So I made it back safe and sound from my Trinidad trip, and it was great. No gear damage or theft to report, thankfully.
I didn’t shoot quite as much as I would have liked, but it was my first major outing with the new Nikon D300 and I would consider it a success. I shot a variety of things ranging from low-light portraits to sunsets, and I did some experimenting with long telephoto landscapes as well. I continue to be impressed with the quality of the images I’m able to capture with the D300.
Photos and a list of the kit I brought after the jump…
Here’s what I brought with me:
- Nikon D300
- AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8
- AF Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 Fisheye
- AF-S Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8
- AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 (Thanks Peter! This lens is the SHIT!)
- AF Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 Macro
- Nikon TC-20E 2x Teleconverter
- Giottos blower, extra CF’s, battery charger, and lens tissues.
And here’s the photo porn:
All of my favorites can be found on my flickr, and as always if you have any questions, leave them in the comments. I’m more than happy to break down any of the shots you see above.
Great photos! Man i want to revisit Trinidad (and Tobago). 2 years ago i visited both Trinidad and Tobago, and i loved it. I got my share of theft attempts on Trinidad, luckily both my girlfriend and her mother held on to the bags while i gave the thiefs some Swedish viking fury (slightly modified truth, but not far from it). Tobago on the other hand was a paradise.
To bad i didnt own a DSLR back then, only a Sony DSC-W12
I managed to get one or two good photos thou:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amnell/836938190/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amnell/836070275/
Keep up the good work, love this blog, thumbs up!
/Mathias
Wow Ryan, really amazing photos! How about you take me with you next time!
Ha! How flexible are you? I have a big suitcase you might fit in. Might be a good idea, check my camera gear in a bag with you, to guard it. Any nosy baggage handlers open it up and they get the scare of their life.
Ryan, is there a reason you don’t take multiple exposures (with exp. adjustments) to composite an image where the whiter areas are detailed? The same question comes to mind when looking at your Offshore rig picture.
Just a question. I think the images are great.
@Rex
Rex, I often shoot multiple exposures with bracketing, though I rarely composite images. I try to get as close to the right shot as possible in the camera, and do adjustments available to me in Lightroom. In this particular case bracketing wouldn’t have been very useful. The image you are referring to was shot from the back of a fast-moving boat in choppy waters, so even getting a straight horizon took some doing. Getting two shots in a row that were framed the same would have been nearly impossible. I basically had the camera in continuous shooting mode, and tried my hardest to keep everything straight.
Also, even in a case like this where multiple exposures would have been tough to pull off, processing the RAW file 2 stops down or so could give me a similar result to actually taking multiple exposures. Here’s another version of the same image I was playing around with:
If you wanna play around with the raw file, let me know, and I’ll post it. Thanks for the great feedback!
Guys…love the site, hate the name. I get it, it’s like guitar porn…it’s funny…but you’ve gotta change it.
Ha! Glad you like the site. Ya know, chris and I have discussed changing the name a couple times, but ya know, we like it…
We really do get mixed reviews, some people love it, others are horrified. Its also interesting to look at what part of the country the feedback comes from and what demographic. Maybe we’ll put it to a vote at some point :). What does everybody out there think?
Wow - some beautiful shots there. I’m truly jealous of your trip, I’d love to shoot somewhere like that.
Luke
Ryan, my experience with using a RAW processing utility (I use Lightroom too–LOVE it) to compensate for exposure has been unsatisfactory when you really wanna pull in the cloud detail right around the sun.
I usually shoot with AEB set at 1 full stop up and down (and no comp of course as the third). Anyway, you really do gain MUCH more detail in the darker exposure than what you can get with a normal exposure. Also, brightening up the exposure from a darker RAW image can’t compensate for noise, so that’s where the brighter stop is useful.
Anyway, for anyone who “does” want to have that extra detail in the sky, I would strongly recommend AEB.
However, there is something to be said about getting it in one shot too. (The advantages of course is not having to leave Lightroom for Photoshop.) The day LR can use masking, I will be happier than a pig in sh*t!
… Nice job again on your T&T pics!
Rex
Wonderfully inspiring photos, well done!
As for the blog name? It’s YOUR blog. Call it what you want
Darnit…
Now I’m homesick.
Thanks, Rygood, for taking awesome pics of areas I know well.. Down De Islands, Chag… but couldn’t you have taken a picture of a real beer? Stag never cut it. I’m a Carib man when I’m in Trini.
Just kidding. Good job with the shoot; hopefully I can add to the Trini collection.
Also, do you ever post pics to the Trinidad and Tobago group?
Regarding the site name, leave it. My boss saw the bookmark, and I actually had to pull the site up and show him. heh, heh.
-K
Man,i love that sunset shot! i stumbled on the site while i was looking for porn-…no, really, i did. anyway, i am in trinidad as i write this, san fernando to be exact. i’m here to document Carnival on video and in pictures, but i am not as well equipped as you were/are. your photos are fantastic! wish i had your help on this project.i will be here til mid-Feb and i am having great luck with connections to get into all-inclusive fetes, inside mas-camps and backstage at concerts- all great photo opps. this is my 2nd time down here and along with the beauty there is an ugliness from the poverty. unfortunately, my project is set to only show the pleasant side of things. ah well-hope i get to get over to Tobago-much prettier scenery there. by the way-i feel the most beautiful women on the planet are tied between Port of Spain and Rio- you shoulda snapped some shots of those pretty smoky faces. Take care
ps- keep the name of the site as what you want- wouldn’t have found it otherwise
@Rex - When Lightroom can do masking we will all be happy, it will happen eventually I hope. u listening adobe?
As for AEB, like i said, I use it frequently, but in this case it wasnt a possibility because of the bouncing around of the boat. I’d love to hear about and see some of your multi-exposure shots.
@Kevin - Thanks! Yes i do sometime put my images in the T&T groups on flickr and sorry about the heat from your boss. I hope he has a good sense of humor.
@Tony - Thats hilarious, way to be honest. Good luck with your shoots! You gotta come back and show us the images when its done.
Thanks again everyone for the kind words.
Tony, “porn?” What’s that…?