The Unframed World
Photography Tips, Travel Photos, Photo Critiques, Interviews
There’s nothing like reaching the end of a great aquarium (like the New England Aquarium), and finding that they keep a whole display of just jellyfish in the basement. Let’s face it, jellyfish are the main reason we go to aquariums anyway. They’re so peaceful, but freaky-beautiful while they just…
Already I’d received my first warning to stop shooting by the Boston Public Library security guard (“Officer Grumpy-pants” was the name ironed on his uniform if I recall correctly). Of course, with only minutes left…
Recently, Lori and I spent a very full 24hrs in Boston. We drove in on Friday evening (which is how I snagged that grim looking blue-hour HDR photo of Harvard Yard above) and then packed in as much as possible from 5:00am until sundown on Saturday. Why such a cramped schedule? Well, for one it’s more fun that way (arguable, I know); and secondly, Boston has so many photographic hot spots that it would feel like a waste not to. Don’t miss the sub 3:00 minute photo montage video below to be amazed by our super-human stamina and see all 1100+ photo from our 24hr adventure ^_^. (YES! A new photo AND epic video today!)
Getting back to what you’re really here for though… the photography (I hope). Harvard’s campus had a lot of cool buildings and Lori and I had to drive several loops through the campus before we finally settled on calling my friend Scott (who you may remember him from Japan By Bicycle) to ask for a recommendation. Scott happens to live about 8 minutes away from Harvard is fairly familiar with the campus. He’s also familiar with my photography habits from our bike trip, and patiently waited while I took photos until my memory card ran out of space (jk, but I like to think he’d be cool with that).
Blue Hour is perfect for HDR photography, but I’m always a bit tense since it’s so brief. This time, I had done my homework so that my tripod was in position right as the Christmas Tree was turned on in Quincey Market. The resulting 6 frame HDR photo panoramic was tone mapped in Photomatix, then auto aligned, hand stitched and edited together in Photoshop.
Mooching off friends is the best. After crashing at my friend Scott’s house for free, Lori and I toured Boston. This HDR photo panomara is from Faneuil Hall. I’ve included a quick infographic tutorial about how to make an HDR panorama yourself as well.