Bokeh Ring

I just had to post this on the blog since the default picture size on Flickr made this shot look pretty uninteresting. The more I play with the 70-200 hand cannon the more impressed I become. It definitely produces the most vivid colors straight out of the camera than any other lens I have used. I hope to give it a good workout on my upcoming trip to Istanbul in around the middle of next month.

Moar Kalesi

I am trying to keep motivated to post more photos to this blog since I have such a large backlog of photos and possibly one of the most riveting stories to tell about a boy and his camera… or not. Here is yet another shot of Anavarsa Castle that I took during a 2nd visit last weekend. This time we woke up earlier than before and tried to hit the sunset. We didn’t quite make it for the crack of dawn, but had some time to capture the nice warm hues upon the castle that is literally built upon a massive double-sided cliff as you can see in this shot.

This is a 5 exposure DRI taken at .77 EV intervals. For those of you wondering what in the hell DRI is, it is basically another way to merge multiple exposures that will result in more dynamic range than a camera sensor can typically obtain in a single exposure. DRI is a bit more natural looking than an HDR. A lot architecture and landscape shots I process, I create an HDR version, a DRI version, and then merge those into my 0 EV exposure, painting in parts for each version that I like.

Sabancı Mosque

On the weekend me and a buddy (whom I just turned onto the Darkside with a Nikon D90) rented a car for a day to visit some nearby sights. The Sabancı Mosque is probably the largest attraction to be found in Adana. It is the largest mosque in Turkey and can accommodate 28,500 people at one time!

The accompanying park has got to be about 3 km long and is very ornately decorated with all kinds of statues, fountains, gardens, playground equipment, and plenty of places for a picnic.

There were a lot of people out when we first arrived, and let me tell you about being a foreigner rolling up to a park in Southern Turkey… You become the center of that world. Everyone wants to look at you or talk to you to practice their English or just find out what in the hell these 2 white boys are doing in Southern Turkey. I was a little apprehensive about rolling up with all of my photo equipment because I already knew what to expect, but I was totally surprised to find that when they see all the equipment, especially the 70-200 hand cannon, they immediately want you to take their pictures.

Almost none of them even wanted to ask if they could see the picture, instead they were totally surprised when I offered to show it to them on the camera LCD. They didn’t even try and ask me to email them a copy of the shot. So basically this is like free practice for someone timid about asking to take portraits.

Hell yeah! This kid below was so excited that he literally wet himself. Well, maybe he did it before he saw me, but I didn’t even notice until I got home and looked through my shots. I had to cut out about half the picture and clone some extra shirt to spare the poor kid some embarrassment.

This last shot isn’t the most interesting shot in the world, but what is interesting is that this was taken at ISO 4 million (4,000 for non-sarcastic types) and still looks pretty damn acceptable and let me take this at 1/60 hand held in the middle of the night @ 105mm! I did run this through Noise Ninja, another great little program.

Anyways, I need to keep going back to practice portraits because I have learned it is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, especially when using my external flash. I have figured out that the exposure meter is basically worthless and trial and error or experience is what you really need to just get the exposure right.

Tumlu Kalesi

Tumlu Castle is an interesting castle. It situated above the small town of Dumlu and can be seen from both Anavarsa Castle and Snake Castle. It basically looks like someone built a castle on top of a single boob out in the middle of a large plain. Here it is from the bottom, although it doesn’t really show how much this little hill sticks out around such a large flat area.

This is the second time I have visited Tumlu and so far I have been awed by the dark blue hues of the sky with each visit. It is almost like you are looking off into the edge of space. Today was no different, the castle is pretty cool, but the sky contrasted against the fields is what really drew my interest. I am not sure if the fact that you can see the curvature of the Earth has anything to do with such dark blue skies here or not? But that curve in the photo certainly isn’t all from my lens.

And here is yours truly trying to figure out how to use my SB-600 flash. I am a complete noob when it comes to properly using this thing. It took me about 5 tries to get the exposure right for the outside window, the inside of the castle room, and myself. I need to post a picture of me every once in a while or my lovely wifey in Japan is going to forget how magnificent I am!

Schnitzelstraße

I just arrived back from a week long trip to Southern Germany for training where I gorged myself on schnitzel, schnitzel, and more schnitzel. I cleaned up every single pommes that was to be found on my plate. I think if you do the calculations I should probably be running about 300 miles to offset the surplus calories I took in during that trip.

I didn’t get a lot of time to take pictures with my new trusty steed due to lack of time and an ultra bland sky, so instead I’ll post this shot taken nearby the area I was in during my July visit. I might have a few keepers from this last trip, but I still have to load those.

YilanKale

Okay, one more posting of the amazing YilanKale or Snake Castle that is nearby where I live.. At least for now. This castle dates back to the 12th century and is part of a series of castles that is in view of other castles usually built on hilltops that start at the Mediterranean Sea and stretch deep into the Çukurova plain. I was setting up for a shot a few meters to the right when my friend pointed out the moon shining through the door from his vantage point, so I quickly dashed over there and frantically set up for my 5 bracketed shots. I wished that I had a zoom handy at that moment. I will have to go back and wait for the moon to do this again and focus in on that.

This was the first spot that I had visited in Turkey the first time I arrived close to 4 years ago. The thing that stood out to the most after living in the states my entire life before was that you are allowed to climb on anything at this castle. Come to find out that is the norm for pretty much every historical site in Turkey, but it is kind of nice to not be babied along with hand rails and closed off areas.

Anyways, I was going to post one more, but I didn’t realize it sucked so bad until I uploaded it to Flickr so I had to delete it and just give you this one shot! That means I can post one more Snake Castle picture if I feel like it this week!

Internet Değilum

Wow, I have been without Internet for a little over a week since I just moved from one location to another. I don’t even know what to do with myself if I cannot read about photography or go through blogs or Flickr. I actually started playing games or processing photos when I had free time. I thought I would quick post up a 360 degree panorama of Snake Castle (Yilankale Kalesi) comprised of 7 frames and made up of 34 shots spaced @ 1 EV and then merged together using Photomatix’s DRI function. You have to view this one at max size to really appreciate it.

The sunsets in this area are amazing, probably due to the plethora of burning fields present during the later parts of the year. Anyways, I was driving back home from Snake Castle last evening while the sun was disappearing behind the horizon and thought I had finally found an interesting shot a little too late of this creepy looking gas station. The HDR really pulled out the colors on this shot even though the sun was only casting indirect rays on the horizon by then.

There were some other abandoned buildings that I had spied nearby that I will have to visit again. I sure am glad I have my big-bad-evil tripod Demonicus when I am in these seedier areas. It was definitely a little bit spooky since my past experiences in Turkey is that there is always someone in the bushes, behind the trees, or in an old building even if it is out in the middle of nowhere.