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More Antarctica Photos!

Today I’ll share a nice little assortment of Antarctica photos for you! Do you know I still have hundreds and hundreds of unprocessed photos? Yes, I guess this is a good problem to have. I gotta get on that.

If you’re a Passport Member then today you see the bonus section of this blog post at the bottom and you’ll see the fifth Antarctica video we have put out.

It’s quite a dangerous place down there! This one is about our Hagglund sinking. I realize after re-watching the video that we forget to show what a Hagglund even is! I had no idea before I went down there. But here are some pics of the vehicle so you get an idea.

Trey and Stu

Camping in Antarctica

A Picnic on the Melting Sea Ice by a Hagglund

Panic City: Antarctica

Just your average day in Antarctica…

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Swimming with the Stingrays!

In the middle of an Asia Tour!

Right now, I’m going from Shenzhen over to Hong Kong for a few days. After that, off to Macau, Sanya, Koh Sumui, Kuala Lumpur, and Langkawi. It’s a long time on the road, but I couldn’t be more excited!

My Favorite Writing Tool

I’m actually pretty good at focusing when I need to. But, hey, we could all use a little more help, eh? When I am writing, I sometimes get distracted by other things on the screen. Notifications that slide in or just colorful things on the edge of the window. Anyway, I found this great tool called Ommwriter. It blanks out the whole screen and allows you to write uninterrupted. Here’s a little video I made for you!

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Daily Photo – Swimming with the Stingrays!

What a great day out here in the shallows inside the lagoon of Grand Cayman Island. This is another photo I took with the Mavic! This thing is rock solid in the daytime and with a bit of wind. I will tell you that landing on the catamaran was Very Difficult. I’ve landed on lots of boats, and each time it takes 200% of my concentration!

The Phantom series of quads are much easier to catch because they have more pronounced legs. So, it’s easier for a friend (or yourself with one hand) to reach up and grab it. With the Mavic, you only have about half a finger’s worth of room before you hit the blades.

Swimming with the Stingrays!

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-01-13 10:06:28
  • CameraFC220
  • Camera MakeDJI
  • Exposure Time1/2300
  • Aperture2.2
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length4.7 mm
  • FlashNo flash function
  • Exposure ProgramProgram AE
  • Exposure Bias

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A Moody Day in Central Otago

Another fun how-to Passport Day!

If you are a Passport Member today we have a making-of video for today’s photo. I woke up on Saturday here at home in Queenstown, New Zealand to see some beautiful and moody clouds through the valley. So I got up the drone to take some photos. After I sat down, I decided to record the making-of video for you.

Here I show I took three photos, stitched them together, then ran them through Aurora HDR 2018.

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Daily Photo – A Moody Day in Central Otago

I don’t exactly understand the weather conditions that make this happen a few times a year, but I think it’s pretty cool. This was taken on the last day of summer this year here in Queenstown (a few weeks ago), and as the seasons change, sometimes the weather gets a little funky like this!

A Moody Day in Central Otago

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-03-03 09:35:21
  • CameraFC220
  • Camera MakeDJI
  • Exposure Time1/3200
  • Aperture2.2
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length4.7 mm
  • FlashNo flash function
  • Exposure ProgramProgram AE
  • Exposure Bias-1.34

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The Fourth Behind-the-Scenes video from Antarctica

If you’re a Passport member, then you’re getting to see the next video from Antarctica. These were really fun to make. Today’s is a bit more storytelling, but let’s get started here with a few favorite photos from Antarctica!

Hacking through the Ice

Photo Walk in Antarctica

Digging In For The Winter

a silly place where penguins would steal rocks and orcas would eat penguins

The Fourth Antarctica Video!

This one tells a personal story about how some art my Uncle gave me turned out to be a big influence on my artistic life. It also bled into many of my Antarctica photos! Enjoy!

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Owl

Hot Tip for Traveling

This doesn’t work for all cities, but it does for many big cities. I used it quite a bit on Tokyo. See this article on 101 Things to do in Roppongi, which is one of about 8 different neighborhoods in Tokyo. They have a 101 list for many different areas. I surf through there, look for fun or quirky places to go and then I add them to my own Google Map. I have a few different Google Map lists like, “Rooftop Bars,” “Cool Restaurants,” or “Must Visits”. Having your own Google Map is awesome while walking around because you can see everything that is close by as you navigate around the city.

Hasselblad Behind the Scenes

I thought you might like to see a special Hasselblad video I made. As you may recall, I was named a Hasselblad Ambassador, which sounds VERY important, but it isn’t really. Anyway, one of my esteemed duties as an Ambassador is to make a video like this.

Also, for those of you that read closely here, you’ll know that even though I love that Hasselblad, I’m mostly shooting with the Sony A7r Mark 3 now! Be sure to check out that Review Here!

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Daily Photo – Owl

This is the best photo title I have ever created. It really gets to the point.

For a little background on this, when my son and I were just in Tokyo, he wanted to go to an Owl Cafe, which supposedly is a cafe where you go eat food and an owl is there with you the whole time. It sounded really strange, so I said yes. And I was hungry.

Anyway, inside, it was really strange, I must say. The place was almost impossible to find in vertical Tokyo. I got to the address and saw a Very Tiny Owl sticker up on the fourth floor of this building. I still can’t believe I even found the sticker. Anyway, up a narrow stairway we go to our “lunch appointment time” of 1 PM. I had set up the appointment via the online site that also explained to me that the owls were available for purchase.

After we got in, there were three giggling Japanese girls waiting for their “lunch appointment” too. I was ready to get on with it, because I was getting quite hungry. So, we go into this tiny room that has a fridge on one side and about 14 owls on the other. They were all on little pedestals. There were no tables or chairs. Strange, I thought, for a cafe.

And then the guy that works there, who was very nice, gave us all a very tiny juice box. It turns out that the lunch part was for the owls, as he went around and fed them mouse hearts while we watched.

He also explained to us how not to get attacked by the owls while we stroke them from above. The guy also spent five minutes explaining we had a small round sticker on our tiny juice boxes that we could remove and re-stick on a poster to indicate our favorite owl. This one poor owl only had a few stickers because he attacks all the humans in the cafe. I gave him a sticker to try to improve his mood.

Anyway, I can’t really say I recommend this place unless everything I said above sounds really awesome to you.

Owl

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2018-01-29 17:03:40
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/200
  • Aperture4
  • ISO500
  • Focal Length91.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

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The Matrix

Morning Edits

I have a slightly new morning routine. After I get my coffee, I begin to edit photos right away before I do email or anything. It’s good because my head is pretty clear and not distracted by silly things that appear in my email to distract me! 🙂

Passport Bonus!

Hello awesome Passport Member! Below is an early look at a how-to video for you.

Aurora HDR Deep Dive – Beginner to Intermediate Level Editing

Here is a fairly in-depth how-to for you awesome Passport people. It covers making extremely reflective looking grounds and some panorama techniques that I’ve been using recently.

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Daily Photo – The Matrix

This is kind of a crazy photo, eh? I had an idea to find some of the most technically-crazy buildings in London and get tight photos of them. The instinct is often to try to capture the entire building, but I thought it might be fun to make something more abstract. I like the way this turned out, and I’ll have to make a reminder to myself to do this to more buildings!

The Matrix

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-02-17 06:27:03
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/4
  • Aperture4
  • ISO160
  • Focal Length16.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

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Tree in Waiheke

Looking to get away from cold USA Winters?

Why not come down here to New Zealand! It’s summertime and a great excuse to get out of all that coldness. If you need more incentive, check out the New Zealand Keyword in my SmugMug Portfolio!.

A bit of Post-Processing Love

This one was a fun little photo. I show you how to increase the sharpness and glow to selected areas of the image using layers. Thank you again for being a Passport Member and I hope you enjoy today’s edit!

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Daily Photo – Tree in Waiheke

The hilly areas of New Zealand (which is probably like 75%!) are filled with these huge trees that are just kinda hanging out alone on hilltops. Many times I see some distant tree and I think, “Hey, I should walk over there!” So, this day on Waiheke I did! You usually have to jump over a fence or four, but no one ever minds. You can walk through these hills all day long and never see another soul!

Tree in Waiheke

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-12-07 14:49:07
  • CameraX1D
  • Camera MakeHasselblad
  • Exposure Time1/90
  • Aperture9.5
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length30.0 mm
  • Flash
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias-2/3

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Visiting Waiheke

New Video!

Hey if you’re a lucky Passport Member, you’ll see a new how-to-edit video for today’s photo. It’s mostly a vertirama made from several quadcopter shots. I think you’ll enjoy the edit!

And here’s quick how-to video that shows you how to stitch together a four shot vertorama I shot using the DJI Phantom Pro 4 drone and then edit the vertorama in Aurora HDR 2018.

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Daily Photo – Visiting Waiheke

Thanks again to my friend Deanie for letting my family stay at her place on Waiheke! It was a great little vacation after Tina’s doctor visit in Auckland. Waiheke is less than an hour away by ferry and it’s like a perfect little island getaway! There are so many cool beaches and awesome places to visit. If you have an extra few days on your next trip to New Zealand, be sure to come over thisaway!

Visiting Waiheke

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-12-08 13:47:52
  • CameraFC6310
  • Camera MakeDJI
  • Exposure Time1/500
  • Aperture6.3
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length8.8 mm
  • FlashNo flash function
  • Exposure ProgramProgram AE
  • Exposure Bias

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Kobe, Japan

Thoughts on shooting from atop the gondola in Kobe

A few weeks ago, I shared the first Kobe, Japan video with Passport Members. Today, I’ll post the next one!

In Part 2 of 2 (view part 1 here) from Kobe, Japan, I’ll show you my camera settings and composition for a sunset photo from high atop a gondola.

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Daily Photo – Kobe, Japan

I’ll give you a hot tip when going to visit Kobe. Usually, before I hit a new place, I Google the name of the place. In this case, I Googled “Kobe,” who is apparently some kind of a basketball player or something? Well, after looking at about 1,000 photos of this so-called “Kobe,” I was thinking, man, this guy REALLY likes Japan. He also appears to play a lot of basketball there. So, you can imagine my surprise when I showed up, and Kobe was actually full of Japanese people, none of whom who I saw playing basketball.

Kobe, Japan

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2017-11-12 10:19:38
  • CameraILCE-7RM2
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time3.2
  • Aperture5.6
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length98.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

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Mohammad’s Tomb in Rabat

Trey Ratcliff, Tomb Editor

That clever name was not created by me, but Stu up in Scotland. He’s the good lad that helps edit together all these special videos for Passport Members! Thanks Stu! Today’s special Passport Bonus section shows how I processed this image. Enjoy!

In this quick video tip I’ll show you how I post-process a 3 shot bracketed image using Aurora HDR 2018.

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Daily Photo – Mohammad’s Tomb in Rabat

This is the second photo that I have edited from this tomb, and I believe I like this one better. It’s amazing how much better I’ve come to learn Aurora HDR in just the past few years. In fact, I can’t even remember if I edited the other photo from this tomb with Aurora or Photomatix. Man, my memory is the worst. THE WORST. I hope Google hurries up with their AI because my HI is really leaking like a sieve.

Mohammad’s Tomb in Rabat

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2014-03-01 21:24:43
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/5
  • Aperture6.3
  • ISO250
  • Focal Length11.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-0.3

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