Ethan Gets His First Camera in New Zealand

I gave Ethan my LX-3 camera in New Zealand. Actually, he had to “unlock” it by achieving a series of quests that involved photography. He reached an appropriate level, so he got the camera. In a few more levels, he’ll get the secret epic mount.

In fact, Ethan started his own little photo blog…  I don’t know how often he will update it since he’s a busy busy 9-year-old, but he seems to enjoy it so far!

Daily Photo – The Lonely Church

There is a beautiful little French seaside town on the east coast of New Zealand called Akaroa. We spent a few days here to relax and explore. After taking a drive a bit further from the town up the coast, we found this old church on the side of the road. Of course…. it’s impossible to drive by a place like this without popping out for a photo!

After taking so many shots, I can now say that I like cloudy days more than flat blue sunny days. In fact, I’ll just pass by a lot of scenic places if the sky is a boring blue. One common problem that many people notice with HDRs is that there is a “halo” effect. This happens a lot with those blue-sky days… A great way to get around that problem is simply to wait for sunset, a cloudy day, or something where there is not a vast expanse of flat color.

If you want to find out more about the technique, check out the full HDR Tutorial.