Europe - The Prologue

I recently took some time to backpack through various parts of Europe. I took over 4000 snapshots over a span of 2 weeks traveling through 3 countries, all in an attempt to tell a story with them. So here goes:

Whenever you go overseas (as it was the first time for me), it is good to note that not everyone uses 110V, 60Hz power with traditional power outlets that resemble the ones we have here in the states. So one of the handy things to have is a power adapter. Note that there is a difference between a power adapter and a power converter. A power converter converts the 220v 50Hz electricity in Europe down to the 110V, 60Hz power that our electronics use. Most of our modern day electronics have a converter built in to the AC adapter. Usually, old hair dryers or kitchen appliances are the ones that don't have these built in converters and you'll have to bring one for them to plug in to.

I checked the AC adapter on my MacBook and my camera battery charger and they have built in power converters so I was good to go. I purchased a power adapter made by Swiss Gear that is essentially the swiss army knife of power adapters. Depending on what country you are in, you just flip the switch and the appropriate plug pops out. It was pretty awesome. The field test was quite successful.

Next up: Hostel Life

Star Trails

Quick Lessons Learned from my first Star Trail type shoot:

1.) Use a larger aperture to make the stars more apparent. They give off so little light in the first place such that a larger aperture will help bring the stars out from the dark sky. Using the largest aperture on your lens may introduce unwanted vignetting or other artifacts, however.

2.) If you use a wide angle lens, expect to sit out there longer. The stars will take longer to move across the sky. If you use a nice zoom lens, the opposite occurs.

3.) Point towards the east or west for the most star movement. Stars closer to the north/south poles move much less.

4.) Have some patience and bring a friend to chat with. Bringing some beers will also help pass the time.

5.) If you have something in the foreground, you'll have to separate your shots into segments instead of one continuous exposure.

28 Minute Exposure cut into 30 second frames (56 frames total), f/4.0, ISO 100

Happy Holidays

Behind the Scenes

Caution, Yield To Aircraft

DSLR and Video!

So time and time and time again, I like to tell people that you don't really need a fancy DSLR to take really amazing photographs. For many years I have been taking some amazing photographs with my Canon SD1000 point and shoot. I just got tired of not being able to blow up my digital pictures into anything bigger than 8x10 without them getting pixelated. I started saving up money and finally made the plunge to purchase a DSLR. I still stand by my opinion that you can still take amazing photos with a point and shoot.

However, what I would like to tell you all out there on the internet is that this weekend, I discovered how awesome it was to use a DSLR for video shooting. All this time I have been using cheap portable hand held cameras (i.e. Flip or Kodak Zi8) for shooting video. After shooting video with a DSLR this weekend at my local air show, I was impressed by the quality and versatility that the DSLR can provide.

I rendered this video at 720p 60fps. When I watch it on my desktop, the quality is astounding! Youtube doesn't really do it justice because I think it downsizes it to 30fps and the compression artifacts show up a bit more. When I watch the fully rendered high definition version on my desktop monitor, it was a bit breathtaking. I think the only downside was that the 5 minute long clip was close to 800MB.

The small things in life....

Ever since I moved to the Midwest, there has been a lack of boba. There's no surprise here because the Midwest is known for BBQ, corn, steaks and a bunch of other good American food.

So you can imagine my surprise when I spotted a Lollicup shack while I was sightseeing in Kansas City. It was $3.75 for a cup of boba milk tea.

It tasted like Lollicup boba milk tea alright. They used the powdered stuff and the boba was mediocre. Ever since I was introduced to Half and Half during my last visit to Southern California, all the boba milk tea from the other tea shops started to taste average and boring.

I was still happy I had a cup of boba milk tea though. It was better than nothing. This is one of those times where you appreciate the small things in life....