Rainbow Ice Castle

Rainbow Ice Castle.

This was a big hit on flickr (click here) so I thought I would post it here too.  However, the flickr one is at ISO 1250 with no noise reduction.  This one you see here has been given a dose of Noise Ninja to smooth out the noise and some Apple Aperture 2.x magic to give the castle more vibrant colors like I remembered seeing.

This shot alone is why I use the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens for most of my travel photography.  It’s ability to capture subjects using the wide, middle and telephoto focal lengths allows me to quickly get photos the way I want them without having to change lenses.

View 102: Explosive Finale

The explosive finale of Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show in Disney's Hollywood Studio.

UPDATE: I was just too tired last night to add text.

I attended the first ever Pixelmania! event at Walt Disney World from December 3rd to the 6th, 2009 which was hosted by The Magic in Pixels founder, Tim Devine.  Some of the best Disney fan community photographers attended with many more looking to learn and have a good time.  Though the weather at times wasn’t ideal, we made the best of it and came up with lots of creative ways to spend a rainy day in a Disney themepark.

Yesterday, Tim had arranged for VIP seating at the Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  This put just over a dozen Disney loving photographers front and center to one of the most action packed shows Disney puts on.  Fast cars, explosions, precision driving and aerial stunts and jumps by cars, motorcycles, jet skis and people.

The photo here is of the last scene with the Hero (red) car jumping over a ramp as explosives is let off.  Timing by driver and crew has to be perfect.  Thanks to Pixelmania and using burst mode on my camera, I was able to get a head on photo of the dramatic scene.

Yeti Shrine

The Yeti Shrine to the mythical creature with Expedition EVEREST mountain in the background at Disney’s Animal Kingdom themepark.

Night photo of the Yeti Shrine in Disney's Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.

I used off-camera flash via Nikon’s Creative Lighting System (CLS) with light, a Nikon SB-600 Speedlight, held at camera left set at -1 power and 14mm spread.  Camera flash set to rear sync flash.  Camera on tripod.

Splash Fountain

The mermaid water fountain from the movie, Splash, in Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.

I found the water fountain from the 1984 movie, Splash, while wandering the backlot area of Disney’s Hollywood Studios on a beautiful December afternoon.  Anyone remember the scene this was in?

View 101: Spaceship Earth in HDR

Missed my normal Monday posting.  Hope this makes up for it.  I hear it’s snowing back home.  Warm and sunny down here!

Late night HDR image of Epcot's Spaceship Earth in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.

Dream Lights

Cinderella Castle Dream Lights during the Christmas holidays at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida.

Heading down to Orlando, Florida to enjoy some holiday cheer at the Walt Disney World resort with family and friends.  Will be posting when I can over the next week as I enjoy sights like the Dream Lights on Cinderella Castle. Aren’t they beautiful?

Last year I linked to a post I did for my Disney blog on how to photograph Christmas lights.  This year I blogged about how I did last year at Walt Disney World using those tips.  Thought you would find it a good refresher for the upcoming holiday light displays in your area: Photographing Christmas Lights at Disney II.  If you like, please, post links to your holiday light photography in the comments below.

Modern Art

A painting hanging in the Modern Art gallery of the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York.

I am the first to admit I do not understand modern art so, when I entered the Everson Museum’s Modern Art gallery, I felt like I was in a scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  I just kind of stared at the art hanging on the walls with my mind unable to make much sense of them.  After considering the painting above, I decided to do as the artist did and photograph it using lots of negative space.  The lighting and shadows help to bring your eyes to the subject of…well, you be the judge.

Now, I further admit I do love a sense of humor.  Here’s a piece of art created by Toby Buonagurio a professor at SUNY Brockport who describes her work this way:

Dime store and flea market detritus, mass media cliches, hot rods, absurd fashion, and cultural stereotypes serve as inspiration for my ceramic combines. My work is serious in intent, but there’s always an underlying message couched in the humorous appearance.

Horse Headed Robot No. 10, 1981, by American artist Toby Buonagurio found in the Everson Museum, Syracuse, New York.

View 100: A Day at a Museum

For my 100th View, I went to the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, to see the Turner to Cezanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection from the National Museum of Wales.  This collection featured works from Turner, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Cezzane.  Photography was not permitted for the Davies Collection.  However, if you enjoy photography and are looking to improve, I encourage you to study artists who work in different mediums from canvas to stone.  How they used color, composition and, yes, even light, will help you when looking through the viewfinder or LCD.

The Everson does allow photography for their permanent collection which includes a large collection of ceramics from pre-Columbian to today.  I found these works fascinating and historic.  The Onondaga Pottery Company which you may know as Syracuse China had several pieces in the collection.  Including this casserole dish, a very colorful and ornate piece of dinnerware.

Syracuse China casserole dish on exhibit at the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York.

Later I found this bust of Charles Lindberg done in porcelain by modeler Bertram L. Wakin working for the Onondaga Pottery Company (Syracuse China) in 1927. An historic figure captured in a fragile and beautiful medium.

A porcelain bust of Charles Lindberg in the Ceramic collection at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York.

I had a good laugh at this next piece.  Done by Canadian artist, Wayne B. McClean, titled The Statue of Man’s Liberty to Do It Yourself. It’s good to be able to laugh at ourselves and to see it depicted in such fine a place as the Everson Museum.

The Statue of Man's Liberty to Do It Yourself by Canadian artist Wayne B. McClean in the Ceramic collection of the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York.

To my fellow Do It Yourselfers, this one’s for you, guys!

Photographing in a museum is challenging. The rules at the Everson allow it only if no flash or tripods are used.  With that in mind, I took my Nifty-Fifty, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens, and set my base ISO at 640.  You have to watch out for how the pieces on exhibit are lighted.  Some were under incandescent while others were under fluorescent lighting and I had to change my camera’s white balance accordingly.

Assignment 4 Recap

Looks like you all had some interesting takes on Assignment 4: November.  I would like to report that November in upstate New York as returned to normal.  Grey clouds, rain and colder weather has set in for the rest of the month.

Carsten, one of three Danish contributors here, started us out with a steel gray reflections a on a very still lake.   Then he followed it up something which brightens each of his Novembers the last 20 years or so, his daughter’s birthday.

Anna Preston told us what November means to her with more reflections this time from Kansas.  Don’t be surprised, cows in a red field is something Anna knows how to do well.

Our new friend, Nye, who is living in the southeast of the US by way of southeast Asia, talks about a Blue November with a lot of color and some help from her dog, Max.

Amy-Lynn from the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, joined us for the first time with her take on November living near a sea marsh of gold.

The talented Birgitte from Denmark favored us with one of her collages which alternatively gives us dark and bright images of November.

I chimed in with my take on what happens to all those pumpkins which don’t get chosen for Halloween.

Isa from Switzerland shares with us what her garden looks like in November.  However, she could not help but include her beagle, Ninio.

For awhile this week, I was worried this was all I would get this time.  However, my favorite bloggers came through for me as always.  Thanks!

Kanniduba and TheDailyClick where on the same wavelength with their “What November Means to Me” photo essays.   KD gave a past, present and future look at November in upstate NY.  Michaela, who did a series of November photos on her blog, chronicled what a November in Texas is like.

Our third and newest Dutch contributor, Annemiek, introduced us to the Danish word for autumn, herfst, in some remarkable photos.

Robert from Canada contributed two posts about November.  The first one showed us a discovery of color in the middle of November drab.  He followed that up with a golden walk through the woods once the leaves have all fallen.

Gerry from that wonderful place in Michigan called Torch Lake took a page from Birgitte with her own collage of photos taken from the roadside in November. Gerry submitted a couple more from her cast of Torch Lake Views irregulars with two different views of the same subject.  First, Babs showing her skill with a fast lens gives us a portrait of a milkweed releasing seeds into the wind. Second, Katherine created a textured and artful image of another milkweed plant.

Bernie Kasper from the BFK Photography blog has been recovering from the swine flu but still managed to find and share with us a beautiful November stream.

Deanna, who says her blog started out as a travel blog but ended up a Mommy one, mixed them together and gave us a post of November frost and cruises. Deanna also runs photo challenges on her blog if you are interested.

Lastly, Jennifer slide in at the last minute with her take on November called No Leaves, No Flowers… Thank you for joining us!

This was not the easiest assignment to do.  November seems to be one of those times of the year people would rather not bother to go in.  You all came through with flying colors even if there wasn’t much of that to photograph.

As I said in the introduction to this assignment, this is the last one for 2009.  December is usually a very busy time for everyone including me.  For those who are clicking through to my flickr photos (in the left sidebar), you know I’ll soon be off to the House of Mouse.  Hope you are all ready for it!

View 99: November Pumpkins

Pumpkins sitting in a field in November near Baldwinsville, New York.

Not all pumpkins end up as Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns.  Some are left in the fields to rot and be plowed under like the ones pictured above and below.  I didn’t expect to show you these on such a clear and sunny morning.  November is normally the cloudiest month of the year in upstate New York.  So, this is an atypical look at November for my assignment on November.  However, November does mean the end of the harvest and decay of what’s left behind and these photos definitely reflect that.

Rotting pumpkins left in a field near Baldwinsville, New York in November.

I used my new filter to take these photos.  The Tiffen 77mm Color Graduated Neutral Density 0.6 filter worked to perfection to cut down the bright sky by 2 stops and helped to balance out the exposure.  This allowed me to expose for the pumpkins without blowing out the sky.  The filter worked very well with the Tokina 11-16mm ultra wide angle lens.