Gateway to the Temple of Heaven I had an amazing opportunity in Beijing to get private access into the Temple of Heaven one morning. Well-costumed officials from the government met me before sunrise just outside the gates, where hundreds of early risers were already outside doing exercises and preparing for a national holiday. The nice men pulled out ornate keys and opened up the private doors to let me in. I had about 90 minutes to take photos of everything as the sun rose. It was a great day of shooting!This is one of those places that has many perfect lines, shapes, and other interesting angles for composing photos. It's almost impossible to take a bad shot! There were nice clouds and nice light on this cool morning, so I considered myself very lucky in many regards!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog. - Trey Ratcliff | Stuck In Customs

Thank you again for all the comments and feedback - much appreciated and I read them all! A lot of requests come in for my tutorial about how I do these shots - you can find it here: HDR Tutorial

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StuckInCustoms > The Safehouse Sorry about the long gap in posting! You know my promise to you is a photo every day, 365 days a year. This is a promise I break several times a year, so it's hardly a promise. But, yesterday just happened to be one of those days.Whenever I don't post, it usually means I am traveling somewhere EXTREMELY remote that has no hint of internet. Those places are fewer and farther between nowadays! ...but at least I'm getting some good stuff for y'all!Today's photo is from a forgotten field in the south of Argentina, not too far from Ushuaia. There was a housing community near here that was built then abandoned when the lake level started to rise. It was full of old husks of structures that were still beautiful in their own way (and doubly so at sunset).- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Where the Sky is Torn Asunder The morning sun sprayed orange across the top of Fitz Roy, and I could feel those sharp tips slicing into the cold sky. It was really an unbelievable experience being there at the perfect time; I feel very lucky indeed.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Dragon Boats of Commoners on a Lonely Stream near Hangzhou On the weekend while in Shanghai, I was in the mood for an adventure, so I went down to the train station to buy a ticket to Hangzhou. This was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty in the 12th century and it was in the middle of the Yangtze river delta. The royalty established a number of temples around West Lake, the dozens of tiny freshwater lakes that were created for the emperor.As I explored around, there were many beautiful things to be seen. Here is one of many more I have to bring you.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > A Soft Summer Night in the Marsh My shoes have never been the same since I started tromping through this muck. That part didn't bother me so much, but I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to make a hasty escape if something started running after me. I didn't see anything that would start a chase... there was a herd of about 14 elk about 300 meters away. I had never seen them stampede randomly in the direction of a photographer, so I felt kinda good about that. Remember, all of these were just half-fleeting thoughts that were only half-baked... I was mostly just peacefully staring at the sunset and listening to my iPod alone in the wilderness.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Christmas on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées This is one of the most famous streets in the world, so I wanted to do my best to capture it in as romantic a way as possible. The time of day usually does a lot to affect the mood, and these classical places (especially in Paris) are often better to shoot in the evening or night. The dusk light is different than the morning light. And, frankly, it’s easier to stay up past sunset than it is to wake up before the sun rises.I love how these cities put up lights on the trees. I wish all cities would do this at night. Some people complain about “light pollution”, but photographers won’t!Trey's Tip: While I don’t mind making a busy street look hectic with the hustle and bustle of little ants marching, in this case, I wanted it to look fairly empty. The two ways to do this are to shoot at a high f-stop or to shoot when it is raining and people don’t walk on the streets. This is the latter case. Normally, in an HDR, the rain does not show up – just the nice reflective wetness that stays behind.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Gateway to the Temple of Heaven I had an amazing opportunity in Beijing to get private access into the Temple of Heaven one morning. Well-costumed officials from the government met me before sunrise just outside the gates, where hundreds of early risers were already outside doing exercises and preparing for a national holiday. The nice men pulled out ornate keys and opened up the private doors to let me in. I had about 90 minutes to take photos of everything as the sun rose. It was a great day of shooting!This is one of those places that has many perfect lines, shapes, and other interesting angles for composing photos. It's almost impossible to take a bad shot! There were nice clouds and nice light on this cool morning, so I considered myself very lucky in many regards!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Magnetic Anomaly in Yellowstone on the Solstice I didn't change the colors here!!!! Let's get that right out of the way. I came to visit a friend in Yellowstone National Park over the weekend and for a few days next week. He has a beautiful ranch on the edge of the park in Montana and is inviting up a fairly eclectic group of intellectuals, mostly associated around various Libertarian think-tanks with which I am involved. I know it all sounds a bit heady, but it's one of my fun academic cerebral diversions. There are daily and nightly TED-like talks from plant biologists, entrepreneurs, geneticists, paleontologists, artists, and yours truly (who is giving a possibly-in-comparison presentation on humans evolving into a super-organism via online games and social networks).The picture here was taken on the summer solstice in thin-crusted geothermal hotbed of the Norris Geysers. This particular place was not too far from something called the "whirlygig" (or somesuch).The various colors are made from two merging rivers, each one with a dramatically different temperature. Different color bacteria live in each temperature of water - the red bacteria was over 160 degrees and the green was below 160. If anyone else was there during this same time, they can confirm the quirky nature of these dual rivers running in the same channel!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Ancient Nikko I have a bunch of these textured shots (See my Textures Tutorial) that I will be posting over the next few weeks. I showed this one to Jack this evening when he came over, and he seems to like the look as much as I do!This is my first shot from Nikko, Japan. Nikko is famous for all the incredible temples from the Edo period. I woke up early (violently early, let us say) to go out and visit all the sites before the tourists came. You guys know I don't like tourists in the shots... Actually, to tell the truth, I don't like them around at all. I like to listen to my strange music and roam around these ancient places by myself, stopping to take photos when I am ready.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Modern Techno Life in Tokyo What happens in hyper-techno places like Japan and Korea seem to be the techno-canaries in the coal mine for the future of technology and behavior in the west. Several years ago, almost everyone walked around their ultra modern-cities with their heads buried in their mobile phones.- Trey RatcliffRead more of this entry, including the announcement of a new print, at the blog at Stuck in Customs.

StuckInCustoms > Under the Docks in California Some of you remember the great photowalk we had down in San Clemente. I really had a good time there. On my photowalks, typically I stop from time to time and tell the assembled crowd what I am doing. Well, I finally got a chance to process this quintet!I felt fortunate to have a good friend that had an amazing condo that overlooked this same beach. Frankly, after a long day and night of shooting, I felt spoiled and happy just taking a few more steps to my pad... grabbing some cool drinks... opening the patio doors to listen to the surf... good times!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Caged Buddhas Look Outward Towards the Sunrise If you want to see how I made this (and how you can too!), visit my HDR Tutorial. I hope it gives you some new tricks!Each of these "bells" is really a stone cage that houses a Buddha statue that is seated, facing outwards. At this time in the morning, you can take little flashlights and peer inside the cages. It's all very eerie and fun...In the distance, you can see a few volcanoes poking through the mist.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Stopping for Lunch at the Emerald Lake in the Andes We started the hike before the sun came up. It was really cold, so I was dressed in layers. People always give you very silly advice. Actually, whenever anyone tells me to "dress in layers", I always find it very condescending! Why is that? I don't know why that bothers me. I mean, OF COURSE dress in layers. Oh, you mean, if I get too hot, I can just take off a layer? Oh, brilliant! Why didn't I think of that? Well... This is a concept everyone is already familiar with, so whenever anyone tells you to "dress in layers", try not to let it annoy you as much as it does me.Anyway, after removing many layers, since I was burning hot after the first five minutes from carrying 50 lbs of camera equipment over the Andes, we stopped at this mountain lake to relax and have a quick lunch. It was a good chance to drop off the bag, put together my camera and tripod, then break it all down again, repack, and get back on the hike.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Monkey Love A male monkey and his mate relax near an ancient naga at the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.This is the first shot from a new upcoming tutorial that describes some new techniques with which I am experimenting. I hope you like it!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > A Votive in the Dark Cathedral I love a scary cathedral. They can put you in such a melancholy and gloomy mood if you want them too. You can feel the overbearing saints from above judging your moves, and giving you a few bonus points in the big game if you light one of the votives. In a scientific study, it was proven than a votive makes a prayer 35% more likely to be granted.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Meandering in the French Streets After Dark I don't sleep much, even when I am home. I get a good 5-6 hours of sleep a night; but when I travel, I'm so charged up I get less. These foreign city streets seem to have a romantic sense about them, so that impedes even more on my sleep since there are so many great places to shoot.This perfect little European medieval street was in Lyon, if I am not mistaken. Sometimes I forget here in my old age. There's a 10% chance it is in Paris. There's a long path from click to final image and my memory fades betwixt.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Gateway to the Temple of Heaven

I had an amazing opportunity in Beijing to get private access into the Temple of Heaven one morning. Well-costumed officials from the government met me before sunrise just outside the gates, where hundreds of early risers were already outside doing exercises and preparing for a national holiday. The nice men pulled out ornate keys and opened up the private doors to let me in. I had about 90 minutes to take photos of everything as the sun rose. It was a great day of shooting!

This is one of those places that has many perfect lines, shapes, and other interesting angles for composing photos. It's almost impossible to take a bad shot! There were nice clouds and nice light on this cool morning, so I considered myself very lucky in many regards!

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Gateway to the Temple of Heaven

Camera: Nikon Corporation (Nikon D3x) |

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