The Bund in the Rain This is shot from the old British part of Shanghai called the Bund. The rain was bitter rough that night and I was on the roof, but I managed to get in position and stay dry enough (for a moment) for this one.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Intersection Today we have a new photo from downtown Tokyo.  By now, you have probably figured out that I just can't get enough of these downtown shots.  Each angle is nice and different in its own way.  Sometimes I like to freeze the action, and sometimes I like to let it flow.  It totally depends on my mood when I am shooting.While I am there, I usually have a pretty good idea of how I want to execute the post-processing.  It changes the way I take the shots.  For example, if I want the action frozen, I'll crank up the ISO so that the people don't drag across the shutter too much.  I have my 5 exposures so that the +2 (the longest) fires first.  So I know if the middle exposure (the anchor, I call it) has a shutter that is open too long.  I can just hear it.  If it feels too long, I double the ISO and it halves the shutter speed of the anchor.  This is always my action/reaction when shooting in aperture priority. - Trey Ratcliff Read more, including some exciting news about us and Flipboard, here at stuckincustoms.com.
Bustling Beijing Getting this photo was not easy at all!I knew of this area of Beijing called the CBD, or Central Business District.  I notice that they have all these catchy names here, much like the building I took this photo from: "China Merchants Building."  At any rate, I had the driver circle the business district a few times so I could find a good angle.  We found one in this building, but did not know if we could take a photo from the top floor.  Woo went in first.  This might have been a mistake because during the shoot he admitted he had a dreadful fear of heights.  But he said it in such a charming British accent I thought it could have been my subconscious.We went up to the 32nd floor.  No windows no dice.  We then went to the 31st floor, but the confused secretary would not let us through.  Then we tried 30.  The secretary said yes and let us into a boardroom, but the angle was not right and the other offices were busy.  So we went to 29.The secretary on 29 was confused so I instructed Woo to tell her, firmly, "We are with the Government."- Trey RatcliffFind out what happened here at stuckincustoms.com.
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.
Ripping Through the City Streets of Tokyo This photo was taken on my final night in Tokyo.  It was rainy, cool, and perfect for street photography.  It's hard to explain HOW clean my sensor was in this photo.  I had the privilege of taking it to the Nikon Headquarters in Tokyo and having the sensor cleaned by a real Japanese guy.  It was a religious experience -- and it only cost $10!  What a deal!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Neo Monoliths of Chicago After my meeting I headed downtown to see the new Millennium Park that recently opened.  It was incredibly surreal and awesome.  Here is a nice shot I grabbed... these are video walls that cycle in and out different pictures.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Chicago Thaws into Spring I was lucky enough to be in a helicopter over Chicago at sunset. A big thanks to Fiona and our pilots Bill and Jeff. They took the door off the helicopter for me, which sounds like a good idea until you are experiencing 100 MPH of chopper backwash while hanging out trying to get this kind of shot!It was a fun day. We stayed up for a few hours and circled around the city several times. I got hundreds of amazing shots. I haven't had time to process any of them except for this one... but I wanted to go ahead and get it up since I know the Twitter and Facebook crowd has been waiting on it since I mentioned it on there. Also my mom was very worried about the whole door-off-the-helicopter thing.Right in the center of the shot on the bottom is the famous Navy Pier. We timed this shot to get at the right height the second the sun dipped below the horizon to cast a rainbow of hues into the sky.(and there are pics of me hanging out of the helicopter on my Facebook page if you want to come see!) :)- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Veins of Bangkok 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 love getting up to the highest point in cities to get a nice perspective. I'm afraid I have forgotten the name of this place in Bangkok, but it's the tallest building there. I have a good memory; it just doesn't last very long.The top of many tall buildings have bars or restaurants where you can take photos. No one ever really seems to mind. One BIG problem though is the lights inside the bar. They bounce off the windows and create an awful reflection. I usually contact someone that works there and give them a tip to turn off all the lights for 5 minutes while I take the photo. I am sure to set everything up first, so I can get to snapping... especially since as soon as the lights go off, a mild amount of panic ensues from the patrons.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Times Square at Dusk (New York City) (btw, you can DIGG this photo here)Times Square is one of the most photographed places in the world.  I usually try not to do touristy thing, but hey, it's Times Square.  I thought I would try a new take on this shot, arriving just as the sun started to set.The biggest problem was people waling in front of the tripod, totally aloof to my HDR quest.   Since it takes five minutes to explain HDR to people, it was not efficient to stop everyone in the area and give them a short dissertation on why it is important for them not to get in front of my tripod...- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Ripping Through the City Streets of Tokyo


This photo was taken on my final night in Tokyo. It was rainy, cool, and perfect for street photography. It's hard to explain HOW clean my sensor was in this photo. I had the privilege of taking it to the Nikon Headquarters in Tokyo and having the sensor cleaned by a real Japanese guy. It was a religious experience -- and it only cost $10! What a deal!

- 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(742621245,'',XLarge,'',1024,676);">Ripping Through the City Streets of Tokyo This photo was taken on my final night in Tokyo.  It was rainy, cool, and perfect for street photography.  It's hard to explain HOW clean my sensor was in this photo.  I had the privilege of taking it to the Nikon Headquarters in Tokyo and having the sensor cleaned by a real Japanese guy.  It was a religious experience -- and it only cost $10!  What a deal!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

Ripping Through the City Streets of Tokyo


This photo was taken on my final night in Tokyo. It was rainy, cool, and perfect for street photography. It's hard to explain HOW clean my sensor was in this photo. I had the privilege of taking it to the Nikon Headquarters in Tokyo and having the sensor cleaned by a real Japanese guy. It was a religious experience -- and it only cost $10! What a deal!

- Trey Ratcliff

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