt!

By the way, these are all using some NEW Lightroom presets. I know a lot of you have already purchased the existing Lightroom Presets (thanks!). I’ll be sending these out with the new batch as a FREE update for you as a little thank-you gift. 🙂

I’ll put a little caption abve each one. 🙂

Scarlett reaches up to a huge iceberg that just flipped over, after breaking off the Tasman Glacier near Mount Cook.

Isabella gets ready to take our zodiac over to the next iceberg.

Scarlett begins the Easter Egg hunt in while the wolves chase her.

Isabella runs across the fairway on the 18th hole to try to find some eggs in the bunkers.

Scarlett walks along the path near the forest.

Isabella shows her sister a new stash of eggs

Scarlett takes a break to check how many eggs she has found.

Scarlett runs full speed to the next woods to get more eggs.

Android Development of Stuck On Earth

Want to see some screenshots of the progress so far? Visit this thread on Google+ to see! 🙂

Daily Photo – The Amazing Bridge in Sydney

I think I took this during the Sydney photowalk – I am not sure! But those clouds seem very familiar. I took So Many Photos in Sydney… thousands… and I’ve processed hundreds so far. But I just can’t remember exactly when I took this one! Maybe someone from Sydney can confirm that I took this that evening.

I really wanted to get up there on the bridge, but they don’t let you take your camera, which is a real bummer. I wish I could get special permission some time. Whoever can get me special permission can go with me – that would be a blast! 🙂

The Amazing Bridge in Sydney

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-09-25 05:10:04
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time0.5
• Aperture2.8
• ISO100
• Focal Length21.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias