Feb 162012
 

After yesterday’s difficulty getting inspired to process any photos I came home over my lunch-break and decided to work on a photo that I’ve attempted and failed at a few times in the past. Finally, I think I’ve cracked it. Incidentally, does anyone know what the flowers in this photo are called?

This is another photo from the Paradis Malihide. Rising early, in the hopes of capturing the sun as it peeked over the horizon, I discovered that it was, once again, completely overcast. I never figured out where the sun rose and where it set while there because the cloud cover was so thick. Nonetheless, it was still a beautiful spot and I wasn’t going to let the clouds stop me. So, I went in search of photos where the sky didn’t have to be a prominent feature. I came across this scene and thought it was a great subject for HDR. It’s almost like two images, allowing your eye to wander over the flowers in the foreground before moving on to look at the boat and the hills in the distance.

People would arrive on package tours and pile into this little boat to cruise off down the lake. Navigate here to get ready properly for such a cruise. It was amazing how many people they stuffed into this thing. It was an interesting contrast watching the tourists in their bright orange life-jackets motoring back in for a nice dinner while the fishermen in dark rain jackets, t-shirts or shirtless plied their oars and sang their songs on their way for another chilly, wet night out on the lake.

I’m not a package tour person, probably because I don’t like being herded around. We spend enough time in our working lives getting told what to do. Why go off on holiday and do the same? I met a couple of Californian guys while in Prague who had embraced this concept. They’d decided they needed a break and managed to negotiate three weeks off – supposedly no easy feat in the US – to head for Europe. When I ran into them all they had planned was their flight home from Amsterdam. I spent about an hour eating lunch with them as they tried to figure out their next destination. They’d narrowed it down to Germany when I arrived, and hadn’t gotten much further when I eventually left. Once I ran into them later, at about 9pm, it was sorted. They were leaving at 6am on their way to Hanover.  It’s a great way to travel, waking up in one place, not knowing where you’ll be the next day.

View from Paradis Malihide, Rwanda with flowers (umuko tree-a.k.a. flame tree) in the foreground, tour boat on the lake, and the green terraced hills in the distance.

 

 

Feb 032012
 

It’s hard to leave Water Horse Safari’s Fly Camp on the Zambezi river after 3 nights there. It’s got the best showers in the world. You stand there with a chest height wall around you and solar warmed river water pouring over you. At the same time you’re spotting wildlife running past in the clearing ahead of you. They’ve got toilets, welcome after a night in the bush. They’ve got a table under a canopy and they have two-men mesh tents with comfy single beds in them. Square meals were prepared nightly and wine, poured from a bag, was available. Perfect.

Each morning we woke up to the sounds of grunting hippos and this view across to Zimbabwe. It doesn’t get much better than that.

 

View across to Zimbabwe from Water Horse Safari's Fly Camp on the Zambezi river in Zambia with blue canoes on shore, large tree and glorius sunrise.

 

Jan 092012
 

We stayed in Musanze, Rwanda to visit the mountain gorillas. My hotel room had a view of the Volcanoes National Park. I had decided that this would be a great shot in the morning as the sun rose and side-lit the volcanoes. A great shot that is, if not for the rusty chain-linked, barbed-wire fence blocking my view. Still, I resolved to get this picture, I thought maybe I could find a hole in the chain-link or a gap in the barbed wire. I paced the length of the property to no avail. I spotted a 7 foot tall wall and considered how to get up there for a clear vantage. I’d have had to climb up about 30 feet back from where I needed to be and balance on the slanted top of the narrow wall. It was wet and I decided not to risk it. Instead I struck out onto the street hoping to find a vantage point next door.

I had only planned on stepping out quickly, so I hadn’t brought my bag. I was just carrying my camera, with lens attached, and tripod. It was pretty nerve-racking stepping out on the street with my gear exposed and I decided not to stray too far. In the end I spent about 2 and a half hours wandering around the town greeting locals as they went to church or carried their goods to market. Many even stopped to watch what I was up to. Rwanda really is a friendly place, with an incredibly safe feel about it; especially when you consider the general reaction from people back home to the idea of going there.

I even picked up an assistant! An eleven year old who watched me extend one leg of my tripod and came over and started extending the other two. He followed me for two hours, helping me set up my tripod, pushing the shutter button and enjoying the multiple shots he was taking. He even suggested pictures to me. One of which I think could be very good if I can figure out how to process it. To get it I had to shoot directly into the sun.

Today’s photo, though, is the first one I took on that walk. So, it’s actually the road right outside my hotel.

 

Main road in Musanze, Rwanda at sunrise.

Dec 312011
 

As it’s New Years Eve it make sense for today’s picture to be at the scene for one of the biggest New Years Eve parties in the world. I took this shot in summer, early in the morning. I’d been in Times Square the night before when it was full of people. It was weird being there when it was just me and the street sweepers. It was nice getting to take my time to set up for this shot without being jostled by the bustling crowd though.

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Times Square, New York in the early morning without the crowds.

Dec 262011
 

This is the photo that I had planned on uploading for my first entry. I decided this would be a good start as I consider it my first successful HDR photo.

I had woken up late and had to rush out of the house as I’d seen a purple glow developing. Had planned on getting to one of the Tucker’s Town beaches when i came across this scene.

I used 7 exposures from -3 to +3. The boats had swung on their moorings while taking the photos so when combining in Photomatix I used the selective de-ghosting tool. This took a few attempts but I eventually settled on one big circle encompassing most of the water. Still some motion blur on some of the boats but not sure I could have avoided this. After HDR processing I worked with layers to bring up details in the foreground and particularly focused on getting some green into the trees in the background. Finally, run through Topaz Adjust to bump up the level of detail before using Noiseware to smooth it out.

Boats on their moorings under a glorious purple sunset, reflecting pink in the water of Tuckers Town Bay in Bermuda.

 December 26, 2011  Bermuda, Travel 2 Responses »