The Forgotten This was brought up in the chat session yesterday -- Black and White HDRs! Yes, they are possible, and they are a lot of fun! I don't do it that much because I am so in love with vibrant colors.. but sometimes, on a lark, I'll do it. The one below, of a forgotten temple in Cambodia, is a simple black and white with a bit of a sepia tone. Enjoy!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Treetop Temple Protects Kyoto I'm just finishing up almost two weeks in Japan, and it has been an amazing trip! Usually I try not to start posting shots until the trip is at its close, and this is the first.While there, I spent time all over the country. I got a rail pass and just jumped on the bullet train to take me from one remote spot to another. I ended up with a few days in Tokyo to do my best to capture the city. I'll be posting photos from the trip throughout the next few weeks, months, and years, as usual. I hope this is a new line of photographs that will be interesting to you.Photographed here is the Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto. The city is known for its traditional Japanese architecture, slower-paced life, natural beauty, graceful geishas, and zen peacefulness. I probably could have stayed in Kyoto capturing scenes the entire trip. I remained here until the sky turned black, and then I headed back down some winding streets to find an old small restaurant where the food was mysterious and every course was served with a gentle bow.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Exploring Kyoto at Night I think I could stay in Kyoto for a few years and go out taking photos every day and night! What a picturesque place… I feel like someone designed it a thousand years ago just for HDR! Now, I think this is a pretty darned good example of HDR. When you are there, you do see all these colors and light levels. Absolutely! Thank goodness for the sweet lady HDR and all her little tricks.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Timeless Tomb The Taj Mahal is an awesome place. I spent the day taking photos of the place, and I was dog-tired when it was all done.  Plus, my feet were hella dirty.  You have to take off your shoes there.  It turned out, actually, to keep me pretty cool.  It was a very hot day; the marble was nice and cool on my feet.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Aurorus Reflectus Colosseo Ahhh Rome!  I love it there.  Everywhere I walked was filled with art and inspiration.  One of my hobbies is ancient Roman history, so the city had forever held a mythical romanticism place in my mind.  I have a bad (good) habit of circumnavigating structures before taking photos to find the right angle.  I say bad because some of these structures are so big that it's a major commitment to walk around the thing.  Finally, however, it paid off and I found some wet pavement just outside one of the subways.That purple streak in the upper left is very mysterious.  I don't really remember what happened during the shot to cause that, but it was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Midnight Adventure in the Japanese Cemetery The night had been dark for many hours by the time I hiked to this point. It was raining and somehow the wetness seemed to make everything even more black. There were old and new crypts, spider webs, lonely rotting wood, creaking trees in the heavy rain, and more strange sounds from the woods. Talk about eerie! Japanese cemeteries are not places that people visit very often. It’s bad luck. Naturally, I don’t believe in any of that, so it was my good luck it was empty for photography!Of all the spots around Kyoto, this is probably my favorite. There is an area of 1,000 Red Gates that flow up and around a picturesque little mountain. This cemetery is about halfway up the trek and it shoots off to the right. It is both great and annoying to shoot in the rain. I had to carry an umbrella, tripod, bag of camera goodies, and the like, and everything gets all jumbled up when it comes time to set up for a shot. I need an assistant!How did I do this one? There were three exposures +1, 0, -1. Normally I do 5 from +2 to -2, but in this case, it was so dark that the shutter speeds were outrageous enough. I kept the ISO at 200. The 14-24 lens was at 15mm (on a D3X). It was aperture priority at f/5.6. The three shutter speeds were 2/4/8 seconds. If you zoom into the Original size on Flickr – you can see all kinds of details.Here is one special thing I did on the last exposure. It was DARK out there. And I mean DARK. I had my SB-800 in my bag. On the last exposure, I ran over behind the gate to the right like Carl Lewis, and jammed the “Test” button about 5 times in every direction to light up that area. I almost slipped and died… I have no idea what a police investigator might assume if they found me in the morning.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
One Night in Bangkok I arrived into Thailand this weekend and have been in content-creation mode non stop.  I did take a chance back at the hotel to process this one picture I thought y'all would enjoy.(and yes that sun picture is real... it was burning through the bottom while still streaming light over the top).This picture is of Wat Arun, a famous Buddhist temple in Thailand.  I took it from a really cool little Italian restaurant across the way that is attached to a boutique hotel named "Arun Residence".  I will stay at this place next time - be sure to get the balcony room at the top if you come... it's just over $100 a night and is the best (and only) view of this temple in Bangkok.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Lost Hindu Temple in the Jungle Mist 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!I took an afternoon hike in the remote area of Java just outside the town of Jogjakarta to explore this temple.  It's called Prambanan, and it was built around 850 CE.The rain was pouring down, which left me and Will there pretty much alone, except for a few wild deer in the area.  I waited through the rain because I knew if it cleared there would be a great sunset.  I had a little baggy over my camera to keep it dry until everything passed...While waiting on the rain to stop, I walked around and did more up close exploration of the temples of Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma, which were three of the largest in the complex.  All the temple blocks were on the edge of collapse, after many centuries of Indonesian earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Swallowing the Ruins - Trey Ratcliff I made it to the heart of Ta Prohm, an undisturbed Bayon ruin out the outskirts of Angkor Wat. It was late in the day and there was a break in the afternoon summer showers.To me, the best thing about these temples and ruins is that you can go anywhere, high or low, safe or not. There are hundreds of tiny nooks, old broken stone doors, lost hallways, and mysterious carvings peeking out of the overgrowth. There are no tort-related legal signs barring you from going anywhere... explorer beware. Besides, if you got injured, the jungle and insects would eat you alive before the night was over.As soon as I walked into Ta Prohm, the thunder started rumbling around and dappled clouds rolled in. The rain started and stopped several times, so I would take refuge in crumbling crypts and hallways until the rain let up. I took some wrong turns, but I eventually ended up here with a break in the storm. I popped out with the 10 mm get this shot.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Treetop Temple Protects Kyoto


I'm just finishing up almost two weeks in Japan, and it has been an amazing trip! Usually I try not to start posting shots until the trip is at its close, and this is the first.

While there, I spent time all over the country. I got a rail pass and just jumped on the bullet train to take me from one remote spot to another. I ended up with a few days in Tokyo to do my best to capture the city. I'll be posting photos from the trip throughout the next few weeks, months, and years, as usual. I hope this is a new line of photographs that will be interesting to you.

Photographed here is the Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto. The city is known for its traditional Japanese architecture, slower-paced life, natural beauty, graceful geishas, and zen peacefulness. I probably could have stayed in Kyoto capturing scenes the entire trip. I remained here until the sky turned black, and then I headed back down some winding streets to find an old small restaurant where the food was mysterious and every course was served with a gentle bow.

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog." href="javascript:openLB(742621641,'',XLarge,'',1024,707);">The Treetop Temple Protects Kyoto I'm just finishing up almost two weeks in Japan, and it has been an amazing trip! Usually I try not to start posting shots until the trip is at its close, and this is the first.While there, I spent time all over the country. I got a rail pass and just jumped on the bullet train to take me from one remote spot to another. I ended up with a few days in Tokyo to do my best to capture the city. I'll be posting photos from the trip throughout the next few weeks, months, and years, as usual. I hope this is a new line of photographs that will be interesting to you.Photographed here is the Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto. The city is known for its traditional Japanese architecture, slower-paced life, natural beauty, graceful geishas, and zen peacefulness. I probably could have stayed in Kyoto capturing scenes the entire trip. I remained here until the sky turned black, and then I headed back down some winding streets to find an old small restaurant where the food was mysterious and every course was served with a gentle bow.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Treetop Temple Protects Kyoto


I'm just finishing up almost two weeks in Japan, and it has been an amazing trip! Usually I try not to start posting shots until the trip is at its close, and this is the first.

While there, I spent time all over the country. I got a rail pass and just jumped on the bullet train to take me from one remote spot to another. I ended up with a few days in Tokyo to do my best to capture the city. I'll be posting photos from the trip throughout the next few weeks, months, and years, as usual. I hope this is a new line of photographs that will be interesting to you.

Photographed here is the Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto. The city is known for its traditional Japanese architecture, slower-paced life, natural beauty, graceful geishas, and zen peacefulness. I probably could have stayed in Kyoto capturing scenes the entire trip. I remained here until the sky turned black, and then I headed back down some winding streets to find an old small restaurant where the food was mysterious and every course was served with a gentle bow.

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
See photo in original gallery.