The Red Room, Revisited Frequent visitors will recognize this amazing place in Chicago. It is the Crimson Lounge, and this is where we had the big book party in Chicago.  - Trey Ratcliff Read more of this entry at the Stuck in Customs Blog.
The Azure Blue Indoor Pool at Hearst Castle I was able to get a private tour throughout Hearst - so that made for an amazing and long day!Thank goodness I had a mass of memory cards... I got so much footage it was crazy!I could have picked a bunch of shots to be the "first", but I thought this one was particularly wonderful.  There are two enormous pools at Hearst Castle, and this is the indoor one.  This is a nice vantage point because this spot is actually quite difficult to reach!  There is no door behind me... so I had to "shimmy" along that edge you see... It was NARROW... the shimmy was like a video game, except while holding a $10,000 camera!  Sketchy!  But I just had to get over here because I could visualize the shot before it happened...Here's a cool fact about this pool.  Nearby, there is a huge room that was intended for a gymnasium that Hearst never constructed.  The State then made it usable for IT and Archive area, so the water cools the computers...  wild, eh?- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
An Amazing Day at the Met On Sunday, I set aside about six hours to spend alone at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.   Most of you may know by now how I am obsessed with the Impressionists.  Don't ever go to a museum with me, because I will bore you for hours on end with strange tidbits.  Anyway, the Met has a fantastic collection that kept me busy most of the time...  It's rather nice of them to hang on to my paintings for me.  One day, when I get some time, I'm going to make a little page here and show some of my favorites.The Man would not let me take a tripod inside, so that was unfortunate.  I did manage to do a few hand-held HDRs however... here is one that I have processed thus far.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Pillars of God This is an awesome church in Paris.  These places are great to photograph.   I believe this one was taken inside Le Sacre Coeur up near the altar.   At the PhotoWalk, I had a few questions about how to get a tripod into a church, of all things!  I wrote up a 10-step guide for this sort of activity a while ago that you can view at your leisure!I'm spending the weekend in Atlanta.  It's about 10 degrees cooler than Austin here, which means it's still inhumanly hot!  I did get a chance to do a little shooting this evening.  I'll see if I can grab the sunset tomorrow night!  I don't yet have a good Atlanta shot...  I'll hope for some good clouds!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
A Bar with a View This is an incredible bar in that overlooks the amazing city of Tokyo.  The place was amazingly awesome, and I could see it becoming a major hangout if I lived in the city.  Then again, everywhere I went I could picture as a major hangout!  Can anyone figure out exactly where this was taken?  These little photo mysteries don't last long around here!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
An Open Air Lounge in Kuala Lumpur Isn’t this place awesome? It’s a bar on top of a roof of the Trader’s Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. It looks out across the new skyline at the Petronas Towers. Malaysia is a pretty hot and humid country, so sometimes it’s not quite so comfy to sit outside. I don’t like to sit outside in muggy conditions… I just don’t. I remember that I played indoor soccer there in Kuala Lumpur on another night and it was one of my top 10 sweaty nights. Afterward, the only way to cool off was to drink about 128 oz of iced carrot-milk. That doesn’t sound very good, but it is.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Umbrellas at the Shoppes at the Palazzo This shot is from the recent expansion from the Venetian shopping area. It’s really beautiful inside and these designers should be given some kind of award! The best I can do here is try to honor their design with good photo of the place. It’s actually quite a difficult venue to capture! I have it from a few angles. There are many other beautiful ones, including one from down below looking up. I’ll be sure to include that at some point in the future!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Milan Train Station at Midnight 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 had a super-long day in Milan. I was tired and just wanted to go back to the hotel to have a cappuccino in the bar and edit photography on my laptop. But I remembered the really pretty train station and how I wanted to get a shot with nobody around.I went in around midnight, found the perfect spot, and then shot away.The HDR process always takes that slick concrete and makes it extra-reflective. Reflective ground is always great for photography. Also, people always think that I "colored" the lights up at the top, but I did not. In fact, I never "paint" on my photos. Any color that you see in them was actually there, except in the cases when I apply a texture treatment.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Milan Train Station at Midnight


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 had a super-long day in Milan. I was tired and just wanted to go back to the hotel to have a cappuccino in the bar and edit photography on my laptop. But I remembered the really pretty train station and how I wanted to get a shot with nobody around.

I went in around midnight, found the perfect spot, and then shot away.

The HDR process always takes that slick concrete and makes it extra-reflective. Reflective ground is always great for photography. Also, people always think that I "colored" the lights up at the top, but I did not. In fact, I never "paint" on my photos. Any color that you see in them was actually there, except in the cases when I apply a texture treatment.

- Trey Ratcliff

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

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog." href="javascript:openLB(742619146,'',XLarge,'',1024,676);">Milan Train Station at Midnight 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 had a super-long day in Milan. I was tired and just wanted to go back to the hotel to have a cappuccino in the bar and edit photography on my laptop. But I remembered the really pretty train station and how I wanted to get a shot with nobody around.I went in around midnight, found the perfect spot, and then shot away.The HDR process always takes that slick concrete and makes it extra-reflective. Reflective ground is always great for photography. Also, people always think that I "colored" the lights up at the top, but I did not. In fact, I never "paint" on my photos. Any color that you see in them was actually there, except in the cases when I apply a texture treatment.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Milan Train Station at Midnight


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 had a super-long day in Milan. I was tired and just wanted to go back to the hotel to have a cappuccino in the bar and edit photography on my laptop. But I remembered the really pretty train station and how I wanted to get a shot with nobody around.

I went in around midnight, found the perfect spot, and then shot away.

The HDR process always takes that slick concrete and makes it extra-reflective. Reflective ground is always great for photography. Also, people always think that I "colored" the lights up at the top, but I did not. In fact, I never "paint" on my photos. Any color that you see in them was actually there, except in the cases when I apply a texture treatment.

- Trey Ratcliff

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