The main entrance of the Texas State Capital is on the south side but the best photo opportunity is on the back (north) side of the building, capturing the extension with the main building. Get your widest angle lens and capture things at near and far. Focus about 1/3 from the bottom. With the widest angle around 15-20mm, the depth of the field is large enough to make everything sharp at f/4. To minimize noise, get yourself a tripod and shoot at the lower ISOs. To minimize the camera shake on a high MP camera, a remote or timer is necessary. This was the 36 MP Sony A7R. With the slower shutter speed, pushing on the shutter button with the finger can blur the image. One other pearl is that you should turn of the grid to make sure that the image is nice and symmetrical. It's hard to correct asymmetry post-processing. (Sony A7R, Zeiss 16-35mm at 16mm, f/8, ISO = 400, 1.3 sec, tripod, taken JPEG, Standard mode, post processing for lens distortion correction)
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I took this pic with my old Nikon D90. As you can see, it looks as nice as pictures I take with my D800E. For websites, 10-12 MP with APC sized sensor is enough. Took RAW and did some king of post processing that I don't remember. I know it's not a HDR pic because it was still a single RAW file before I converted to JPEG for this website. (Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm at 20mm. ISO=200. f/13)
Just got my Sony a7, the full frame mirrorless camera. Much easier to carry when compared to my D800E with its lenses. AF is as good as my DSLR. But, the problem is selection of lenses is limited still.
One of the easiest way to shoot a good pic is to get a hotel with a good view. You can spend a lot of time setting up your camera, etc. Do your research before booking your hotel room. I shot this with "in-camera HDR" mode. It was handheld and got as close as possible to the window to reduce glare. This was taken from a hotel room of Hyatt on Riverwalk. (Sony a7, FE28-70mm f/3.5-5.6OSS at 34mm f/4.0 at 1/60) When you are in L.A., take a free trip to Griffith observatory. The view is stunning. Bring your tripod and be ready to take a shot with long exposure. Here I set the ISO really low to minimize noise so the exposure was super long. That made those people waiting for the telescope show some motion. I did not forget to capture the city nightscape on the background. (Nikon D800E, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 at 24mm. f/8 for 25 sec. ISO = 200 with tripod)
Looking at Lincoln Memorial in D.C. Location, time and composition came together. Silhouette of this mother and daughter taking pictures of Lincoln Memorial from the edge of the reflection pool was kind of nice. I did a lot of post cropping to get this composition. I placed my camera on the ground to avoid the shake in this dark situation. (Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 40mm, 1/4 f/4.5)
I went to B&H store (a ridiculously big camera store) in Manhattan, NY. It's on 34th and 9th. On 34th, there also is the Empire State building. I captured a cab, hotdog stand and the building in this one shot. Nothing is more Manhattan than those 3 things. I just purchased my first professional zoom lens and this is one of first shots with it. I purchased it at B&H. I just purchased this FX lens, preparing for my D4 I preordered. (Nikon D7000, Nikkor 24-70mm at 38mm, 1/200 f/2.8)
Riverwalk is in San Antonio, Tx. Lots of restaurants and bars are below the street level. I took this picture from the Riverwalk level and looking up the building (Nix Hospital). The sun is shining only on the building but I can still see Riverwalk underneath the bridge, leading your eyes deeper. But, the best thing about this picture is that the old couple on the bridge looking down Riverwalk and watching people walk by. What do you think their conversation is like? (Nikon D7000, Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm, 1/60 f/3.5)
I can't believe I sold my fish-eye lens. It was so much fun. I gave that up to buy my Tokina 11-16mm. The zoom range is similar but they are totally different lenses. I love this picture because it shows both new and old buildings. Nice contrast. (Nikon D90, Tokina 10-17mm DX Fish-Eye at 10mm, 1/500 f/11)
A lot of post processing here, including HDR. I don't like the greyish look of the HDR so I further post-processed it with Topaz Adjust. I now like the rich, golden look of the atrium of the cruise ship. (Nikon D90, Tokina DX Fish-eye 10-17mm at 10mm, f/3.5 ISO 640)
Here, I got very close to the flowers (or whatever they are) with my wide angle lens and forced flash during day time. The background is not too dark and I can still see the beautiful architecture of the building behind. (Nikon D7000, Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm, 1/250 f/13, forced flash, hand held)
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