Disneyland In HDR

My friends and family threw me an incredible surprise birthday party for my 30th birthday this last weekend! It was awesome.

At the end of the party, my gift from Mary was another surprise. A surprise trip to Disneyland! Really, I had to leave the party to get to the airport for my surprise flight. As I said, awesome.

Disneyland was fun. Crowds weren't too bad for a holiday weekend, and the weather was perfect. So perfect that Mary was willing to sit by while I took lots and lots of photographs. I even got to take a bunch of HDR photos, which take more time, but usually turn out pretty cool.

I even got to ride the new Toy Story Mania ride twice! :D

Welcome to Disneyland! (HDR)

The New Mickey Floral Lights Up at Night (In HDR)

Here We Go...

Special Birthday Music

Main Street USA (HDR)

The View Further Down (HDR)

An Uncrowded Hub (HDR)

One Photo, Three Attractions!(HDR)

Is That a Popcorn Cart I Spy? Mmmmm... (HDR)

More Hub (HDR)

Partners (HDR)

Yep. It's a Castle. (HDR)

With a Moat! (HDR)

No Long Lines Here (HDR)

So We Should Ride Repeatedly! (HDR)

Welcome to The Fuuuuutuuuree! (HDR)

And Don't Forget... The Paaaast! (HDR)

Mark Twain! (HDR)

Still the Best! (HDR)

No Lines Here Either!

Haunted Mansion Rules. (HDR)

Formerly Bear Country (HDR)

We Got SOAKED This Time around On Splash (HDR)

Chick-a-Pin Hill (HDR)

Time to Hit DCA (HDR)

Heh. Eight Years and They're Still Defacing It...

GRRrrrrrrr!

Didn't Get Too Wet on This Though (HDR)

The Golden State Area is Pretty (HDR)

Refreshing Mist for You (HDR)

Is it Hollywood? No. No it's Not (HDR)

There's a Kid In Here!!!

I've Had Dates That Ended That Way...

Occupied!

All Hail Tower! (HDR)

Check-in Time (HDR)

My Room is Not Ready Yet. :(

And They Made Me Take The Service Elevator. :(

Mary Wants to Ride Midway Mania!

And So Does Everyone Else! (HDR)

Midway Mania Was Pretty Fun

Yes, It's Running Windows Vista!

Nice Shootin' Tex

But You Didn't Beat My Score!

Sunset Over Paradise Pier

I Shall Spin You to Nausea!

A Panoramic Shot of the Pier at Night
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

Another Panoramic Shot of Sunset at the Pier
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

Tower is Evil at Night

Back to Disneyland! (HDR)

To Take Photos Through the Crowds (HDR)

I'm Amazed this Signage has Survived So Long

And We End With a Whirl on Space Mountain! (HDR)

Well, that just about wraps up this trip. I hope you enjoyed the photos. See you again real soon!

Quck San Diego Vacation

Mary and I were lucky enough to spend a couple of days out in San Diego with Mom and Dad recently while they were on vacation.

We stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado, which is incredibly luxurious and peaceful. The Hotel Del has a lot of history and is in a pretty cool location, surrounded by military installations. What that means is while Mary relaxed on the balcony, I could check out the aircraft carriers moored nearby, the F-18s flying over regularly, or the Navy Seals doing beach assaults right on the hotel beach. It was pretty neat.

I highly recommend the Hotel Del, but be sure to bring a cooler of your own food. $25 for a cheeseburger is a little steep for even my taste.

Welcome to the Hotel Del Coronado!

Front of the Hotel
(In HDR)

The Lobby is Old and Neat.

Lobby Centerpiece

This Hotel IS Old.
I Hear These Devices Are Called "Pay Phones" and Are What People Used to communicate Prior to the invention of Cell Phones

Old Can Sometimes Be Spooky Too...

Our Room
(In HDR)

View From Our Hotel Room
(In HDR)

Dinner Time!

Mary & Mom At The Mexican Restaurant

Brand New Morning
(In HDR)

Mary is Enjoying our Balcony

We Took a Tour of the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier

F-14 Tomcat

A-4 Skyhawk

Monument In The Life Preserver

The Hangar Bay Is ENORMOUS

Anchors Away in the Forecastle

Living Space Is Cramped

But It's Better Than Living In The Brig!

Up In The Con Tower

The Air Boss and Mini Boss Run Flight Operations

View of the Carrier Deck

Mary and Mom Watch the Bay

A panoramic shot of the Three Other Carriers In For Rehab
(Click Image for Large Panorama)

There Was a Lot of Security In the Bay

Back to the Hotel!

And Time for Portraits...

Mom & Dad

Mary & Myself

Me & Mom

Mary & Mom

Still Time Left for Candy!

And Ice Cream Too!

The Ice Cream Shop was Cool

Moon Over the Dell
(In HDR)

Time to Say Goodbye From the Beach
(In HDR)

HDR Photography Fun

So I'm just beginning to learn HDR photography, and I really seem to like it. Because I plan on doing a lot more HDR here on the site, I figured I should take a minute to explain what HDR is for those who are interested.

My Street (In HDR)

Now, this isn't a technical explanation, so don't send me hate mail telling me I've got it all wrong. This is just a little functional explanation of HDR. Basically, when you take a normal photograph, your camera is limited in the range of exposure it can take in all at once. If you over-expose the image, the dark parts will show detail, but anything white or bright will be washed out. If you under-expose, you get the detail hiding in the bright parts, but the shadows are so dark there is no detail. It's a trade off, with the photographer trying to "properly" expose the photo by taking it in the middle of the spectrum.

With HDR, you take a series of photographs of the same subject (usually 3 or 5), taking one as a "proper" exposure, while under-exposing and over-exposing the others. You then use software, such as Photomatrix, to combine the photos, taking the best parts from each one to create an amazing level of detail in your photo.




This can create all sorts of weird results, or can just give you a highly detailed, highly saturated photo. It has a lot of potential.

This House Across the Street Has Been Up for Sale for Well Over a Year (In HDR)

My House! (In HDR)

HDR is still relatively new, so I expect we'll see more and more of it in the future. It's somewhat controversial, with some photographers claiming it's not "real" photography. I disagree however, and think the whole point of photography is to capture memories of people, places and events. If HDR helps capture the memory more closely to how you remembered it, even if that's not how it really looked, then I think it's served its purpose and helped advance your photography.

If you haven't tried out HDR yet, give it a whirl and I think you'll be surprised with what you can do.

Ana and Mike's Wedding

Just got back from a trip to Toronto, Canada. This time we were up in the great north for a family wedding. Specifically, Ana and Mike's wedding.

Our trip was great, and the wedding was very nice. I'm particularly happy that it was planned for the summertime, as my last trip to Canada in December was a little rough. Canadian winter is a bit too cold for my continued survival. Visiting in the summer is definitely the way to go.

Another cool thing about this trip is that I used High Dynamic Range photography (HDR) for some of my shots. Combining multiple exposures gives you more detail, and hopefully I will get better at it with some more practice.

We flew in a SMALL aircraft. Yes, the Cockpit Door is Open

Flying over Chicago!

You Can Rest Easy Knowing Jetway Technology Remains Solidly OUT of Canadian Hands

So That's Why My Luggage Never Arrives...

I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore...

Home is Ouest

Castle Balen (in HDR)

The Entryway to The House is Cool (in HDR)

After my last trip to Canada, I got a lot of grief from everyone in Arizona about not taking photos of the inside of the new house. So this time I took a few to keep everyone pacified.

Inside the Front Door (in HDR)

The Main Stairway (in HDR)

My Arch Nemesis... The Sun Room!

Family Room

Kitchen

Sprawling Back Yard (in HDR)

Rambo Pulls Guard Duty

More Rambo

Gas is $1.36 a liter. That's $5.24 a gallon in America-Speak. (Note They Had to Paste a '1' to the Gas Station Sign Since It Doesn't Go That High.)

Getting Ready for the Wedding

Mike is Getting Ready Too

It's a Groom!

And He has a Posse

The Croatian Church

Inside the Church

The Bride and Her Parents

Ceremony in Progress

Time to Make It Official

This is My New Friend, Boris (On the Right).
Boris Is a Dentist in Slovenia

Sweet Ride!

The Reception Was In a Cool Old Train Station

It Was Pretty Neat Inside

The Old Tracks Ran Under the Grand Ballroom

M.C. Mary Strikes Her Best Hillary Pose

The Ladies Celebrate

And So Do The Guys

Well, that's it for this trip. Hope you enjoyed the photos!