The Lion Takes A Stroll

It must be nice to be on top of the food chain. There were several zebras, giraff, and various other animals sipping water at a nearby water hole when this lioness got on her feet and started to stroll. ALL the animals took notice and shot off like bullets...what power...

Elephant Crossing

I was in a small boat traveling down the river in Zimbabwe, when we saw a herd of Elephants crossing the river. We were only a few feet away from them...I had mixed emotions about this...I was so excited to get photos that I forgot to be afraid of several wild elephants mere feet away from me...

Cool Photo To Celebrate The Inauguration

This photo is from The Big Picture blog that I talked about a few days ago. It is an AP photo by Sandy Huffaker. I think it is great...

I have increased the size of the photos in my blog...I will try it out, and see how it looks. I really do think photos look better when they are BIG...

I just noticed I will also have to re-do my banner...I will get to that soon enough...it needs a change as well...I am getting tired of that photo...

Rugby Jumps

One of the great things being a Photographer at school is moments like this...

It's also great having an appreciative audience that can enjoy the hard work put in when making pictures...kids always love it.

Skywatch Friday - HDR of Tanah Lot in Bali

Happy Friday!!

On Wednesday, I posted and talked a little about HDR photography. This is another HDR photo, but it is processed a bit differently than the photo I posted on Wednesday. This version is more "illustrative" looking. Many people don't like this kind of look, but I really like it....and when you come down to it, we as photographers have to like our own stuff before we share it with others....right??

One of my favorite HDR photographers, and in my opinion, the king of HDR, is Trey Ratcliff. Check out his work here (or click on his name) if you want to see some good HDR photography...He also has an excellent tutorial on how to post-process HDR photos...

In the meantime, check out all the other bloggers participating in Skywatch Friday, and see their skies from their part of the world...

Wreck and Reef

I have been posting photos all week from my trip to Bali over the Christmas/New Year holiday...

To be honest, I only took a few photos....some of Tanah Lot near the hotel I stayed at, and some underwater photos from the Northeast Coast. Usually, I take hundreds of photos on vacation, but I have a pretty lame excuse for only taking a few photos this vacation...

I left my camera batteries on my bedroom floor still attached to the battery chargers!!

Yes, I am an idiot!! The night before we left for Bali, I charged two batteries for my D300 and two batteries for my D70, which I use underwater. I remember thinking to myself, "don't forget your batteries in the morning". I got up the next morning, got dressed, grabbed my luggage, and headed out the door with Tika and Kayla. When I got to the waiting lounge at the airport, I pulled out my camera to take a photo of my daughter...then it hit me...CRAP...my batteries!!

Luckily, a friend of mine that arrived in Bali a couple of days later had an extra battery for his D200 which uses the same battery as my D300, so I borrowed his battery for a couple of days. Then another friend was already in Bali, and shoots with a D70...he had an extra battery for me to use for my one-day dive trip.

Not sure what the chances are of having two friends in Bali with the exact two batteries I needed...A BIG thanks goes to my friends, and a lesson learned for me!!

Anyway, the photo below is another one from the Liberty wreck. An amazing reef growing on the wreck...

Wow, What A Photography Site!!

I was just surfing the web, as I often do, reading my favorite blogs and looking at photographs. I find looking at other's work inspires me to do better with my own photography, and there are always new things to learn...

Any way, I was reading the strobist blog, and he was writing about the Weblog Awards for 2008 in one of his earlier entries. He mentioned that a blog called The Big Picture was one of the blogs competing for the best Photography blog of 2008. Of course, I had to check it out....WOW WOW WOW is all I can say.....if you want to see some of the best photos taken from around the world, this is the place to see them. The blog is run by the Boston Globe which searches the web for great photos. Here is the link...go check it out, you will spend hours gazing in amazement....

More From Tanah Lot

This part of Tanah Lot is looking West from my other photo I posted a couple of days ago...

This is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo which has blended 5 shots bracketed at -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 bringing out more of what I remember seeing when I took the shot. HDR photography is becoming more and more popular with digital photographers. It enables the photographer to capture a scene properly exposing shadow and highlight areas all in one photo extending the dynamic range close to what our eyes can see...not possible back in the film days without using graduated filters and such...fun stuff!! I have one more HDR photo of Tanah Lot that I will post on Friday with a different look...

By the way, I have received a bunch of emails asking about my plans for a new tutorial blog. I have not forgotten and I am working on it...Once I get the blog up and running, I will write a more detailed tutorial on how to post-process HDR photos....stay tuned...

Also, the new blog will be presented by a team of photographers...I can't wait to introduce them to you...you may know a couple of them already...

An Old Mast Sunk in the Ocean for Almost a Century

This Old Mast of the Liberty Ship sunk off the North East Coast of Bali is HUGE!!
It stretches at least 20 meters from just below the surface to bottom, maybe more...

I could not believe the coral growth on the mast. Just goes to show that a heap of rusted metal,which is an eye sore on shore, can do wonders for the environment underwater...

Tanah Lot - Bali

You can probably imagine how many shots I had to take to get that crashing water on the rocks timed perfectly...but the final outcome was worth it.

Back From Bali

Wow, it seems like forever since I have been home...I guess that is a sign of a good vacation. We had a great time in Bali, and spent most of our time at Le Meridien Resort which is located near the famous Tanah Lot Temple on the South West coast of Bali. The Meridien is also famous for it's incredible golf course, Nirwana...

I did some diving as well, so will be posting some underwater photos as well as more photos of Tanah Lot in Bali...which is pictured below...

This photo is a Panorama made up of 10 portrait photos stitched together...

Skywatch Friday - Welcome to 2009

Happy NEW YEAR, and Happy Friday!!

I am off to Bali for a week, so will be taking a break from blogging....see you NEXT week...

In the meantime, have fun checking out all the other bloggers involved with Skywatch....hope this will be another great year of sky photos!! Click HERE to see the list of great people from all over the world participating...

Downtown Jakarta from the Grand Indonesia parking lot...