A perfect pink Hibiscus contrasts with a palm tree in the background

Sea kayaks rest on Botaira Beach

Manta Rays soar majestically through a deep blue ocean

Colorful Blue Waters - panoramic from Nacula Island

Paradise View from my bure at Botaira Beach

Magical blue waters of Nacula Island

Palm trees blowing in the wind

Golden pathway at sunrise - Botaira Resort

Epic paradise flower view

Stunning colorful lagoon view at Botaira Beach

Colorful palms along the Coral Coast

Colorful beach path at Botaira Beach

Colorful beach view from Nacula Island

Ocean View Bure View at Botaira Beach

View from Oarsman's Bay Lodge

Hope you enjoyed the first few images from paradise – and stay tuned because there are PLENTY more where that came from!

There are over 50+ images and more being added every day on my high resolution image gallery (prints are also available here for purchase;)

Check them out here.

Cheers!

Dave

At last!  Two weeks of lugging bags of camera gear around the remote tropical islands of Fiji (tough job but somebody’s gotta do it;) have paid off, and as I begin to sort through the 170GB of content I captured in this amazing place, I will continue to add new photos to my online high-resolution image gallery.

Here’s the link:

Click to view the HQ Online Gallery

Or if you’d just like to watch it in a slideshow click this link:

Gallery Slideshow

All in all, the trip was a major success.   Even ended it by jumping out of a plane at 14,000 feet over the islands.  (Yes, I brought my camera)

I’ll keep adding photos as I convert the RAW files and process them – so you’ll be receiving tropical emails all winter long!  I’ve got HD videos from almost all of the same scenes where the images were taken as well

CHEERS!

Dave

Beachcomber Island, Fiji

At last!  I’m heading off on my first official freelance trip, to the tropical islands of the South Pacific.  I’ll be gone for two weeks, starting the 11th in mainland Nadi and then working my way up the Yasawa Islands, to places like the Blue Lagoon and other amazingly tropical locations like Beachcomber Island (pictured above).

Unlike the first time I went to Fiji, back in 2006, this time I’m fully geared up to capture the beauty of the islands in the form of HD video and 21 megapixel images from the Canon 5d Mark II.

Here’s my ridiculous gear list:

Canon 5d Mark II (x2)

The amazing Canon 5D Mark II

Lenses: 17-40mm f4 L, 24-105mm f4 IS L, 70-200 f2.8 IS L, 15mm f2.8 fisheye, and 50mm 1.8 II.
Accessories: Rode Stereomic, 430 EX II flash, underwater housing, Velbon DV-7000 video tripod, Manfrotto 488RC2/190xPROB tripod, 2 polarizers, 2 ND8 filters, 4x 32gb CF cards, a Macbook Pro laptop, 750GB + 250GB external hard drives, 4 5d batteries, 2 remote timers, and more.

Bags: Lowepro Flipside 400AW + Lowepro Dryzone 200 (for kayaking with my camera gear).

The fully waterproof Dryzone 200 to keep all my gear dry!

Also bringing a Kodak PlaySport HD waterproof pocket camera from the shop…why not.

Oh…and flip flops, a few t-shirts and shorts, some sunscreen, my ipod, and some sunglasses.

Here’s a map of where the Yasawas are in relation to Fiji:

The Yasawa Islands

So, don’t expect any posts until near the end of August because I will be far from the reaches of the internet as well as most other forms of society

I’ve dreamed about going back here ever since I first was blown away by the remote and stunning beauty of the Fiji islands back in 2006.  Now it’s time to explore, and soon share with you the wonders of paradise!

Cheers,

Dave

Click to view the HD Video on YouTube

The YouTube Hit with more than 10,000 views in just one week!  Thanks to Darshan Ambient for another perfectly fitting track.

Shot this back when I first got my camera gear, last summer/fall in San Francisco and on the road trip back through the West.

The most time consuming video I’ve ever created, but I think it paid off.  Check it out and stay tuned – the FIJI ISLANDS are next!

Cheers,
Dave

5-shot stitch of Manly Beach at Sunrise

It’s a fairly easy process, contrary to what you might think:

What you’ll need:
A camera
A tripod (preferably one with a level and that locks your vertical and horizontal movement separately.)
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Bridge

Step 1: Level the tripod.  Lock it from any vertical movement if possible.
Ensure that you’re on level ground and check by completing the pan to make sure your horizon line stays level throughout the entire pan.
Tip:  turn on the grid function on your camera’s LCD screen.
Note:  this is the most critical step of creating natural and high quality panoramics.  If the camera moves vertically between images, it will not come together correctly later.

Step 2: Get your settings right.  Once you’re happy with what you’ve got, don’t change them until you’ve completed your panoramic.
Make sure you’ve got the focus set and your exposure correct (tip: shoot bright and to the right [on your histogram] as it’s much easier to darken highlights than it is to brighten shadows in Photoshop).
Another tip: If you’re using a wideangle lens, zoom it in slightly.  This is because in general when shooting fully wide, the corners of your images will distorted, which can cause problems when merging later.

Step 3: Turn on your 2-second timer.
This will ensure there is no movement of the camera when you press the shutter button – ensuring an in-focus image.

Step 4: Fire away!  Pick a side and work from left to right (or visa versa.)
Tip:  Only move your image about 1/3 of the way at the time – meaning there will be considerable overlap between your pictures.  This will result in less distortion and a higher resolution on your final image.

Step 5: Now that you’ve got the images, it’s time to merge them together.  You need Adobe Bridge (included with Photoshop CS3/CS4/CS5.)  Select the images that build your panoramic shot.  Now on the menu, click on TOOLS > PHOTOSHOP > PHOTOMERGE…
The photos will open with a screen showing the selected images, and ask you the type of merge you want to do.  Leave it on the default ‘perspective’ option.  Click ‘process’ and now sit back and let Photoshop blend them together.  This may take several minutes.

Step 6: Flatten the image by right clicking on any of the layers (each photo will have it’s own layer as a default.)  Next, straighten and crop your image.    Make any adjustments to the images as you would a regular image. 

THAT”S IT!

Saving and uploading to share:
Because you’re combining multiple images, the end result will be a very large file size.  If you want to share the image online for others to see, it’s best to save a lower size image.  (Go to Image> Image Size… and choose something much smaller [like 10 to 20" wide].  Save this as a Low Quality version with a separate filename (I just add LQ to the end of the filename) so you don’t overwrite the full-resolution image!!

Here are a few easy examples I took over the last few days:

6-shot Panoramic from the Blue Mountains. Click for a full-size image.

3-shot panormic at sunset of Shelly Beach, Manly.

With panoramics, you’re only limited by your creativity.  As long as you do it right, you can combine literally as many as you want.  Here’s a few examples of MASSIVE 9-shot panoramics:

Click to view larger. 9-Shot view of Sydney Harbour at Night.

Massive Panoramic showing the Sydney Heads entrance. Click for larger.

The problem with creating such giant panoramics is that they are hard to view!  For example, the above image is over 10 feet long in full size, which makes viewing the details very difficult by normal means.

6-shot Pano - Sydney View from North Head at Sunset. (Click for larger view.)

None of these shots are ‘epic’  by any means, but now that I know the process, I’ll be ready to capture them when the opportunity arises.  And now you can do the same!

View of Dee Why Beach from the pools

Palm Pathway to Collaroy Beach

Crazy Wave at Dee Why Pool

Frozen Wave View (1/5000th of a second exposure)

Frozen Wave - Zoomed in to show detail!

Hiker enjoying the view from on top of Long Reef

Chris getting the shot with his new 7D

Beach Path down Long Reef

The Path Down Long Reef

Runner Exploring Dee Why Lagoon

The Pools at Freshwater Beach

Me shooting at Long Reef

Overall, it was a glorious summer-esque day and it was good to get a little warmed up for the big shoot in Fiji, less than one month away!

Here’s a quick video I shot to test my new Fluid Head Velbon Tripod:
(a quick test, literally.  I’m aware it’s crooked and there are some kids that killed the audio):