We recently released WordPress for Photographers, a new eBook by Peter Adams. This is a step-by-step guide that will teach you everything about setting up WordPress, choosing a theme/design for your website, and adding content. Also included are advanced techniques for working with image galleries, importing image meta-data, optimizing image search, and a whole lot more!
There are many other new books over at Flatbooks as well, and I hope you’ll like them all!
Daily Photo – Waterfall of Certain Doom
This has become one of my favorite remote waterfalls in the world! Whenever I am taking photos of these places, I spend a lot of time there. I often imagine what it would be like to tumble over the edge… wondering various ways I could survive… if I’d get caught in a whirlpool underwater… or if I would just pop up like in the movies.
If you are ever near Akureyri, I suggest you visit this spot… if you are feeling bold, clamber down the side of the waterfall like I did here to get this shot…
Many Comments Yesterday – Responses (and an upgrade!)
The comments from yesterday got a little crazy, and I did my best to respond. You’ll also notice a massive-upgrade to the commenting system. What do you think?
Trey’s Variety Hour #39: Body Painting and Photography
Warning: If you are offended by nudes, watch the TWiT pixelated version in the podcast. Opportunity: If you can effortlessly handle the naked naked, be sure to watch the embedded YouTube below! 🙂
Artists Paul Roustan, Alexa Meade, and Daniel Ibanez join me this week and show us a bunch of their artwork and tell the stories behind them.
*Bonus Notes:
– Awesome time travel movie I recommend: “Primer”. Give it your full attention otherwise you might miss something 🙂
– Barry Glassman, a colorblind photographer, of bgphotos.net is looking to pay someone to help him process photos. Go check him out if you are interested!
Thanks to Leo Laporte, Tony Wang, and Dave Veffer for helping out with the whole production!
Option 3: Other subscription options avail on the TWIT page
Daily Photo – The Magical Cave
The Baths on Virgin Gorda are filled with many tiny little caves here and there. For some, you have to crawl through sand or swim to get there. This one was one of the tightest and one of the most awesome! I thought it would be a great place to take a photo… I first went inside here with Justin Troupe and it was so awesome, I decided to return inside with my camera!
Because the light levels were so extreme in here, I went with a 7-exp shot in this situation.
Let’s say you disagree with the negative nancy below and you don’t think post-processing is the devil. And if you want to join the cause to “hurt the integrity of photography” to learn great post-processing tricks, then use “STUCKONDAD” to save 20% on the HDR Video Tutorial. (The code also works for eBooks on FlatBooks.com which may or may not be injurious to the artform of pressing a button on a chunk of iron and glass.)
What do you think of this guy?
So, I wouldn’t necessarily call this guy a “troll” — but perhaps a hobgoblin or some lesser fantasy creature that you have to defeat 10 of before reaching Level 2. I find people like this endlessly fascinating, and I enjoy observing them like mold in a petri dish.
He’s been popping around the site lately, distributing comments on the “About Me” page and countless other places. Here’s a few little jewels that he has dropped. Emphasis is my own.
…your cliched travel images and horrendous post-processing combined with your unfortunate popularity has probably done more to hurt the integrity of photography than anyone else in the world in recent years. You have made it incredibly difficult for millions of honest photographers trying to produce honest images. Please reconsider the effect you are having on photography.
And sprinkled into my India photos:
Sorry but these are all pedestrian images that tell us nothing about India. There are so many hundreds of other photographers producing interesting, informative, beautiful images of India. Don’t be fooled by Photoshop.
Daily Photo – A Dishonest Image of San Francisco
And with this image, I am once again launching full-out-assault on the hallowed traditions of photography. You know what I did with this image? I post-processed it! Oh yes, I really did. And I had so much fun doing it… at least as much fun as Dexter in his kill room.
I guess if I was to be really “honest” and take a photo of San Francisco and keep with the tradition of the greats of photography, it would have to be black and white photo, right? I mean, the world really is black and white, isn’t it? Oh wait, no… it’s in color. Wait, now I’m confused.
Oh no, look what I’ve done now. I’ve gone and upset people that think one form of artistic expression is superior to another form of artistic expression. How could I be so callous and open with my thoughts and techniques?
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.
[0:19:58 – 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.
Thanks again everyone who has been ordering prints! Whether you order from SmugMug or do a custom high-end signed piece on metal, I am appreciative!
I received an email recently from a gentleman who has been unemployed for a long time and is now selling off his possessions so he can pay his mortgage! A sad story… He emailed me, lamenting that he had to sell this print and he was heartbroken. This print is QUITE rare – it is numbered 1/50 in the series. These normally sell from $2,000 to well beyond. In fact, if you buy it, you’ll have the same print as +Mark Zuckerberg – only yours will be more valuable than Mark’s because his is higher in the series.
I was on Google+ and I saw Liz Quilty put of This NASA photo of New Zealand (Here it is in ultra hi-rez). Isn’t that cool? There is a satellite there that takes a new image every day. So I ended up bookmarking this site where I can go see the cloud cover, and even import it into Google Earth. Awesome dot com!
Daily Photo – Moonlight Clouds – Queenstown at 7:30 AM
The winter in these southern places make the sunrise rather late! I took this about 7:30 AM in the morning while the moon was still out over the sparkling Queenstown. I set up the tripod on my balcony, and this is our amazing view! I’m renting a Bach here called “The Nest” – and it has incredible views all day long… and all night long too, as you can see! 🙂
A few days ago, I posted a video that I did while at Toad Hall. I received a few questions in email, and wanted to remind you there is a detail page for Toad Hall with a bunch of photos there so you can see what it’s like. I wanted to post this photo below of what it was like in the nearby Baths, which is just a short walk from this house.
Daily Photo – Kids in the Baths
This is my oldest son, Ethan, holding my youngest daughter, Scarlett.
I took the NEX-7 (see my ever-updating Sony NEX-7 Review) into the amazing waters of The Baths in Virgin Gorda. I feel more comfy taking my NEX-7 into “risky” situations because it is so small and light. It’s still fairly expensive, so that is a worry (!!), but I do find myself getting “more” shots with this camera in certain situations like this.
This turned out to be one of my favorite spots on Virgin Gorda a few weeks ago. There is a long road that trails up and down the island. Along one side of the big mountain, there is a little spot where you can get this perspective. I went up there early to grab photos of the sunset, but I was greeted with the sight of a massive storm instead!
Here is an amazing place on Oahu. Right after the rain, a thousand little waterfalls tumble down from the highlands. When I was here, there were record-level storms, which kept the waterfalls full and robust. The shooting conditions were really tough! I have a video of what it was like to get this shot coming up at some point in the near future! 🙂
For Father’s Day, which I am partial to, we have a 20% off across-the-site special discount! Just use “StuckOnDad” at checkout and you’ll see the discount! It will work on the HDR Video Tutorial, eBooks on FlatBooks.com, the Textures Tutorial (where you can just get the textures) and more!
Trey’s Variety Hour #38: What’s in your bag?
Eric Cheng, Ron Brinkmann, Mike Wiacek, Michelle Robinson, and Angela B Pan join me as we do a little show and tell with what is in our camera bags. Eric wins right off the bat and even Tony Wang and Dave Veffer get in on the fun too. We discuss bags, gear, and show off some of our recent photos.
Thanks to Leo Laporte, Tony Wang, and Dave Veffer for helping out with the whole production! To see the full video of What’s in Trey’s Bag, click here.
Daily Photo – The Starlight in Downtown Los Angeles
Here is a crazy spot I found thanks to sweet sweet Stuck On Earth. I’ve been to downtown LA many times, and there are many good angles, but I think this one is just about one of the best.
There was a lot of waiting around, however. I had to wait for big busses to pass me on either side so I could set up for the long exposure.
Usually, I’ll take 5 exposures in these situations, but I do something a little special. I’ll take the quicker exposures right away (often 1 or 2 seconds). And then I’ll pause and wait for a bus or something before taking the longer exposures. I create the HDR then mask in the tail lights from the photos where I get the best trails. I made that sound easier than it is, I think.
If you’re going for the iOS version, you’ll notice it is universal for iPhone and iPad. We’re going to convert it for use on the Apple TV as soon as it accepts apps, so it will be nice to get it full-screen up on your wall as well. That will be a free upgrade when it comes around.
The app is a great collection of my photos, the stories, and more. You even have the option to saving the photos as backgrounds / wallpapers for your devices. And yes, it’s all super-HD, retina, etc. etc.
You’ll get this photo and many more with the app. Enjoy!
Daily Photo – Isabella on a Miniature Pony
A few evenings ago, we went to go visit The Brackstones, family friends that live nearby in Gibbston. Kerry Brackstone has taken to raising miniature ponies, so this sounded like something my two girls should not miss! We went over there for and the girls had an absolute ball on the ride. After that, we sat down for a fabulous dinner. And no, we did not eat the miniature ponies.
We recently released WordPress for Photographers, a new eBook by Peter Adams. This is a step-by-step guide that will teach you everything about setting up WordPress, choosing a theme/design for your website, and adding content. Also included are advanced techniques for working with image galleries, importing image meta-data, optimizing image search, and a whole lot more!
