Mariyinsky Palace

This beautiful palace sits on a hilly back of the Dnipro River in downtown Kiev Ukraine.  Blair and I had a hard time capturing a photo of this building without hundreds of military soldiers around it.  They were expecting protesters, so they called in the military to guard this and many other spots in the city that day.  Let’s just say it made for an interesting day within the city.

 

This is the official ceremonial residence of the President of Ukraine.  It was originally built between 1744 and 1752 for the Russian empire royalty.  It also serves as the residence for Governors-General in the 18th and 19th centuries.  Sadly, it was burned down by a number of fires in the 19th century but was reconstructed later using old drawings and watercolors as their guide.  In the early 1900s, it was part of an agricultural school and museum.  It was badly damaged in World War II and restored again in the late 1940s.  Today it serves for official functions for the Ukrainian President.

To view a larger version, click HERE

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President Pool

Happy Friday.  This is the pool at the President Hotel in Cape Town.  During our stay, I sat in this pool for at least an hour one night talking with our group, which is an amazing feat, since the water temperature was extremely cold.  MJ didn’t even want to put her feet in the water.  They pump the water into it from the Atlantic Ocean and it isn’t remotely close to warm.  Regardless, the location was beautiful, and the company was great.    

To view a larger version, click HERE

Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries.  I update and add to them often.  PLUS….don’t forget you can get a free gift and 10% off great Think Tank camera gear by using this link: http://bit.ly/2FVW0eg

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President Hotel

I hope you have a great Friday and weekend.  I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted and just want to sleep all weekend.  So I’ll post this photo from the President Hotel in Cape Town South Africa for you to review, while I nap for the next two days.  I took this photo at dinner time, just after sunset.  The pool at this hotel was unique and I couldn’t capture enough photos of it.  You can see why….just beautiful. 

To view a larger version, click HERE

Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries.  I update and add to them often.

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President Hotel

This photo probably won’t be of much interest to anyone else….it’s one of those “you had to be there” photos.  This is a photo of the pool (sort of looks like Pac-Man) at the President Hotel in Cape Town South Africa.  I was captivated by this pool area.  So I went out after sunset one evening to capture this photo with my drone looking down towards the back of the hotel. 

They have a water shortage in Cape Town.  Therefore, the hotel pumps water into the pool right from the Atlantic Ocean.  They keep the water for a few days and then drain it back into the ocean and start all over again.  So the water is super cold, since the Atlantic Ocean is freezing this far south in the Southern Hemisphere.  Somehow that didn’t stop me from spending an hour in the water one evening.    

To view a larger version, click HERE

Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries.  I update and add to them often.

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Honest Abe

It’s been a long couple of weeks lately and today was tough.  We lost a family pet today due to a tumor.  I’ll stop there with that subject. 


So here is a quick post tonight.  The Lincoln Memorial is one of my favorite monuments in Washington D.C.  Something about his statute looking down at you is impressive.  I also love all the details built into the statute and the surrounding structure. 

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

White House

I’ll be busy over the next few weeks, so I’ll continue to post pictures on my routine schedule….but my blog comments will probably be shorter then normal.  But you’ll have to keep checking to make sure just in case I fine some extra time.  In the mean time, enjoy the photos. 

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

Lincolm Memorial

About a year ago, I spent four days outside the Washington DC area for work.  On two of those evenings, I drove into the city to photograph the monuments and government buildings.  On the second night, I had Kuruvilla Markose with me, who was visiting from India for the same work event.  We had a great time walking around the monuments taking photographs and talking about our countries and cultures.

We planned to be at the Lincoln Memorial around sunset.  I have taken photos of it in the past, but not at sunset and I thought it might be cool.  What I wasn’t planning on was the massive amount of people there at that time of day.  It was covered with so many people, it reminded me of an angry anthill.  Regardless, I got some great photos that night and wanted to share one with you.

Interesting items about the Lincoln Memorial:

* Abraham Lincoln was our 16th President

* Architect was Henry Bacon

* Dedicated in 1922

* Built in the form of a Greek Doric temple

* Includes inscriptions of The Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address

* The spot where Martin Luther King delivered the “I Have A Dream” speech is marked and dated.

* It is open 24/7 to the public

Photo Technique:

I took this picture before I had my Nikon D800.  So I took this with my Nikon D90 and my 14-24mm lens.  This is a 3-exposure bracket set (+2, 0, -2).  I merged the images using Photomatix Pro and edited it in Photoshop CS6.  I took this with the tripod and I balancing on top of a four-foot tall pillar (security barrier).  I stood on the pillar to get my camera above the heads of all the people.  I wasn’t at risk of falling or anything, but I thought the security guards for the National Park Service might force me to get down.  In the end, they never said a word to me.

To purchase a print or view the entire photo gallery, please click the photo above.​

To purchase a print or view the entire photo gallery, please click the photo above.​

Common HDR Photography Questions (Part 2) - Example Brackets

As promised on December 13th, I will continue with Part 2 of the most common HDR photography questions that people inquire about.  Today’s question is:

What Is HDR Photography?

HDR Photography stands for High Dynamic Range Photography.   Basically it’s the combination of two or more pictures of the same exact subject to display the best of all light levels (detail) similar to what the human eye would see.  Cameras capture less detail in the many of the light and dark areas, so there is limited light ranges captured in each photograph…they can be extremely bright or dark.  The human eye can see the world in a greater number of light levels allowing you to see everything from extreme dark areas to bright areas at the same time in great detail.  By combining photos taken at different exposure levels to create an HDR photo, you can produce a picture closer to what the human eye can see. 

 So how do I make that easier to understand, since I didn’t explain it well?  Let me try this.  Everyone has seen a photo taken inside a room looking at a window during a sunny day.  One of two things usually happens.  Either the camera creates a picture where you can see outside appropriately and the room is very dark.  Or the room looks good in the photo, but the window is so bright you probably won’t be able to see anything outside the window.  With an HDR version of that, both the room and the environment outside the window will look good in the picture allowing you to see both clearly (see my example below).  Thus the term High Dynamic Range, because you end up with a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of the picture.  If you want more detail on this, you can look at a bunch of websites, but Wikipedia has a good page on this topic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDR_photography).  Sorry I can’t explain it better, but I hope it helped.

My HDR Example Picture:

  Eisenhower Executive Office Building – otherwise known as the EEOB.  This building sits right next to the White House in Washington DC and currently holds the White House Office of Administration/Executive Office of the President.  You can see the final HDR product after I merged the original photo (0 Exposure Value) with two bracketed photos at intervals of +1 EV and -1 EV.  As you can see (make sure to look at both photos below), the final HDR photo captures light and details from the best areas of all three photos to create a great image with more detail in all areas that the three individual photos can't provide by themselves.    Hopefully this helped.

Note:

  I’ll post my answer to the third and final question in Part 3 in the near future.  If you have any questions, please post a comment and I’ll do my best to answer clearly and quickly.

HDR of the EEOB with the original brackets displayed below.  

HDR of the EEOB with the original brackets displayed below.  

Eisenhower Executive Office Building

Eisenhower Executive Office Building