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!

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

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.

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

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!

Filed under the categories: Australia, Nikon D800, Sydney, Travel

Another shout out to the QT Sydney

Thanks again to the QT Sydney (a photo of my room) for hosting Tom and I! Stephen Howard did a great job showing us around and getting us here into the State Theater where we took the photo below.

Daily Photo – Tom in Sydney

That’s Tom Anderson there (the MySpace Tom). We had a very fun time running around Australia together, and especially here in the State Theater. It is an amazing place! The entryway, as you can see, is insanely ornate. And then once you enter, you go through one hall to the next, each as grand as the previous one.

I’d love to have an event here one night… I don’t know what I would do… maybe just bring in a bunch of people and we can all post-process all night together! That sounds lame but also kinda awesome.

Filed under the categories: Australia, Nikon D800, Sydney, Travel

I’m still enjoying Pinterest too!

I go to Pinterest almost every single day to pin a few things. I think my ratio there is I pin about 20% my own work and re-pin 80% other work. I know lots of people pin here too! If you like, drop your Pinterest page link below so others can find you !

Daily Photo – Trees in Yosemite

I’m not really an “expert” on Yosemite by any means! I’ve only been there once, and I know there are many photographers that have been there 5 or 10 or more times! I spent most of my time driving around the main roads and going off on little mini-hikes. But I didn’t really know the best places to go… so I would hike along little creeks and get shots like this.

I remember I did a little walk to a place called “Mirror Lake” or something. It sounded so awesome from the name! But then I got there, and it was just a puddle of ice. I felt ripped off! They should change the name of it every hour depending on what it currently looks like. There’s no way I would have walked to “Dirty Ice Ugly Lake”.

Filed under the categories: California, Nikon D800, Travel, Yosemite

Exciting!

Thanks again for all the enthusiasm about the new video that you can sign up for now on the Landscape and Travel Photography Tutorial: New Zealand page! You can probably get the idea there that this thing is super-high quality. And, you’ll get to watch me do all kinds of hi-rez edits of many photos, including the one I am posting below today!

Daily Photo – Rowboat at the Still Lake

We walked around The Hills one morning, and we came to this place after the sun was beyond its “sunrise” phase. The sky was the peaceful morning infinite blue and the water was still as ice. There were many good angles to shoot across this peaceful scene, and most of us chose this view!

It was cool to do this and be with so many other nice photographers that were taking similar shots. I liked seeing their versions as well.

Anyway, if you end up getting the video series mentioned above, you’ll get to see me edit this photo from beginning to end!

Filed under the categories: Arrowtown, New Zealand, Queenstown, Travel

It’s finally ready for pre-order!

Pop over to the new Landscape and Travel Photography Tutorial: New Zealand to sign up! Sign up now, and you get several goodies… you’ll save $20 and you’ll get to join a private video Q&A group after launch.

This is really the coolest video we’ve ever made. I think you’ll find the quality and the content to be second-to-none. Really. Just by watching this preview below you’ll get a great idea of the content. Basically, you get 2.5 hours of post processing and an additional 1.5 hours of live-action footage, following me around while I set up for photos.

And… there is the new puppy in the beginning! hehe

Filed under the categories: New Zealand, Queenstown, Travel

Trey’s Variety Hour #71

The show airs each Monday at 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET. (Check your local time)

In this episode I am joined by Googlers, Natalie Villalobos, Brian Glick, and Josh Haftel along with Lotus Carroll, Dave Wilson, Karen Montalvo, and our very own Curtis Simmons. We discuss the new Nik Collection by Google, the updated G+ mobile apps and Snapseed with our Google friends, talk about Stocksy, and then get into our fun sharing session from the SXSW PhotoWalk. Then we move on to naming the winners of all the prizes from the PhotoWalk.

G+ Discoveries:
Sarah Jarrett, Lisa Wood, Andy Lee, Laurie Rubin, Lorenzo Montezemolo, Gregory Colbert, and Isabel Sousa Silva.

Thanks to Dave Veffer for helping out with the whole production!

See submitted questions here:

Please submit any questions you have while you watch the show and we’ll try to answer as many as we can.

You can subscribe for free to my YouTube channel at:

http://www.youtube.com/stuckincustoms

Subscribe to the Podcast and View Past Episodes

• Subscribe for free to My YouTube channel.

Thank you for watching!

Thank you for watching the show, I hope you enjoyed it! While you’re here be sure to have a look around!

• Get Awesome Stuff – Pop over to our online store to see a great collection of photography gear, tutorials, tools and eBooks.
• Watch Tutorials – We have some excellent photography tutorials for any skill level! The always FREE HDR Tutorial, the best selling HDR Video Tutorial and our newest tutorial on Landscape & Travel Photography shot in New Zealand.
• Read Reviews – Read detailed camera reviews, photo software reviews plus what’s in my camera bag!
• Download eBooks – Flatbooks.com has many topics include photography techniques, photo composition, photo editing, HDR photography and lifestyle.
• Applications – We have several beautiful and fun apps you might enjoy: 100 Cameras in 1, Light Camera, Photo Voyages and Stuck On Earth.
• Subscribe to the Newsletter – Subscribe to the the Stuck in Customs newsletter. It’s free and pretty and we promise not to spam you!

Filed under the categories: Podcast

Watch The Show Soon!

Every Monday night at 7 PM PT, 10 PM ET is the weekly show, and tonight we have on a bunch of people from Austin to talk about the photowalk and give away the prizes! I believe we have over 80 to give away, and you’ll get a chance to see a bunch of fun photos from the event. See you soon!

Daily Photo – The Royal Guard in Beijing

The interior space and design of the Capitol Museum is absolutely amazing. I don’t know if they designed the light to do this in the middle of the day or not, but I found it rather striking! If the architects did this on purpose, then even more kudos to them.

I must admit that I do not find all museums to be equally interesting. Some are just plain boring. Others are awesome… it depends on if the subject matter is something that is up my alley. I don’t like the “pressure” of making you feel bad if you aren’t fascinated by every little thing in a museum… that is silly.

Like, for example, I found this museum a little bit boring. I know a bit about Chinese history (I played a lot of Romance of the Three Kingdoms back in the day, and I was always Gu Yu!), but I get a bit confused when it comes to the some of the more bizarre and abstract lineages. Anyway, this museum featured a lot of that. But, on the plus side, the architecture was so cool that it kept me pleasantly distracted!

Filed under the categories: Beijing, China, Travel

Are you on Tumblr?

If so, add your link below so others can find you!

Upgraded my Tumblr Page

I decided to put a little more love into my weak Tumblr effort. I actually really like Tumblr and I see a lot of beautiful things there, at least from the people that I follow currently.

Someone already had the name “Stuckincustoms” (Arg!) so I used TreyRatcliffPhotos.tumblr.com. Enjoy! And thank you to former Texan Annie Werner for the encouragement and help!

Daily Photo – Walking in Yosemite

Here’s a photo from a walk along this beautiful little path in Yosemite. It looks very serene and welcoming, yes? Well it is! I was sad I only got to spend one day here in the forest… I’d like to go back. Actually, I’d really like to get to Yosemite when it is snowing. I bet there are a thousand interesting photos all over the place… but now, by the time out I find out it is snowing, it will take me too long to get over there!

I took this one during the crazy photowalk there… we had so much fun!

Filed under the categories: California, Photowalk, Travel, Yosemite

Five New eBooks to Enjoy!

Wow! The authors are really putting out amazing stuff over at Flatbooks.com ! I think you’ll be impressed at all the new work over there and you’ll learn a great many things. Here is a selection of some of the newer books that have recently launched!

Boneyardby Troy Paiva contains over 60 full sized and zoomable light painted night images, shot in two separate aircraft graveyards, “The Secret Boneyard” and “Aviation Warehouse.” 50 of these images have never been shown before. These are not outtakes or stiffs the author never bothered to do anything with. Half is a body of work from 2008 that has only now been allowed to be displayed publicly by the property owner. The others are a fresh set of A-list images shot in the summer of 2012.

Travel Photography Exposed by Mike Marlowe is a collection of thoughts, examples and practical tips on life as a roaming travel photographer. This is not an academic theory book; this is a collection of no-nonsense advice from a photographer that does this every day. More importantly, it’s about helping you to do the same. Whether it’s a one-off two-week trip or you want to live your life on the road, this ebook will help you get on the right path.

Seeing the Unseen – How to Photograph Landscapes at Night by Alister Benn is a complete guide to night photography. This book doesn’t just provide the photographer with a quick set of rule-of-thumb generalizations that make sweeping assumptions and teach you nothing; instead the author shows you how to assess the light that is available and make meaningful and breath-taking images as well as any professional.

This book is suitable for all levels of experience – leading the beginner through the fundamentals, but stretching the boundaries of very experienced night photographers with contemporary advanced techniques.

A first for Flatbooks – an in-depth video-only tutorial! From Scott Detweiler, author of Conceptual Portraiture comes an hour-long video called Creation of Succubuson creating his portrait titled The Succubus. Using Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4 we will step thought the complete workflow that was used to create this image from scratch.

At 3,310 meters, Cusco ranks within a thousand feet of the highest and most inhospitable cities on the planet – yet everyone from the millennia-old Killke culture to modern adventurers the world over has somehow made their way to this mountain Mecca. This book, The Travel Companion: From Cusco to Machu Picchuby Brian Hoffsis will take you on a journey through Peru from Cusco to Machu Picchu, with 48 photos and individual stories.

Daily Photo – Bryant Park in New York City

This is where I ended my walk with Luke that night in New York City. It was sort of a lazy, meandering walk… going here and going there. But my hotel was right by this park. I lament that I never got a shot inside the awesome library, but the tripod police were out in full force. I actually felt like I was in more danger there than in the middle of this New York City park in the middle of the night!

Filed under the categories: New York, New York City, Nikon D800, Travel

Why this is cool

Hitherto, both Facebook and Google+ limited your photos to 2048 pixels across. This was depressing to me and other photographers that take HUGE photos, many of mine over 7000 pixels across. I share a new, original-sized photo here every day on the blog, and all my work is Creative Commons Noncommercial.

Basically, I want people to have the original-sized photo to enjoy! I know many other photographers disagree with me and they only want to share tiny images with huge watermarks using horrible fonts. That’s okay. This isn’t for them.

But if you’re like me, and you want to upload the original size images to Google and also share on Google+, well now you can!

Steady Progress of Google+ and Photos

I notice many various products are starting to gel together at Google. It’s a little clumsy here as the streams are colliding, but I think it will become more efficient over time. For example, the Google+ stream and Google Drive used to be totally different products, but now they are coming together. Same with Search and YouTube and Calendar and everything. It takes a while to get your head around because we are used to a bunch of Single-Purpose Silos, but when you start to use them all together and think about it like that, it makes sharing and life-integration easier.

For example, I now use my Android phone to take a video, upload to YouTube, then share to a private family circle on Google+. All my family isn’t on Google+ yet, so it uses Google mail to send it around. I wasn’t experiencing that kind of integration a year ago! I used to do one thing, then another thing, then another thing, then email everyone after I put together various silos. This is the way a lot of people still think about the internet… using many silos to do discrete tasks and then piecing it all together on your own, but it doesn’t have to be like that. I know I sound like a Google fanboy, but, Jesus, I use a lot of their products. It’s like saying you’re an Oxygen fanboy.

How-to Upload Full-Rez Photos to Google+

1) Go to your Google+ settings at www.google.com/settings/plus

2) Check the box indicated in the screenshot below.

3) Get on Google+ and go upload a photo! Now the full size will go up there!

Be sure to Note

Any photo greater than 2048 pixels will go against your Google Drive allotment, and you will need to buy more space if you want more!

Bonus Information – Using the Photo on your Blog and URL Analysis

Here’s something I discovered by accident. It’s geeky but I was excited by it.

I was trying to figure out, “Okay WHERE exactly is my image being stored on Google?” Well that part is a bit confusing. I r-clicked the image in the Google+ display to get the source and it gave me:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qC_X6syDOPw/UUujxK_5AeI/AAAAAAAGEYw/zxsYDVN66Sw/s1161/Trey+Ratcliff+-+Milford+Scene.jpg

Aha! See that “s1161″? That is the horizontal dimensions. It chose that dynamically based on the width of my window. So, by simply changing that number, you can have Google serve you up whatever size you want!

If you make it “s0″, it wil be full-size! And my friend Dave Veffer says “if you do ‘s0-d’ it forces a download so appending -d at the end of the size specification will make the image download…useful in some situations”.

For example, this image is actually 5845×3204 pixels – we get the original with that “s0″ in the URL:

So the full rez is: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LJpqE2A5z8E/UUujxFpc-tI/AAAAAAAGEZM/oNvVoOYoqMw/s0/Trey+Ratcliff+-+A+Tableau+Vivant+of+Horses+in+Iceland.jpg

More Google Drive Updates Coming Soon

I got a note from a gentleman at Google Drive that says there are More New Updates coming in a week or so… ways to embed with various image sizes, permanent links, and more.

Integrating the images into your Blog

These images that I have below are being served up by Google. Don’t have Google send you a HUGE image that you then downsize using HTML. Have it send you the exact size you want. In this case, I’ve asked for all the images to be 900 pixels across. I’ve then hyperlinked to their actual size on the Google servers.

What Could They Improve On?

Well, I’m still using SmugMug to serve up my daily images here on the blog. See my SmugMug Review for more. I do this because:

1) People like to order limited edition prints (thanks everyone btw!) It’s very easy to begin the print-ordering process through SmugMug
2) I like how clicking on an image takes you to a proper portfolio or slideshow. I can’t figure out a good way to do that using a Google Photo Album yet.
3) I have a feeling that SmugMug is about to make a major update to their whole UI. (Why doesn’t Google just buy SmugMug and make my life easier!!)

For example, I’ll put the “Daily Photo” below so you can see the difference. If you click on the photo, you go into my nice portfolio view. Under the photo is the friendly SmugMug link to get a print.

Ways for Google Photos / Drive to Improve – Your ideas?

I’m interested in your ideas too. Here are a few of mine:

1) I’d like the automatic Google Photo upload to just take the full rez photo if I click a checkbox (instead of having to do this Google-Drive-end-run). If you have space on Google Drive and don’t mind your photos taking up all the GB, then just let me.

2) I’d like better album / portfolio management. Now that I have photos in Google+ photos (many at 2048) and now more in Google Drive (at original size), it’s becoming a terrible problem or organization. I’m not totally anal, but I also feel too scattered and that makes me digitally-uneasy!

3) Your ideas? Drop them in the comments!

Daily Photo – The View From Above

Here is a good example of a daily image. I went to the top of the gondola with Tom Anderson to look down on Queenstown, New Zealand from above.

I want to sleep up here one night to get the sunrise… if anyone can hook me up with that, drop me a note! I’ll bring the hot chocolate!

Filed under the categories: Travel