The Mysterious Moeraki Boulders These are some of the most mysterious and alien structures I have ever seen! Yesterday I remarked that I had a major in computer science. Well, for a short time, I had a double-major in comp sci and Geophysics. I got pretty deep into it until I had a fight with a Geology teacher over an intellectual matter (he was wrong and still is), and I dropped that half of the major. Anyway, it never dulled my interest in rocks and Earth science. So, when I saw these strange round rocks for the first time, I was extra-fascinated. Not that I had any idea what they were. My years of geology training did me no good at all... I think it was even more frustrating because I knew all the things they could not be. The remaining possibilities just seemed off-the-chart impossible.And worse, I didn't have a mobile connection to Wikipedia to help me figure it all out with my iPhone-tricorder! After I got back, I was able to figure out a bit more of the arcane science around it all. Even more interesting, I read that 12 miles south of this spot is another are called the "Katki Boulders". They contain the bones of mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. Cool!- 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 > Ripping Through the World I know everyone has their own various tastes for HDR, and mine is all over the map! Sometimes I really feel artsy and go crazy with one, like this car above. It's hard with awesome cars... because the reflectivity in HDR is so off the map.I've been meaning to get to one of those high-end car shows and go crazy with my tripod. I've heard the Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach is really one of the best in the world... but maybe you all know of some other stellar car shows you can recommend?- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Wall of Fog The morning in Yellowstone had the most unusual weather! While I was driving in, the Earth-heated river was steaming in the frigid morning air. It looked incredibly awesome, but I knew it was the kind of thing that was really tough to capture in a photo. After a bit more exploration and random turns, the road approached a giant wall of solid fog. I popped out of the car for a shot before getting back in to drive into the wall. Inside, the morning light was strange when it came in at sharp angles through the trees. Since I had to drive so slow, I pulled over to the side and took out my pack for a morning hike into the trees... I have more of those shots to post in the future!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Galaxy Cafe When I was recently at Universal Orlando, Ethan and I made a late night getaway to do some exploration. We were staying at the Portofino, and they have a wonderful boat system that skirts you down to the main park. We jumped on the boat after dark to go down and visit this little area of shops, restaurants, and dozens of other interesting things to see and experience. I've gotten him used to the idea of roaming aimlessly, taking photos of this and that, with no real goal other than exploration and noticing little things.Ethan and I stopped at a tiny trinket store and bought a few necklaces and bracelets for ourselves and the girls. After that, we grabbed a few hot cocoas, got on the boat, and drifted back home. We took our time, drank our hot cocoas, and helped each other put on our bracelets.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Guardian of the Tomb I sometimes mistakenly call the Taj Mahal a "temple". There is a fleet of people ready to jump down my throat and tell me, in no uncertain terms, that it is most certainly a tomb. Of course, whenever I do call it a temple, these are all honest mistakes; I'm always a bit flummoxed as to why people get so agitated.Anyway, besides all that mess, I thought you might enjoy this photo I grabbed of one of the gentleman guards of the tomb. I slipped on my 70-200mm lens (See my NIkon 70-200mm Review) to get both the guard and the tomb compressed in the background. I was a little worried that he would see me lurking about, aiming a giant lens at his head. So, I took shots quickly then moved on... I had no burning desire to make a guy like that angry.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Gentle Grasses of New Zealand As we moved from the North to the South Island (by grinding our Kea Camper onto a moaning ferry), we expected the terrain to change dramatically. Everyone in the north told us how different things were in the south!But right after we arrived in Picton and started making our way to Nelson, the terrain still had the soft hills and flowing greens of the north. Not that there is anything wrong with that, mind you. But, for a while (until we made it further south), I thought that the whole North Island was playing a huge practical joke on me, and the South Island was actually a perfect replica of the north. After ravenously consuming the comedy stylings of The Flight of the Conchords, I thought I would be able to scry every type of Kiwi humor. While driving through this bit, I thought perhaps I had fallen prey to old Country-Wide-Giant-Practical-Joke.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Hearst Castle in San Simeon Did you know that Hearst Castle is only a few hours north of LA? If you ever end up in LA for a trip, be sure to set aside a few hours for a trip up to see this place. After you get out of the LA city-scape-area, the terrain totally changes - so does the "feeling".Towards the end of the day, all the tourists had left. I had an escort with me for most of the day. This gentleman was a retired LAPD officer who spends a few days per week working up at Hearst Castle. There are several of these guys and gals that help keep the place secure. They take the job pretty seriously, as you would expect from any LAPD-type. After a few hours, I was able to wear them down with humor. I found they responded very well to anti-lawyer humor, btw. So keep that one in mind in case you ever get in a pinch.Everyone there was extremely nice, and I loved the opportunity to capture Hearst as it is meant to be captured. I kept returning to this fountain time and time again -- until the skies and light was just right...- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > A Rocky Morning One morning when I crawled out of my tent in Argentina, a dense cloud was just rolling through. I got out to explore a bit, and the cloud quickly blew away to reveal an amazing landscape.I had planned just to take a few shots and then go back to the camp and make some breakfast. But then, I saw something interesting just around the other side of the rocks. And then, I got over there and saw something else that might be interesting. And it was. And then I saw something even further away...- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > In the Rain in Tokyo Most of my walks around the city streets had me carrying two cameras. I keep the D3X on my tripod, and have that ready to go for serious HDR work. But over my right shoulder, I carry the D3S with a fast lens. In this case, I was using the 50mm prime (see my Nikon 50mm Review) to capture quick scenes in the streets.I carry two cameras because it takes much too long to change lenses. Also, it's a real pain to do that sort of thing in the rain. There are often questions about how I go about taking photos of strangers. I have a post coming up in the future with five great tips for this sort of thing... I'll try to get everything into one spot for you, since I know we all want to be able to better capture interesting people here and there as they pass through our worlds.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Lincoln Memorial DC is certainly one of those no-tripod areas, especially when very close to some of the key installations. And, some of those Federal guards are not the ones who are up for a good argument. I wonder sometimes if they do a little face-recognition on me and get a general sense of my Libertarianism. That surely would not help me win any arguments...So I had to take this one handheld. It was dark inside and the time was way past sunset. Since the only ambient light was manmade, I had to wedge myself into a corner to keep the camera as still as possible for the exposures. Of course, quick shutter speeds are a must, so I cranked up the ISO a bit to keep things snappy.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Lonely Church There is a beautiful little French seaside town on the east coast of New Zealand called Akaroa. We spent a few days here to relax and explore. After taking a drive a bit further from the town up the coast, we found this old church on the side of the road. Of course.... it's impossible to drive by a place like this without popping out for a photo!After taking so many shots, I can now say that I like cloudy days more than flat blue sunny days. In fact, I'll just pass by a lot of scenic places if the sky is a boring blue. One common problem that many people notice with HDRs is that there is a "halo" effect. This happens a lot with those blue-sky days... A great way to get around that problem is simply to wait for sunset, a cloudy day, or something where there is not a vast expanse of flat color.If you want to find out more about the technique, check out the full HDR Tutorial.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Univac I'm such a nerd and I love this computer.My background is computer science and math, so I've always been into computers. This UNIVAC was just hitting its stride around the time I was born, and Moore's Law was kind enough to keep the doublings at a manageable rate so it wasn't a whole lot faster when I got my own first computer! I think I started with the Timex Sinclair 99 before getting into the C-64, then a whole host of Amigas before getting into the world of PCs (see these old vintage ads of computer stuff I tweeted about yesterday). Anyway, I'll try not to geek out too much here!This photo was taken at the new Air and Space Museum in DC. There is an area in the back with all the rockets that also had the computers that were used alongside them at mission control. So, if you have any geek in you at all, I really recommend it.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Mysterious Moeraki Boulders These are some of the most mysterious and alien structures I have ever seen! Yesterday I remarked that I had a major in computer science. Well, for a short time, I had a double-major in comp sci and Geophysics. I got pretty deep into it until I had a fight with a Geology teacher over an intellectual matter (he was wrong and still is), and I dropped that half of the major. Anyway, it never dulled my interest in rocks and Earth science. So, when I saw these strange round rocks for the first time, I was extra-fascinated. Not that I had any idea what they were. My years of geology training did me no good at all... I think it was even more frustrating because I knew all the things they could not be. The remaining possibilities just seemed off-the-chart impossible.And worse, I didn't have a mobile connection to Wikipedia to help me figure it all out with my iPhone-tricorder! After I got back, I was able to figure out a bit more of the arcane science around it all. Even more interesting, I read that 12 miles south of this spot is another are called the "Katki Boulders". They contain the bones of mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. Cool!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Kiss I'm sure most of you recognize this from the famous photo in New York after the war. I've wondered if that photographer took hundreds of photos that day and all of them were horrible except for the famous one. I've had days like that! Anyway, I'd love to see all of his various work from that day to see what else he snapped up. That photo has been recreated here into a giant statue in San Diego. It now sits in front of the huge aircraft carrier, which you can see in the distance, enshrouded in fog.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > Approaching Grand Central Station in the Rain Rainy nights in cities pose a tough problem. Really, in many ways, you have to fight against every natural human instinct to go out into the rain on purpose. It's so easy just to want to stay inside, make a hot cocoa (or, a think Aztec Drinking Chocolate in my case), watch a movie, be all cozy, etc etc. But the little photographer inside of you also knows how interesting things are out there!So, I tend to compromise, and force myself to go outside half the time and stay inside half the time. This occasion in New York City was obviously one of the times I went out in the rain.You can see I am approaching Grand Central Station -- and that is the famous Chrysler Building in the background. This was shot with the Nikon 14-24 Lens (See my Nikon 14-24 Review). It's an expensive lens, so if you are looking for something cheaper that also takes great wide-angle shots, check out the Sigma 10-20mm (Review coming some day when I mysteriously get more time).- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

StuckInCustoms > The Driskill at Night Here is one of the photos that I process on the HDR DVD. During the Austin Workshop, we had a professional team in place to make sure everything went off without a hitch. We started the weekend with a long photowalk through the streets of Austin. I stopped to take a photo of The Driskill hotel, which happened to be the same place we held the actual workshop. I talked through the shot a little bit and what I was trying to accomplish.During the actual workshop, I did not process this photo. But I have since done so, and I recorded the whole session to be on the DVD as well. It's one of those classic "problems" where there is a lot of ghosting from the car movement.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Mysterious Moeraki Boulders

These are some of the most mysterious and alien structures I have ever seen!

Yesterday I remarked that I had a major in computer science. Well, for a short time, I had a double-major in comp sci and Geophysics. I got pretty deep into it until I had a fight with a Geology teacher over an intellectual matter (he was wrong and still is), and I dropped that half of the major. Anyway, it never dulled my interest in rocks and Earth science. So, when I saw these strange round rocks for the first time, I was extra-fascinated. Not that I had any idea what they were. My years of geology training did me no good at all... I think it was even more frustrating because I knew all the things they could not be. The remaining possibilities just seemed off-the-chart impossible.

And worse, I didn't have a mobile connection to Wikipedia to help me figure it all out with my iPhone-tricorder!

After I got back, I was able to figure out a bit more of the arcane science around it all. Even more interesting, I read that 12 miles south of this spot is another are called the "Katki Boulders". They contain the bones of mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. Cool!

- Trey Ratcliff

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

The Mysterious Moeraki Boulders

Camera: Nikon Corporation (Nikon D3x) |

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