“Cathedral Sunset” – Sedona, AZ – Michael Wilson – Featured Photographer
I have been to Sedona, AZ several times with my family and camera in tow. Known for its red rocks, the scenery here does everything except disappoint. Michael captures the landscape perfectly. This photograph gives an entirely different perspective of Cathedral Rock from most other photographs of the area. If you go back to this photo (click here) you can see exactly where Michael is photographing from up on the rock formation. Once you have checked out both images then head on over http://Michael-Wilson.com for some more great images of his home state.
Here is Michael:
I live in Prescott, AZ which is about an hour and a half drive from Sedona. My wife and I drove to Sedona early one morning to take some sunrise photographs from the saddle on top of Cathedral Rock. I hiked up the mountain to shoot the sunrise, but the clouds were not cooperating with me. During the day in Sedona, the storm clouds were accumulating, so I went back again at sunset. It started lightly raining on my climb up the mountain, so I found a rock overhang to hide under until closer to sunset. When the sun was getting closer to peeking out from behind the clouds, I put some rain gear on my camera and started taking some shots. The rain finally let up just before the sun appeared. I took the protective cover off the camera and watched the sunlight spill out over the canyons below. There were beautiful views toward and away from sunset at the time. However, this photo was my personal favorite.
Chums Waterproof Camera Float
I just got back from swimming with the manatees in Crystal River, FL. If you have never been it is quite spectacular and I highly recommend it. I wasn’t going to have space for an underwater housing so I brought my little Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX1 (point and shoot with HD video). It was awesome and I will review it in a later post, but I really want to talk about the cool little float I bought to keep it from sinking. I would highly recommend purchasing a float for any point and shoot underwater camera. These babies are small, but they sink really quickly. Before the trip, I bought a banana yellow Chums Waterproof Camera Float that worked out great. Chums is the company that makes the floating straps you put on your glasses when you are out on a boat. First it was bright yellow so I could find my camera in the hotel, in the water, or on the boat very quickly. The strap is very comfortable and goes around your wrist easily. In the water, it allowed my camera to float at the surface as I passed it back and forth between my wife and I to take photos of the countless manatees and our snorkeling kids. The float has a quick release mechanism to separate it from the camera when you don’t need it. However, I just left it on the entire time so I didn’t lose it. Overall I would say this would be great for anyone going on a cruise, to the beach, or even your backyard pool. The manufacturer states that it is for cameras 7 oz. or smaller making it fine for most point and shoots. My entire experience with the product was a week of snorkeling and pool time with no problems.
For additional information on Chums Waterproof Camera Float – CLICK HERE to view it on Amazon
“Zottel is Back”- Alps, Switzerland – John Wilhelm – Featured Photographer
As with many great photographs, John has not only created an emotion with his photo, but also leads the viewer into an imaginary story written in their own mind.
I hope this photo makes you smile. I certainly did when I opened it. At first, I thought “what a silly goat chewing on a flower”. Then I realized this was only the beginning of the destruction. I assume by now that entire field of daisies has been reduced to goat made fertilizer. Please follow John below on how he painstakingly created Zottel.
Take it away John :
Hi there everyone.
Wonderful to be here on PhotoBotos with one of my shots. Wow!
The selected photo was very difficult to take. We had to keep track of this very rare and shy animal for months. We chased it with helicopters, dogs and a team of 15 experienced Swiss goat-hunters till we caught it on this wonderful plane of flowers in the middle of the Swiss Alps.
No seriously… this goat lives just a hop outside my house. I like simple photographs, untouched and straight out of the camera, but I LOVE to combine all available techniques (camera equipment and software) to develop shots from me into something special which reflects my imagination of how the the ideal picture should look.
Now the facts to the Goat Pic:
- shot with Sony Nex 7 (great great cam!) and the new Zeiss 24 1.8 (great lens)
- 3 shots in a focus-stack (manually combined in PS)
- sky is a separate Shot (Leica M9, 21 Distagon, Swiss Alps)
- flowerplane and flower in mouth were generated with Terragen
- everything edited and composed in Photoshop CS 5
- duration to create this: approx. 10h
If you like this goat you may like other photos by me too:
www.facebook.com/johnwilhelmisaphotoholic
www.500px.com/horazio
www.polarize.ch
www.johnwilhelm.ch
Due to the huge amount of emails and questions that we receive (keep them coming!!), the PhotoBotos Brothers have decided that we should incorporate “Product Reviews” into the website. Starting today, you will see a “Product Reviews” category over there on the left side of the page. We are going to start with the basics and go from there. The majority of the reviews will be written by us, but, we welcome “Guest Reviewers” that are able to incorporate photos that they took or helpful hints. Like we have always said, “We are all here to learn.”
FYI – We will still have a brand new image uploaded everyday at 5:00am EST (have you figured out that is when they are uploaded yet?). If there is a review that day it will appear below that day’s image (just like today).
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The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby
What a day to kick off Product Reviews. If you are as good as John Wilhelm then read no farther and send us a picture!! If you aren’t quite there yet, lets figure out how to get you there by starting out with a How-To Guide…
The hands down absolute best beginner’s guide to digital photography is The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. We could give you a long explanation backing up our thoughts, but, Scott, the President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, actually does a great job with the following statement:
“If you and I were out on a shoot, and you asked me, ‘Hey, how do I get this flower to be in focus, but I want the background out of focus?’ I wouldn’t stand there and give you a lecture about aperture, exposure, and depth of field. In real life, I’d just say, ‘Get out your telephoto lens, set your f/stop to f/2.8, focus on the flower, and fire away.’ You d say, ‘OK,’ and you’d get the shot. That’s what this book is all about. A book of you and I shooting, and I answer the questions, give you advice, and share the secrets I’ve learned just like I would with a friend, without all the technical explanations and without all the techno-photo-speak.”
At the time of this posting, the single version was selling Used for as low as $9.18 on Amazon. If you would like a New copy they are $13.65 and eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping. CLICK HERE to have a look at it.
For about $37 you can purchase the 3-volume set brand new. CLICK HERE for the set.
“Fairy Tales” – Bagan, Myanmar – Amnon Eichlberg – Featured Photographer
This landscape looks like a Hollywood set for the next “Indiana Jones” movie. Everything just looks so interesting. I have been to several ruins around the world, but nothing that looks like this. After reading a little about this mystical place please check out Amnon’s extensive portfolio at www.amnonpic.com. Prepare to be amazed!
Here is Amnon:
The ruins of Bagan cover an area of 16 square miles (41 km2). The majority of its buildings were built in the 11th century to 13th century, during the time Bagan was the capital of the First Burmese Empire. After an earthquake in 1975, there are only 2,217 pagodas left in Bagan, in contrast to more than 5,000 before the disaster.
All of the area was designated like fairy tales country. This feeling intensifies especially in the early morning and towards sunset when the area is wrapped in mist, fog, and the beautiful light of sunset and sunrise. The picture was taken from the top of a pagoda with a 360 degrees view of several pagodas.
The photo was taken with the following data:.
ISO: 100
f/11,
Shutter Speed: 1/30sec
“Go Your Own Road” – Sweden – Erik Johansson – Featured Photographer
Hello Community! We just wanted to thank the thousands of viewers who have been coming each day to
www.PhotoBotos.com. Today we wanted to try a little experiment. We request that everyone who comes to the site today please press the Facebook button below to share us on your page. This is only a request and if you don’t want to don’t worry we will never know. We would like to try out the social reach of our little community. Thanks a lot in advance and enjoy Erik’s image. I am sure all your friends will too!
Try and wrap your head around this one. You could take the message of this photograph in so many different directions. The only common denominator is that they all start at “Amazing”. Erik has a way of seamlessly blending reality and fantasy. When I first looked at this photo I thought “How in the hell did he do that?” My next thought was “ I am glad he did!” Please feel free to comment on your interpretation of this image in the comment section. To see more of the impossible become reality (cutting a house in half with scissors, ironing his pants while wearing them, or life on the back of a fish ) check out the rest of Erik’s creations at http://alltelleringet.com/
Here is Erik with the inspiration behind the photograph:
I wanted to try something new and I had this idea in my mind. I always like playing with materials, something soft becomes hard, hard soft, warm cold, etc. So what if someone would effortlessly drag a road, and just go where ever they wanted. I also thought that it would have a strong message.
It’s shot in Sweden with a friend of mine. It consists of two photos, one with the guy and fabric and one with just the road.
“Swirling Tide” – Espasa Beach, Spain – Lujo Semeyes - Featured Photographer
This is one of those “I wish I was there” (IWIWT) photographs. I can feel the cool water and sand between my toes. There is a strong breeze blowing and I put on an extra layer, but dare not miss what promises to be an excellent sunset. After reading Lujo’s account it turns out I am not that far off. Although maybe the water is a bit cooler than I expected. Please visit this and several other “IWIWT” photographs at Lujo’s portfolios 500pix.com/lujo and flickr.com/lujo. Here are a couple of other great links of his in Spanish asemeyando.es and exodos.es
Here is Lujo:
The photograph was taken at the beach Espasa (Asturias) in this medium, just at dusk, on a day of very low tide, leaving bare rocks are usually not visible. I chose this day for the state of the tide, and be having a polar front, which provided a good sky. As an anecdote to relate, on arrival it was snowing, but did not cover the sand.
Picture data are:
Cámara Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Distance focal17 mm
Obturación3.2 speed sec.
f 8
ISO/Pelicula200
high mirror
self-timer with 2 second delay
050 tripod manfroto XPROB
Hoya Polarizer pro at 9
Lee Filter 0.6 GNDS
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“Action Shot” – Schweinfurt, Germany – Markus Reugels – Featured Photographer
I have always found drop photography fascinating. It is simply liquid art at its finest. Every shot brings out something new and creative and never seen before. Like a snowflake or finger print only created once and then forever lost. Markus has taken this to an entirely different level. I bet you are wondering how he did this! Well you came to the right place because here at www.photobotos.com we talk about the magic behind the photograph which is more often than not just as interesting.
Head on over to Markus’s website http://500px.com/MarkusReugels to see more amazing drop shots and see how he fits the entire earth into a single drop of water. http://500px.com/photo/4739840 All of these photos are even more amazing when you realize he doesn’t use Adobe Photoshop to make the amazing drops.
Here is Markus:
The Basic “Drop on Drop” technique works with 2 drops. The First drop fall into the Water and formed a crater, then a crown and finally the Pillar . The second drop must be timed that he land on the Pillar and with the collision he formed the shapes like. Mushrooms, hats or flying disc. When the distance between the first and the second drop gets bigger, the shapes goes into flying disc. When the Distance gets lower, the shapes turns more into hats. The middle Drop speed is about 10 drops per second (here are the Mushrooms). With 15 drops per second comes the flying shapes and with 6 drops per second the hats.
To get smooth shapes with less sprinkle around them, I increase the viscosity with guar gum. This will help a lot. It´s more work to mix the Water and filter the grain out, but the results worth the Work. A very Important thing in this genre is the light. I take lots of care into this. Before I start dropping, I set the Light perfect. A good shape looks poor in nasty light. So take care about it!
Normally I thicken my drop Water with Guargum to increase the viscosity. I Want a similar Viscosity as Milk or Cream. This helps to make smoother shapes and they hold longer together before they collapse. Sometimes I use only Milk, this is the best fluid for the droplets, You can bring Color into the Splash without coloring the Water. With milk you can bring color into the splash with the light, so you must only use gels on the flashes.
I use a Sony @700 with a Minolta 100 f2.8 Macro lens. As Flashes I use only the Old Vivitar 285 with a little modification to set the Power lower than 1/16. As timing Device I use a Homebrew Unit called GlimpseCatcher. With these I can time all events exactly on one point.
As Aperture is use F16, this is the best compromise between sharpness and diffraction blur. The Shutter speed is not important in the Highspeed Photography, the Action is freeze by the flashes. The Flashes have a flash duration fasten than 1/16000 at low power settings. No Camera has a shutter fast as the Flashes. I chose as Shutter speed 1/160 , but only for the Wireless trigger it Work best with these settings! As ISO a choose between 160-320, it depends on how dark gels I use or what type of lighting.
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“Curious Dragon”- Komodo Island, Indonesia – Will & Matt Burrard – Lucas – Featured Photographers
When we saw this image by the Burrard-Lucas brothers the Photobotos brothers were blown away. You don’t get inches away from 10 foot lizards with killer saliva so we had to know how they did it. These guys as you will see are not only great photographers, but are very clever in how they obtain them. You can find them at http://www.burrard-lucas.com/
After checking out their Komodo dragon photos, hop over to their Giant Panda Expedition at http://blog.burrard-lucas.com/2011/10/giant-panda-tracking/. The photos are incredible.
Also here are some links to keep up with them on Facebook and Twitter
http://www.facebook.com/BLphotography
https://twitter.com/#!/willbl
Take it away guys!
We recently spent three days traveling around the Indonesian islands of Komodo and Rinca, photographing the legendary Komodo dragons.
Preparation for the trip commenced several weeks earlier, as I attempted to devise an effective and safe way of getting wide-angle, close-up shots of these notoriously dangerous creatures. I would not have time to set-up camera traps, and I didn’t have enough room to take BeetleCam, so I came up with something a little more basic!
I mounted my camera on top of two wheels (generously donated by my computer chair) and then attached this to a monopod so that I could push the rig up to the dragons. I figured this would give me a 2 meter head-start if one of them decided I looked like lunch! I named my new contraption “KomodoCam”!
Reaching Komodo Island was an epic undertaking… I had to fly to Singapore, then Bali, then the island of Flores, before taking a boat to Komodo Island and Rinca Island. Komodo dragons only live on a few isolated islands in this part of Indonesia.
It is hard to describe the excitement and trepidation I felt as the foreboding volcanic peaks of Komodo Island loomed up in front of me. The island was shrouded in ominous dark clouds and even the sea seemed to have turned black. It really felt like a land lost in time.
Towards the end of the second day of my trip, an opportunity to use KomodoCam at last presented itself; I came across a large dragon in a flat, open clearing in the forest. I nervously set up the rig and pushed it towards the dragon. The dragon treated the camera with curiosity and obligingly flicked its tongue in and out to investigate the unfamiliar object. To my relief, the beast decided that there was nothing edible and I was spared seeing a Komodo dragon eat my Canon 1Ds mkIII!
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“Ruff Water” – Los Angeles, CA – Seth Casteel – Featured Photographer
Ok, today’s post might be a bit late because these photos have been circulating around the internet like crazy and crashing Seth’s webpage with boatloads of hits. He has a dozen or so photos that will make you smile even if you are a cat person. So after you get a taste of the really unique images below head on over to his website at www.littlefriendsphoto.com for the full course. By the way, Seth isn’t just a talented photographer, but he is a really cool guy also. He volunteer’s his talents to take photos of shelter pets increasing their chances of adoption. Great work Seth! His company is based out of LA and Chicago, but is available nationwide. To keep tabs on his latest plans keep in touch with him at www.facebook.com/LittleFriendsPhoto.
Now that you are a fan of Seth’s work, you should check out all of his prints, calendars, etc. that he has available *Click Here*
“Images represented by TandemStock.com“
“No Cell Phone Needed” – Upper Saranac Lake, New York – Mike Pillows - Featured Photographer
I am sure about 49% of our viewers would love to be the guy in this canoe, while the other 51% would like to be Mike behind the lens for this photo. No matter which one you choose I am sure this photo brings a calming effect to your day. Enjoy!
Catch up with Mike at his blog http://mikepillowsphoto.wordpress.com/ and view his fine portfolio at http://mikepillowsphoto.500px.com/#/0 for more amazing photography.
Take it away Mike:
“No Cell Phone Needed” was shot from my canoe on ‘Upper Saranac Lake’ in the Adirondacks of NY state. I had found a photo group doing a workshop on the lakes up there and have never been. Drove up and picked up my boat, paddled onto the lake and then it happened… not the photo pictured but kind of a controlled chaos. I had never shot from a small boat before and just trying to line up a shot became kind of comical. I mainly shoot landscapes with a tripod… boats that move with the slightest breeze, not so much. This shot was caught one very early morning, only squeezed off 2 frames but was ecstatic when it came up on my screen.
Canon 5Dmk2, 24-105IS lens, 1/160th @ f 9.0, ISO 200.
“San Pedro (St. Peter’s Square)” – Vatican City – Manolo Garcia – Featured Photographer
Today is our first bilingual post ever here on PhotoBotos! Manolo’s photograph is so detailed it can almost be used as a map for the Vatican and surrounding Rome. The vivid colors and intricate architecture just burst off of the screen. To see more of Manolo’s work please check out his galleries at http://nolo12.500px.com (the New York City shots are amazing) and http://www.flickr.com/photos/nolo12/. He can also be followed on his blog at http://greenoftheworld.blogspot.com/. Enjoy!
Here is Manolol:
La foto fue tomada en la Ciudad del Caticano, en la plaza de San Pedro, desde lo alto de la catedral.
Desde las marcas que hay en el centro de la plaza y mirando hacia las columnas de alrededor de la plaza, se ven filas de una sola columna mientras que son filas de 4 columnas.
Para poder subir a lo alto de la cupula se puede hacer en ascensor o andando por las escaleras.
The photo was taken in Vatican City, in St. Peter’s Square from the top of the cathedral.
From the marks on the center of the square facing the columns around the square are rows of a single column as they are rows of 4 columns.
To get to the top of the dome can be done by elevator or walking down the stairs.
Camera Settings:
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Cámara
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Canon EOS 500D |
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Exposición
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0,008 sec (1/125) |
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Aperture
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f/13.0 |
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Lente
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18 mm |
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Velocidad ISO
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100 |
