Archive for the ‘7D’ Category
On the way back from Hokitika, we conveniently had to drive straight through the Franz Josef and Fox Glacier areas. Our plan was to stop off for just a few minutes and keep on trucking but a few minutes turned into a few hours and a hike once we saw how spectacular Franz Josef was. Peter’s Pool is a small, still pond that offers a spectacular view of the glaciers and it sits about an hour’s walk away from the foot of it. I went back and forth for several days on how I felt about the tree limbs in the upper right corner and in fact had taken and processed an entirely separate framing of this scene that did not include the limbs but sacrificed foreground on the left. But, I eventually decided I liked the branches since they make a sort of opposite corner complement with the pond grass in the bottom left corner. Amazing place to visit — if you ever, er, happen to find yourself on the west coast of the South Island, Franz Josef is a must see!
The observant among you may notice from the image's title that 9 shots were used for this. Indeed, I decided to settle in for a little while here and do 3 separate brackets with 1 stop increments between images. Admittedly, it wasn't entirely necessary to do so, but I think I just wanted to soak up as much of the glacier as I could since I'm not really sure when I'll be back: Franz Josef, New Zealand
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Franz Josef, Landscape, Nature, New Zealand, Outdoor | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
Once a year, New Zealand holds the Wildfoods Festival in Hokitika, a small (and I mean really small) town on the west coast of the South Island. It is probably the one day all year in which more than 100 people are within 3 miles of the place. And, as is usually the case in New Zealand, the fewer people there are the more spectacular the scenery. The festival itself was amazing and there were many strange things being eaten… and worn. After everyone had had their fill of ridiculous stuff, the crowds flocked to the beach to watch the sunset and later set their own fires to huddle around. The Tasman Sea lays between New Zealand and Australia and though I’ve seen previous images of the Tasman at sunset (like this one from last August), I tried to come at it with my own idea of how I wanted it to look. I rather like how it turned out so I’ve made seven different flavors of it available over in the desktop section. After the festival we took the scenic route back to Dunedin, heading south down the coast through Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers and then cutting east across central Otago. Suffice to say, there were plenty of other gorgeous places to stop along the way back so I’ll have my hands full of things to process for quite some time to come…
The nearly 30 beach fires that followed produced enough smoke to almost suffocate us but it was absolutely worth it! Hokitika, New Zealand
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Andrew's Favorites, Hokitika, Landscape, Nature, New Zealand, Outdoor, Sun in frame, Sunset | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
Well, it’s about time I get some of these up… I’ve lately been working on panoramas of different places I’ve gotten to go to and it has been eye-opening. I’ve been sitting on the raw files for maybe four or five different pans now, trying to tease the best possible results out of the sets, one of which was composed of 11 shots to be combined, or a total of 33 raw images with the minimum 3-shot bracket for each of the 11. Yet, some scenes have been begging for a 5-shot bracket but the amount of work necessary for that is questionable… whereas normally if I’m 3-shotting a scene I will elect for a simple two stops in each direction, for the pans, if a 5-shot is needed I’ve just been skimping and increasing the bracket size to 2 2/3 or maybe 3 and going from there. Anyways, enough numbers — suffice to say that this is one of my favorite end results and quite possibly the image that does the best job of capturing a mood that I think I’ve ever managed. When I see this (and skirt around in its 15,612 x 4,834 pixels worth of real estate) I am very vividly drawn back to this exact moment in time, about 5 seconds before the only battery I had on me went completely dead in the middle of taking the would-be 7th bracket for this scene (on the far right). More so than other posts, I really encourage you to click through to the full 17MB file so you can really get a feel for the view from the Botanical Gardens Terrace. As the Kiwis say, cheers!
Few places in the world like this. Here's hoping I can find as many as I can while I'm here for such a sort period of time: Dunedin, NZ
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Andrew's Favorites, Dunedin, Landscape, Nature, New Zealand, Outdoor, Panorama, Sun in frame | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
Every Saturday morning, the parking lot at the train station turns into a bustle of kiwi locals scrambling for the freshest produce to come to market. There are stands that sell everything from cuts of meat to fresh apricots and blackberries. There’s even a place that will prepare you a fresh French crepe for breakfast! I went last week as well but the weather was fairly bad… this past Saturday though, the sun peeked through the clouds in a few places and made for a rather fun scene.
The mood is fun and laidback and the atmosphere nothing short of welcoming. The kids running around the tree and the man with the girl on his shoulder are right at home here: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Dunedin, Handheld HDR, New Zealand, Outdoor | 2 Comments »
I have the extreme misfortune of being housed within 200 yards, er, metres, of Dunedin’s Botanical Gardens. Sadly, the weather is only allowed to have one clear day/week over here but it just means I have to take advantage of them when I can. Yesterday was one of those days and happily included a trip up the Taieri Gorge Railway complete with all you can eat BBQ. I’m still sifting through the hundreds of pictures from the train ride through the countryside so I will be adding one or two of those onto T.A.G. soon. For the most part, shooting from a moving train tends to be unhelpful when it comes down to setting up tripod brackets (who would have thought?) so I will do my best to handle a few single-shots in the next few days. As we walked back home from the train station, I decided that even though I was already quite tired, I had to take advantage of the visible sunset and veered off towards the gardens. Spectacularly, they are spread across a small, level area that then sprawls up the side of a large foothill. Finding a clearing in the trees, I set up shop just as the sun found a gap in the sparse clouds…
The gardens are stunning this time of day if you're lucky enough to see sunlight. The University Clocktower is actually visible down the hill: Dunedin, NZ
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Andrew's Favorites, Dunedin, Landscape, Nature, New Zealand, Outdoor, Sun in frame, Sunset | 1 Comment »
Well, I made it safely to New Zealand and so far the prettiest thing I’ve seen has been the flight in. Weather is pretty touch and go in Dunedin (pronounced Du-KNEE-din) and I have a feeling I’m going to be battling total cloud cover for most of the time I’m going to be here. On Saturday, I went with an international student from France to a farmer’s market type thing that happens every Saturday morning and asked her how many sunny days she’d seen over here since she had already been in New Zealand for about 7 months. “I’ve been here all winter… do you really want to know?”
Fortunately, yesterday was about halfway clear for most of the day and we decided to take a bus to the nearest beach, St. Clair. Very windy. Water was very cold. The blowing sand was very painful. Other than that it was gorgeous! We walked up the beach a ways and after a few hours we got back on the bus and headed back, stopping for an outrageously good ice cream snack along the way. Below, a few of my friends climbed on some long-abandoned posts that must have been part of a pier at some point. Weirdly, there’s a small island (not pictured) that looks to be a few miles off the coast and the line formed by these posts points straight to it.
Biggest challenge here? Holding the camera steady in the gusting wind while it snaps off three quick ones: Dunedin, NZ
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Dunedin, Handheld HDR, New Zealand, Outdoor | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
Well I’m almost set to head down to New Zealand for a semester abroad! Amidst the packing and preparations I’ve realized that between school in California and only a handful of brief visits home, I haven’t really done much in terms of shooting in Atlanta. So, this week I went out and did my best to put together some material that would stand as THE Atlanta shot or shots when I think of work from home. The result is a 2-for-1 post!
The first image is a bit cliche with the long-exposure highway blur but the more I thought about it the more I realized “I’ve never actually done one of those before…” This image is also available in the Desktops section of our site if you feel so inclined.
The fast moving red blurs on the right side of the southbound lanes quickly becoming individually discernible cars tell a pretty truthful story about Atlanta traffic on the Downtown Connector: Atlanta, GA
And the second is from about 50 stories up in an office building at sunrise. I’m looking North here, so the light from the East was just beginning to hit the right sides of these buildings. Eventually I think I want to try this building again, there may be a better place on the floor to try this from. Actually, by the time I get a chance to try this again, the sun will be rising in a slightly different place — which might turn out to be better anyways!
To address the large building dominating the left side of the frame, I actually wanted this to come off as being taken from a building, not as some helicopter aerial view. Besides, the large interesting buildings only really extend to the North from here so there isn't much to see on the other side of the foreground building anyways: Atlanta, GA
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Architecture, Atlanta, Handheld HDR, Night, Outdoor | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
Where to begin with this one… Never have I ever received more weird looks than I did while arranging this shot. Although the families next to me had been waiting in their prime viewing locations since as early as 3pm, I didn’t feel too ridiculous spending 6 hours standing in my spot. I think I saw three parades go by and the standard 9pm fireworks while I was twiddling my thumbs up on the Main Street train station back balcony… At any rate, this final image is the result of a 5-shot bracket taken about 15 minutes before the actual fireworks started. Then, trying my very best to not let the throngs gathered up on the balcony to jostle the camera, I took stills of the fireworks going off (alas, I absolutely need to dish out the 99 cents for a cable release) and composited it as best I could into the HDR. This may very well be my favorite picture I have ever worked on, but that owes mostly to the memory of the scene this picture takes me back to. It is also my first entry into our desktops section, so on the off chance you’re feeling like a new background is in order, head on over to the desktops section and figure out what size fits your monitor best. If not, then that’s cool, too.
I feel like there are so many good places to be when midnight strikes on New Year's Eve. Right here is definitely pretty far up that list: Orlando, FL
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Andrew's Favorites, Disney, Night, Orlando, Outdoor | 3 Comments »
At one point while I was at Disney World with my family over New Years, we were waiting for a parade on a curb at Main Street and the sight of a balloon vendor reminded me of a shot I had seen Trey put up of balloons at Disney. For the record, they still cost $10. At any rate, the vendor came right over next to us to sell a balloon to a kid and I decided that my curbside vantage point would make for an interesting balloon shot for myself. This may be the most ghosting work I’ve ever done on an image but I really like the result. Why not single shot it and save the effort? The range in the shot is just a little too much to rely on RAW tweaks but I was determined to have this one turn out. It’s a 3-shot bracket of balloons blowing in the wind and Photomatix 4 did an unbelievable job of figuring out which balloon goes where on its initial de-ghosting effort. It wasn’t perfect of course, but it turned Photoshop hours into minutes for me. And while I’m applauding PM4, why not also give a shout-out to the 7D’s 8fps shooting which undoubtedly assisted PM4′s creation of a clean image.
Can't decide whether I wanted to be able to see the vendor's face or not… either way I didn't really have time to wait around before this moment would have passed: Orlando, FL
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Disney, Handheld HDR, Orlando, Outdoor, Sun in frame | 4 Comments »
The Magic Kingdom is packed around New Years, at capacity, in fact. It is so full that even if you have the Park Hopper ticket to be able to roam about any of the parks for a day they will warn you up front that if you leave the Magic Kingdom at any point, you might not be allowed back in due to capacity. Of course, as 2010′s time came closer and closer to an end, this outright mob clustered up on Main Street and the central hub in front of the castle to get ready for the fireworks. The sun sets early these days and though this bracket was only taken at about 3:30pm, this congestion was already starting to build. Actually, I got to my spot to shoot the final New Years fireworks show at around 6:30 or so, fully expecting to stand and guard the location for the next 6 hours. I was shocked to find that there were eight people around me who had gotten their spots up to 3 hours before me. When 2011 finally rolled around it was well worth the wait though and I can’t wait to post some of the amazing things I saw from my nook at the Main Street train station… until then, though, enjoy Main Street at dusk.
In taking this bracket, my tripod was in a position where I could not extend its third leg. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with this two-legged-lean-against-a-post shot: Orlando, FL
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Disney, Night, Orlando | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
As I investigate the issue I’m currently having with Photomatix 4 I am left with little option but to whip out the old 3.1 in order to continue processing. The New Years trip to Orlando brought with it a TON of fun stuff to shoot and manipulate and it’s going to be showing up gradually on the site. Naturally, DisneyWorld was a must but the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure was also on our to-do list. It is an incredible recreation of exactly what it claims: it’s a veritable WORLD of wizard- and magic-related items from the books and has such attention to detail that you’d swear you were actually inside the book. The area comprises about a dozen shops named after their literary counterparts including Ollivander’s Wands and the Three Broomsticks, but the real piece of art is the castle. The ride it houses is a nausea-inducing motion simulator that takes you through most of the Harry Potter canon as you ride aboard an enchanted piece of levitating furniture. Amazing accomplishment, a requirement if you call yourself a true Harry Potter aficionado.
The sign advertises a 10-minute wait, made possible by the lack of crowds on New Year's Day thanks to the three bowl games being played in the neighboring areas of Florida: Orlando, FL
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Andrew's Favorites, Architecture, Night, Orlando, Outdoor | 1 Comment »
Our trip to Disney World was fairly last minute and caught my mom and I completely off guard. I must admit, my sister must know her way around some sort of system because I have no idea how she wrangled dinner reservations in Cinderella Castle on New Years Eve… with about two days notice. However it happened, it was very cool to dine inside the castle. I took this shot through a window in the restaurant, right next to the table where we watched a proposal take place not minutes earlier. It’s certainly a feel-good place and I’m looking forward to putting together a lot more material from this trip.
This was more difficult to process than it should have been and I think it was because I was using a circular polarizer on these which seems to have done things to the sky that confused Photomatix somewhat. The learning process continues… Orlando, FL
Posted in 16-35mm f/2.8L, 7D, Andrew, Disney, Handheld HDR, Orlando, Outdoor, Sunset | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
With Tucker off on some gorgeous island chain in the Pacific, Giacomo and I will be hard pressed to generate some competitive material. I can only guess as to what Tucker will be posting in the coming days because Hawaii tends to be a picturesque location… In the meantime however, Giacomo and I will continue to figure out the best approach to HDR time-lapse video in addition to posting the occasional image or two. Earlier today I stumbled across a 5-shot bracket I did of Splash Mountain around sunset when I was in Disneyland a few weeks ago — why had I not processed it? Whatever the reason for my delay, I have finally sat down with it and I am really pleased with the result. California has its sunsets, yes, but that rarely guarantees anything in the sky but beautiful colors, let alone the really awesome clouds we had a few weeks ago. I give you, Splash Mountain at Sunset. I will now set up a batch in photomatix and will see the results of our latest test HDR time-lapse test shoot in the morning!
I mean, how could I have passed this one up? You've got the tripod, you've got the camera, and you're standing right here. Every time I hit Disneyland I find something great to shoot… what a place: Los Angeles, CA
Posted in 24-105mm f/4L IS, 7D, Andrew, Disney, Los Angeles, Outdoor, Sunset | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
We crunched through 750 miles on Day 1 and 825 on Day 2 but just as the sun started to set behind us making our way out of Amarillo, TX, I leaned out the passenger window to check out the view. Definitely one of my favorites. The absolute nothingness along the New Mexico highway was behind us and things would gradually become more and more populated the farther east we got. Highlight of Amarillo: we kept seeing billboard advertisements for “FREE 72oz. STEAK” with a picture of a sketchy cowboy holding a dinner plate.
The west is great but you never get clouds like this in L.A. Amarillo, TX
Posted in 24-105mm f/4L IS, 7D, Andrew, Andrew's Favorites, Handheld HDR, Landscape, Outdoor, Sunset | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
Oh man, it’s been crazy. I think Tucker, Giacomo and myself have all been outrageously swamped with work and other obligations as school semesters and seasons have come to a close and it’s gotten to the point where new material is hard to come by shy of reaching into the past to rework old shots. I just completed a 2,270 mile journey from L.A. back to Atlanta and let me say I will not be doing that again anytime soon. The three of us will all be in town at the same time for the better part of two months so there is guaranteed to be some amazingly fun stuff to go around in the next few days and weeks. To get things rolling again I have a shot from the road trip, around the California/Arizona state line at a rest stop on the side of the highway. I love this picture but even still I don’t think I’ve done the scene justice. You just kind of had to be there I guess.
Highway rest stops never felt so gorgeous… Needles, CA
Posted in 24-105mm f/4L IS, 7D, Andrew, Handheld HDR, Landscape, Nature, Sunset | Like our work? Be the first to comment! »
Yosemite: Starting Things Off
Poolhouse at Night
Christmas Eve Fun
Finally, More from Yosemite