#80Stays Archives - Page 2 of 20 - Stuck in Customs
1
Jul 2018 : Sunday
filed under  #80Stays, Camera Gear, Hasselblad X1D, Japan, Okinawa

Perfect Colors in Okinawa

Back to Japan in July?

Maybe so! I might be going back with Ethan to explore some possible places he could get a job after high-school. He’s keen to teach English there, so we need to figure out a way to make that happen. I think it would be an amazing first job. My bestie Rene Smith did this, and I guess he turned out to be okay, He’s like the okayist guy I know.

Daily Photo – Perfect Colors in Okinawa

This is the top level of the Ritz-Carlton there in Okinawa, Japan. What a beautiful spot! The whole property is poised high on a hill so you can see all around the island. The first time we came here with the kids, we spent quite a bit of time down in the beach area. There was this big floating playground out there that the kids loved. Actually, we loved it too. It’s hard to explain, but it invited lots of jumping and dangerous moves. I started rough-housing with Ethan and I think we both ended up with a few minor injuries!

Perfect Colors in Okinawa

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-11-17 01:55:30
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time8
  • Aperture13
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias-2

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26
Jun 2018 : Tuesday
filed under  #80Stays, Camera Gear, China, Mavic Pro, Passport, Quadcopters, Sanya

A Food Truck Dinner on the Lawn!

Editing Kid-Sports Photos

Today for Passport Members is something a bit different! I openly admit in the beginning of the video that it may be a bit boring to those not interested in taking photos of kid-sports! My son has been playing a lot of rugby lately, and I’ve been taking more and more photos. So you can see my workflow of my 300 (mostly awful) photos and see how I pick out the winners, along with a few tips on composition.

When I went to Ethan’s (he is 17 now) rugby game on Saturday, I took just over 300 photos. Here’s how I organized them in Lightroom then edited a few of the winners!

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Daily Photo – A Food Truck Dinner on the Lawn!

How fun is this idea? it was a looooong travel day to get here to Sanya, China (which is a small island off the coast). We woke up in Macau, then took the ferry for an hour to Hong Kong before taking a flight here to Sanya. We were pretty exhausted after we landed, but were reinvigorated as we saw them setting up this massive dinner on the lawn. There were about 15 little setups with all sorts of food and drink. They do this out on the lawn of the Ritz-Carlton right by the beach there once a week. Anyone can go, and you don’t even have to be a guest.

A Food Truck Dinner on the Lawn!

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-03-17 18:47:34
  • CameraFC220
  • Camera MakeDJI
  • Exposure Time1/50
  • Aperture2.2
  • ISO174
  • Focal Length4.7 mm
  • FlashNo flash function
  • Exposure ProgramProgram AE
  • Exposure Bias-1.66

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24
Jun 2018 : Sunday
filed under  #80Stays, Camera Gear, Langkawi, Malaysia, Sony A7R 3

A Final Dinner in Langkawi

Ferrofluid Fun

Here’s a very cool thing I found on the internet by chance! It’s a place that sells these cool mini-art toy-things (not sure what to call them), where they have suspended ferrofluids inside glass. Ferrofluids refer to iron-based fluids. You can then use magnets to do all kids of crazy things… I’m going to buy one or two, but I haven’t decided which ones yet! Go see for yourself at
Concept Zero.

Daily Photo – A Final Dinner in Langkawi

This was one of our favorite haunts while staying at the Ritz-Carlton resort there. This is called The Beach Grill. It’s all open-air, and right by the ocean. Obviously, there was a lot of Malaysian food choices, all great if you like Malaysian food (which I do). One thing that always gets me about Malaysians is how much they like their food. And when they are not eating food, they are talking about food! It kind of reminds me of Austin (which I also like), where Austonians sit around and talk about how awesome Austin is.

A Final Dinner in Langkawi

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-04-04 00:49:22
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time3.2
  • Aperture6.3
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
23
Jun 2018 : Saturday
filed under  #80Stays, Camera Gear, Hasselblad X1D, Japan, Okinawa

Tane doing his usual thing, being half naked and eating yogurt in traffic

Post-Processing the Pretzel Man

Speaking of men with Pretzel-like-qualities (see today’s photo), here’s video where I show how I edited this photo from Cairo, Egypt. We were right by this lantern shop in some ruins (now a bazaar) and this man walked through with this tremendous stack of pretzels. It proved a little difficult to process.

Daily Photo – Tane doing his usual thing, being half naked and eating yogurt in traffic

When we went back to Okinawa for the second time, we decided this is one photo that we didn’t quite have yet. Luckily, Tane is up for this kind of abuse and he seems to welcome it with reckless aplomb. I can only imagine what all those Japanese people were thinking about as they rolled by in their cars.

Tane doing his usual thing, being half naked and eating yogurt in traffic

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-11-15 20:29:55
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1/500
  • Aperture4
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length45.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias+2

Comments
22
Jun 2018 : Friday
filed under  #80Stays, Camera Gear, Japan, Presets, Sony A7R 3, Tokyo

The Inspiration for the Movie Night Lightroom Presets

Presets for Lightroom

Over in the “Presets” area of the store, you’ll see we all sorts from Lightroom to Aurora to Luminar. The newest ones are the “Movie Night” Presets and here’s a little promo video for them:

Daily Photo – The Inspiration for the Movie Night Lightroom Presets

This is getting me excited about going back to Tokyo! 🙂 I went on a reconnaissance mission there with my son to look into him teaching English for a year after he graduates from high school. I don’t know if we made a lot of headway with the research, but we sure had a good time anyway! I spent most of this last trip around Shinjuku, where all the lights are over-the-top amazing and make for great reflections in the rain.

The Inspiration for the Movie Night Lightroom Presets

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-02-02 05:28:07
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/200
  • Aperture4
  • ISO1600
  • Focal Length48.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
21
Jun 2018 : Thursday
filed under  #80Stays, Camera Gear, Hasselblad X1D, Japan, Osaka

Bridge Crossings in Osaka

Exciting News from Patrick Rothfuss

Okay this is pretty niche stuff… but I am a huge Rick & Morty fan, and it turns out that Patrick Rothfuss (author of The Name of the Wind) is also a huge fan! Well, they are about to make a new series of comic books for Rick & Morty and Rothfuss is going to be writing them… I can’t imagine this mix of two of my favorite things!

Daily Photo – Bridge Crossings in Osaka

This is quite the target-rich area of Osaka! I would just criss-cross the bridges and walk up and down this little river to get as many photos as possible. And, it doesn’t seem to matter which one I process, as they all come out looking pretty good! One “slight” problem is they all come out looking quite similar as well. But since they’re all pretty good, I just pulled a random one here for you to see.

Bridge Crossings in Osaka

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-07-19 11:12:31
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time23
  • Aperture32
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length45.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
20
Jun 2018 : Wednesday
filed under  #80Stays, Camera Gear, Hasselblad X1D, Langkawi, Malaysia

Staring off into the sunset

The Hasselblad X1D Quick Review Video

You can read my full X1D Review here on the site, but just now I am adding this video to it as well. It shows some of my first impressions with the camera. Note that in the time since I made this video, I now shoot with the Sony a lot more. You can see my Sony A7rIII Review here as well.

Daily Photo – Staring off into the sunset

Langkawi delivered a great sunset every night! This is something I remember distinctly from my first trip there about ten years ago. In my ongoing quest to ATTEMPT to take photos with people in them, I saw this a great opportunity on the edge of the infinity pool. There was just this window of about 30 seconds when the close-up water and the distant ocean were the exact same color.

Staring off into the sunset

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-04-04 00:37:39
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/6
  • Aperture10
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length44.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
19
Jun 2018 : Tuesday
filed under  #80Stays, Barcelona, Camera Gear, Hasselblad X1D, Passport, Spain

Exploring Gaudi’s Masterpiece

A new workflow for RAW Photos

Today’s video just for Passport Members shows a slightly improved workflow for RAW photos. I’m always tweaking my workflow this way and that, and this seems to work out pretty well!

I used to just take the RAW file and drag it into Aurora. I still sometimes do that, but I find that I like making just a few tweaks in Lightroom first. You can see how in the video below!

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Daily Photo – Exploring Gaudi’s Masterpiece

The first time I came to the Sagrada Familia here in Barcelona, I didn’t go inside. There is a ton of construction going on, and I didn’t even realize you could pay to get inside. And I would not have thought it would look so bright and colorful on the inside because the outside is very dark and gothic. It’s too bad Gaudi didn’t stay alive long enough to see it completed!

Exploring Gaudi’s Masterpiece

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-04-30 08:23:27
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time4
  • Aperture8
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
15
Jun 2018 : Friday
filed under  #80Stays, Camera Gear, China, Hong Kong, Mavic Pro, Quadcopters

The Rainbow Apartments

Editing a photo from Yosemite!

Here’s a how-to video where you can see me edit a photo from Yosemite. I hope you find it at least mildly interesting!

Daily Photo – The Rainbow Apartments

How amazing is this place in Hong Kong? It took me forever to find it. I almost gave up, in fact. In desperation, I found another photo of the place and started showing random Chinese people in the neighborhood. Finally, one very nice woman took me to this nondescript parking lot I would have never found! After getting to the top, I finally saw it… Thank goodness I had that idea to find this place. Otherwise I never would have found it!

The Rainbow Apartments

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-03-13 17:22:10
  • CameraFC220
  • Camera MakeDJI
  • Exposure Time1/580
  • Aperture2.2
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length4.7 mm
  • FlashNo flash function
  • Exposure ProgramProgram AE
  • Exposure Bias

Comments
11
Jun 2018 : Monday
filed under  #80Stays, 360, Camera Gear, Japan, Tokyo

The Wild Shibuya Crossing in a Small World

Daily Photo – The Wild Shibuya Crossing in a Small World

I’ve been using that Insta 360 camera more and more to get video footage for Passport Members. I don’t really take many photos with it. It’s a bit clumsy for that. You have to triple-click the button, then hold it over your head and wait for the 10-second countdown. So, there’s a lot of luck involved when trying to time a certain kind of shot. Most are total rubbish, but I thought this one turned out kinda cool.

The Wild Shibuya Crossing in a Small World

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-04-17 10:56:58
  • Camera
  • Camera Make
  • Exposure Time
  • Aperture
  • ISO
  • Focal Length
  • Flash
  • Exposure Program
  • Exposure Bias

Comments