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Stuck In Customs

My daily travel blog to inspire and get you motivated!

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23
May 2021 : Sunday
See More Photos of:  Arizona, Camera Gear, Passport, Sony NEX-7, Travel, United States of America

Swirly Canyon

Fun Passport Sunday How-To

Today is a fun video for Passport Members where I use Plotagraph Pro to make some cool animations for a future NFT launch.

The Swirrrrrllly Canyon making-of

Here you’ll see how I use this fun and easy tool to make a rather complex animation. Enjoy! 🙂

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Daily Photo – Swirly Canyon

Here’s a cool view of Antelope Canyon. There are really no bad photos of this place… I think that’s why photographers love it so much! I spent a few hours in here getting waaaaaay too many photos. I still haven’t gone through all of them.

Swirly Canyon

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2013-08-22 18:19:22
  • CameraNEX-7
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1
  • Aperture14
  • ISO100
  • Focal Length13.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

28
Mar 2021 : Sunday
See More Photos of:  Camera Gear, Glenorchy, New Zealand, Passport, Sony A7R 3, Travel

The Nunatak

Passport Sunday New Photoshop Trick

Hey if you’re one of our awesome Passport members then today you’ll see a new video that shows how you can 4x the number of pixels in your photos. Fun!

Quad Size that Photo!

Here’s a cool video I made and here are some details from Adobe:

Raw Details, previously called Enhance Details produces crisp detail and more accurate renditions of edges, improves color rendering, and also reduces artifacts. The resolution of the enhanced image stays the same as the original image. This feature is especially useful for large displays and prints, where fine details are visible. The supported file types are raw mosaic files from cameras with Bayer sensors (Canon, Nikon, Sony, and others) and Fujifilm X-Trans sensors.

Super Resolution, introduced in Camera Raw 13.2, helps create an enhanced image with similar results as Raw Details but with 2x the linear resolution. This means that the enhanced image will have 2x the width and 2x the height of the original image, or 4x the total pixel count. This feature supports the same file types as Raw Details, plus additional file types such as JPEG and TIFF. Super Resolution is especially useful to increase the resolution of a cropped image.

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Daily Photo – The Nunatak

Ready for a fun, nerdy geology fact? Sure you are! That pyramidal structure in the middle is called a nunatak. I used to have a double-major in comp sci and geophysics, but quit the latter after a fight with a moronic tenured professor. It wasn’t a fist-fight… an intellectual one, a fight with which I contend I won. I just studied geophysics it because I love the Earth and I think rocks and landscapes are super-interesting, not because I wanted a job drilling for oil or anything (the career path for many geophysicists… reminds me of a great Alan Watts lecture that it’s frowned upon for people to study things in universities unless they are looking to fit a cog in a machine) – anyway, this nunatak was formed when the two glaciers from the Dart and Rees from the left and right side came together to carve out that perfect triangle. Technically, it’s not a triangle or pyramid, but a sloping triangular prism… okay nerd talk done. Who cares? It’s pretty. Okay, a little more nerd talk… nunatak is one of the only Greenladish words in our lexicon if you’re into etymology. I got this pic on a fun helicopter ride a few weeks ago with Joann and some friends from Over The Top Helicopters.

The Nunatak

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2021-03-04 09:20:45
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/1000
  • Aperture5
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length43.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

28
Feb 2021 : Sunday
See More Photos of:  Camera Gear, Disney World, Florida, Passport, Sony A7R 2, Travel, United States of America

The Matterhorn at Epcot

Passport Sunday NFT Fun

If you’re a Passport Member then today you’ll get a little tour of what I’ve learned about NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens). You can think of them like bitcoin but for digital art. Strange, right? I’ll break it down for you!

A little lesson on NFTs

I’ll show you two different marketplaces and a little bit about the way NFTs work. It’s a strange world we live in, and it just got stranger! But maybe also a bit more awesome!

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Daily Photo – The Matterhorn at Epcot

As cheesy as it is, Disney World offers all kinds of great photo opportunities. I guess they are still going strong in the middle of Covid, but I haven’t been there in a few years. One of my best recommendations for a photographer is to go to Epcot and take your time taking photos, well into the night. Even after they close, the security is very nice and they let you take as many photos as you like.

The Matterhorn at Epcot

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2016-12-30 02:06:01
  • CameraILCE-7RM2
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/1600
  • Aperture5
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-0.3

16
Dec 2020 : Wednesday
See More Photos of:  Camera Gear, Luminar, New Zealand, Photo Software, Skylum, Sony A7R 3, Travel

Taking photos in New Zealand with Brandin Cooks

Luminar AI – Processing Landscapes With People in Them

Luminar AI (launched yesterday!) is great for landscapes and portraits… in this quick look vid I process an image that is somewhere in between using templates, sky replacement, adding mist/fog and more. Grab Luminar AI here.

Check out Monni’s clothing range at https://monni.co or on Insta here (or here).

Daily Photo – Taking photos in New Zealand with Brandin Cooks

Here’s my buddy Brandin Cooks here in New Zealand when we went to go explore Skipper’s Canyon. This guy is such a badass… If you follow the NFL, then you know he has played for a bunch of teams and is now in Houston, being even more of a badass. As you can tell from his photography positioning, he’s even a badass when he takes photos!

Taking photos in New Zealand with Brandin Cooks

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2020-01-04 11:52:45
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/4000
  • Aperture2.8
  • ISO250
  • Focal Length16.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

13
Dec 2020 : Sunday
See More Photos of:  Camera Gear, Luminar, Papua New Guinea, Passport, Photo Software, Skylum, Sony A7R, Travel

Singing Circle in Papua New Guinea

Passport Sunday Fun

Today, I have a new video that shows off the new Luminar AI if you are a Passport Member! You can get it now via that link for a pre-order and it’s released in just a few days. I think you are really going to like it!

Sunday: Mountains on top of Mountains

Today’s video will entertain you with a quick tour-de-force all around the new Luminar AI. I start off with a rather silly example of how you can add mountains on top of mountains… Hey, I would not doctor a photo quite that much, but it’s kind of cool how easy it is. Besides that quirky feature, I show off a lot more that are more practical.

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Daily Photo – Singing Circle in Papua New Guinea

While at the festival, we would visit 20-30 different tribes. They all had their unique outfits and singing patterns. There’s a big competition with which tribes have the coolest outfits and the coolest song & dance routine. I think the contest is pretty unofficial, but it’s still quite competitve. In fact, it can turn quite violent and the military has to come in with tear gas and stuff. When that happens, it’s time to leave the scene quickly!

Singing Circle in Papua New Guinea

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-09-13 09:15:35
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/1250
  • Aperture4
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

22
Nov 2020 : Sunday
See More Photos of:  Camera Gear, England, London, Passport, Sony A7R, Travel, United Kingdom

The Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral

Passport Sunday Editing Party!

Another Sunday, so time for another section of the blog to unlock for Passport Members. If you’re not a member yet, then, why not? Now you get access to over 200 videos plus a ton of other goodies!

The Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral – Making Of

Here’s a fun quick video that shows a few unexpected editing choices for this photo!

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Daily Photo – The Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral

If you ever go to London to take photos, I recommend setting aside a few hours at night to cross back and forth across the Thames on every bridge you can find. They all have cool perspectives, and this one on the way to St. Pauls is one of the most contemporary ones…

The Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-02-16 04:48:57
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time2.5
  • Aperture4
  • ISO200
  • Focal Length35.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

8
Nov 2020 : Sunday
See More Photos of:  Antarctica, Camera Gear, Passport, Sony A7R 2, Travel

Flying Home from Antarctica

Antarctica How-to Today for Passport Members!

If you are part of my family of Passport Members then I have a fresh one for you this Sunday from Antarctica! Every Sunday, I release something new, and it’s been a while since I processed a new photo from Antarctica, so here ya go! Passport members of course get to see how I edited the photo

Antarctica Boarding

I hope you enjoy the creation of this process and some of the last-minute decisions I made! 🙂

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Daily Photo – Flying Home from Antarctica

Here’s one of the last photos I took before leaving Antarctica. You can tell what countries people are from because they all wear different uniforms. The Kiwis are the ones in the orange coats and the Americans are in the red ones. There were also a few people from the Korean and Italian bases too… The Italians had, by far, the coolest uniforms… they all looked like they raced for Ferrari!

Flying Home from Antarctica

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-01-21 07:49:53
  • CameraILCE-7M2
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/250
  • Aperture9
  • ISO50
  • Focal Length16.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias

1
Nov 2020 : Sunday
See More Photos of:  Camera Gear, Ginzan Onsen, Japan, Sony A7R 2, Travel

The Ginzen Onsen at Dusk

Passport Sunday Fun

In today’s photo, you’ll see I used the technique I mention in last week’s exclusive Passport Sunday how-to video. I love how it turned out on this one, which I feel is sort of a combination of landscape and architecture.

The Processing of the Onsen

I think you’ll really enjoy today’s how-to video which is a combination of HDR and the new filtering technique!

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Daily Photo – The Ginzen Onsen at Dusk

This area of Japan was one of my latest discoveries right before Covid Corona 19 kicked in. I had decided to spend some extra time exploring the snowy recesses from the north. This is actually the place that inspired Spirited Away, if you’re a Japanese Anime geek like me… it’s called Ginzen Onsen and I stayed right over there on top of that cool old Japanese cottage. Down underground was a little network of beautiful, natural onsens all fed by hot natural mineral water. It was incredible. I was the only non-Japanese person in there, and no one else I saw spoke any English, so there was just a lot of nodding and smiling, which I interpreted as, “Yeah, this is really awesome, fellow human!”

The Ginzen Onsen at Dusk

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2019-02-18 21:40:44
  • CameraILCE-7RM2
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time2.5
  • Aperture8
  • ISO125
  • Focal Length24.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias

18
Oct 2020 : Sunday
See More Photos of:  Camera Gear, Dusseldorf, Germany, New Zealand, Passport, Sony A7R, Sony A7R 3, Travel

Passport Sunday Time!

Today for Passport Members you’ll get part 1 of 3 that show some cool processing tricks. If you’re not a member now, today is a good time to join up! You’ll get over 200 video tutorials plus a ton of other things.

Today is the first step on the way to showing how I get this sort of look that I got on my recent road trip to the north island.

What are the 7 Reasons why I moved to New Zealand?
And now on with the show…

HDR Processing before the Special Filter

On some of my photos, I use a variety of drastically different techniques. First, I’m going to push it hard in the HDR realm (as shown below), and then in next week’s video, you’ll see how I add a special custom filter that will reduce the contrast and give it a rather unique look!

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Daily Photo – Extreme Processing of a cool building in Dusseldorf

While on a random wander through the modern area of Dusseldorf, I came across this amazing building… I took shots from a few different angles, but this was my favorite. You can unlock the part below if you want to see the processing video!

Extreme Processing of a cool building in Dusseldorf

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2015-02-08 23:55:38
  • CameraILCE-7R
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/400
  • Aperture8
  • ISO125
  • Focal Length16.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
  • Exposure Bias-1

20
Sep 2020 : Sunday
See More Photos of:  Camera Gear, New Zealand, Passport, Sony A7R 3, Te Arai, Travel

Passport Member Update for Sunday!

Today, if you’re a Passport Member, I have a cool new video that shows some of my favorites that I’ve selected so far while working on a new photo project. Actually, I’ll show you some that I really like and others that I don’t like and explain why… a little self-critique time. In fact, one of them I think I hate!

Te Arai Selections so far

I’ve been taking photos at this epic golf course called Te Arai to make some prints for some members. I’m about halfway through the process but thought you would like to see the selects so far… I may make another video after I finish the next round of photos and show you where the project is at!

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Daily Photo – Te Arai as the sun sets

Here’s a new photo from my road trip around the North Island of New Zealand. This is one of the coolest golf courses in the world called Tara Iti. It runs right along the beach and when the sun gets low, you get some pretty incredible shadows along the fairways. I like shooting on golf courses, but I don’t always like making it obvious it’s a golf course. I like the idea that it’s a beautiful place that’s just convenient for playing golf if you want to.

Te Arai as the sun sets

Photo Information

  • Date Taken2020-08-05 00:00:50
  • CameraILCE-7RM3
  • Camera MakeSony
  • Exposure Time1/640
  • Aperture5.6
  • ISO250
  • Focal Length86.0 mm
  • FlashOff, Did not fire
  • Exposure ProgramManual
  • Exposure Bias