Lookaround stuff

This Lookaround stuff is very cool. Have you seen them? I uploaded few photos to Panoramio (so they are on Google Earth) and sometimes a green icon appears beside few of them. That's a link to a Lookaround page.

Check out this - click on the photo:

Chain bridge of Budapest

Panoramas from Greece

Holiday panorama photos from Zakynthos, Greece.

View of Zante from the castle

Laganas bay

Agios Sostis island

Gerakas beach

Marathonisi island

near Keri

View from Kakavaki

View from Marathia

View from Katastari

Timelapse video of Dublin

I took a day off and went to Dublin city centre to make a timelapse video. It was great fun and took me few hours to take the pictures. Here is the result:

Timelapse video - Dollymount & Bull Island

One of my favourite bits of Dublin: Dollymount and Bull Island in a timelapse video:

Bruce Springsteen exhibition in Philadelphia - 'From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen'

Am I a hardcore fan of The Boss? No, I wouldn't say so. I like his music very much, especially from the late '80s and early '90s, but I am not a hardcore fan. I was at his concerts in Berlin and Dublin, but I am not the first person to buy his latest CDs, however I have almost every single one of them.

Anyhow, when I planned my trip to Philadelphia, it was obvious that I want to see the exhibition in the Constituton Center.
It was a Tuesday morning and maybe that was the reason why only few people were there (lucky me!)

What is on display? Bruce's handwritten notes, his shirts and jeans, guitars, his motorcycle. Actually there are loads of lyrics there on old and crumbled pages! Somehow I thought writing a song is a bit easier process if you have the vein. It was new to me that Bruce spent months on songs.
You can also see interviews and music clips on screens.

There was a corner where different lyrics were explained, such as "Born in the USA" and "41 shots". And you could ask or talk to the guys. I had a lenghty chat with Matthew who possess a tremendous amount of knowledge about Springsteen.

Photography was not allowed, I could only take this one.

All in all, if you have 1.5 hours to spare and you like Bruce Springsteen's music, the exhibition is definitely recommended!

TimeLapse video at Grand Central Station, NYC

16th March, back to New York City from Philadelphia and it was quite chilly and rainy outside. Another day in Manhattan, the last thing I wanted to carry was my tripod. I had a little one with flexible legs in my bag, but if I mount the 10-22mm wide angle lens it will fall over under the weight of the camera and the lens.

Whatever, it was kind of planned to take some photos at the Grand Central Station. Tried few long exposure photos with my fave B+W ND1000 filter, but I wasn't 100% happy with the result. I put my camera on to the banister, so it was steady enough but no option to tilt it. I felt sorry for leaving my tripod at home. :-( I could do a time lapse video here!

Then I thought what the heck, let's give it a go! I took something like 480 photos from six different locations. I used my filter bag to support the camera and it was the perfect occasion to test my new intervalometer!

Check out the result here:

My first timelapse video

When I created my very first time lapse video, I had to use my laptop to take the shots, because I did not have an intervalometer.
It worked, it was OK, but there was a limitation from the Canon software. The minimum interval was 5 seconds.
My Canon shutter release cable did not have this function either.
I tried to use an application, which was great, had a lot of functions and features, but the price was astronomical.
See my first TimeLapse Video on YouTube:

So, I was looking for a shutter release cable with built-in intervalometer and I think I found a pretty good one.
It's the Shutterboss from Vello. Self-timer, interval timer, long exposure timer, quite flexible and it runs on two AAA batteries. It was around 60 USD, kinda reasonable.

Check out the timelapse video I made with it!

Unplanned upgrades

When I drove up to Wicklow Mountains last weekend and tried to keep my balance on a slippery rock while taking a shot, I had a flashback. A major, painful flashback...
Let's go back 1 year in time. I live in Dublin which is on the east coast of Ireland. One fine day I decided to visit my favorite place, Loop Head in county Clare. Yep, that's on the west coast, roughly 3-3.5 hours drive. I was almost there but stopped at Kilbaha to take few photos at the seafront. I set up my tripod, my Canon 450D with my favorite Sigma lens, and turned away to get a filter from the bag. In that 1 second the tripod fell over and everything landed in the sea. I quickly grabbed it but it was too late. The camera instantly died.
Ever since then my Sigma lens only needs 1 hour to kill the battery completely. It's continuously switching between Auto Focus and Manual Focus mode. I still use it, but I have to detach it all the time to save the battery.

After that incident I bought my new camera, a Canon 550D. My new ultra wide angle Canon 10-22mm lens is on its way to Ireland.
So in 1 second I lost roughly €1300.

Few months later I went up to Glendalough with Sylwia and Tom. We were taking pictures on the river bank, when I checked my phone and wanted to put it back into my pocket. Well, I missed it, and my only-few-months-old mobile fell into the river. Guess what? It died. Yep, I know, I am such a plonker. But you know what? I had insurance on my phone, so it was only a tenner to get a replacement.

Few more months later I had another scary moment... Wicklow mountains, Glenmacnass river again. I was balancing on top of a rock in the middle of the river. After taking my shot I realised where I was. The next rock seemed to be way too far and let's admit, I didn't have the courage to move. All my stuff was either in my pocket or in the bag: camera, every single lens I own, memory cards, mobile phone, GPS, wallet. I was standing on the rock for couple of minutes and nobody came to the rescue. I  took a leap of faith and stepped. Or rather jumped. I got away with it.

So, I was at Glenmacnass river last weekend having the above flashback. I am very careful these days, when I take long exposure shots or seascape photos, I always make sure that no tide, wind, seagull or anything else can risk my camera.
Instead of whining about my own stupidity I see these as "unplanned upgrades".

Though, a voice in my head keep saying "GET AN INSURANCE!"

Do you guys have any?

Panorama from 3 shots

It's funny, when the 10-20mm ultra wide lens isn't wide enough. Okay, my camera has the APS-C sensor, so let's just forget about the crop factor. But still, 10mm... usually enough for me. Oh, yes, let's forget about the fisheye lenses too...

I was shooting away happily with my Sigma 10-20mm, when I had a fantastic (?) idea. I will use the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 lens and stick few photos together to make a panoramic photo! I even said it loud - which was silly. Am I crazy to talk to myself?
Usual settings already in place, ISO, white balance, f-number, shutter speed. To be honest I did a bit of a sloppy job. No tripod, no precise planning. I just took 3 handheld shots from where I was standing anyway. I made sure though to have some overlapping in the shots.
Here they are:

Then this is the result:

See it on Flickr.

Yes, the usual little face-lift by fiddling with contrast and stuff was given to the photo.