Bellagio Hotel and Casino

 

All the photos below were taken using Canon EOS 6D.

The photo below is of the Bellagio North entrance lobby. The lens used is Canon 24-105mm at 24mm F9 1/10 second exposure and ISO3200 hand-held.

 





 

 

The pictures below are taken using my photographer friend Karl Buiter's Zeiss 21mm prime lens. To combat the harsh lighting I took 3 bracketed shots and performed a HDR merge in Photoshop CC2014.

The Bellagio Conservatory and botanical gardens featured an underwater theme. The picture below is a longer 6 second exposure on a tripod at F4.0 and ISO100 using Canon 24-105mm f4L lens. 

 

Pittman Wash trail - Cell phone photography

Sometimes, photo opportunities present themselves in unexpected situations. I hit the Pittman Wash Trail in Henderson this morning for a jog. It was late spring and the flowers were in full bloom. I did not have my camera gear handy. So I tried to make the most of my Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone camera.

Composition is very important with cell phone photography as you don't have much control on the other aspects like shutter speed, aperture, etc. In the photograph above, I tried to use the trail to lead the eye towards the center of the photograph. Below are some more examples of the same technique.

Background blur, although difficult with the small apertures of cell phone camera, are no doubt possible as the image above illustrates. You need to place the subject as close as possible to the cell phone camera. You have to be careful though, I got many pictures out of focus while trying to do this, despite ensuring the focus rectangle turned green before the click.

If the background is uninteresting, try to fill the frame with the subject like this one:

Sometimes, you can use the sky as a background, but be watchful of overexposure:

Whether you shoot with a DSLR or a cell phone, good composition will ensure your pictures are eye-catching.

Niagara Falls

Niagara falls are located on the border of US and Canada. The falls are on the Niagara river that drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario. Niagara falls is the collective name of three waterfalls: Horseshoe falls, American falls and the smaller Bridalveil falls.

Although not as large as the Iguazu falls in Brazil, the Niagara falls carry a great volume of water.

American Falls at Night

The falls are illuminated at night (9pm to midnight during spring) from the Canadian side. At 800 ISO, my new full frame Canon 6D had no problems capturing the illuminated night falls. The low light at night allowed me to use a slower 0.5 second shutter speed to capture the motion of the falling water. Lens is Canon 24-105 f4 L at F4.5

Horseshoe falls

Here's another shot of horseshoe falls. We were lucky that the wind had blown away the mist to reveal the falls:

Here's a view of the falls from the boat, most of it shrouded in mist:

View from observation deck

The sun peeked out from behind the clouds just long enough to cast this double rainbow.

View from Luna Island

The observation deck and rainbow bridge connecting US and Canada are visible in the background.

American falls by boat

The smaller falls on the right is bridal veil falls which is separated from the larger American falls by Luna island.

View of Rainbow bridge

This shot captures the Canadian skyline and the rainbow bridge that connects US and Canada at Niagara falls.

Seagull at the falls

Bird videos

Anna's hummingbird in my backyard

This tiny bird is only two inches tall so it was a challenge getting up close even with my 300mm lens on a crop body camera. Post-processing was done in Adobe AfterEffects to enhance exposure and clip the video.

Toucan at Iguazu Bird Park, Brazil

A visit to the world famous Iguazu falls at the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay (see map below) isn't complete without a trip to Parque das aves (bird park) inside Parque Nacional do Iguaçu (Iguazu National Park) on the Brazilian side. This large bird park features many tropical birds, but the star attraction is the Toucan which is Brazil's national bird. 

I shot the video above inside the bird park with my Tamron 70-300mm lens hand-held on my Canon Rebel T3i.

Toucan in Iguazu National Park

For a glimpse of the bird in its natural habitat, check out the video below. I was lucky that this Toucan was living inside a tree just outside my hotel (Belmond hotel Das Cataratas) inside the national park and right opposite the Iguazu falls. I highly recommend the hotel as it is the only one inside the park on the Brazilian side which gives you access to the falls outside park operating hours.

Here's a map that shows the location of Iguazu falls - one of the seven natural wonders of the world:

Death Valley National Park - Dunes and Wild Flowers

Death Valley National Park is about 2.5 hour drive from Las Vegas and is a great place for landscape photography.

Starlit sky behind Ibex Dunes

Ibex Dunes are located in Death Valley National Park. These sand dunes are accessible through a 1 mile hike from unpaved Saratoga Springs road.

The image above is a 25 second exposure under half-moon. ISO 400 f2.8 20mm. Canon EOS 600D with Tokina 11-20 F2.8.

Ibex Dunes just before sunrise

I took multiple manual shots at different focal lengths and used focus stacking technique in Photoshop to blend them together. The combined image has everything from foreground to background in focus.

Wild flowers at sunrise

Spring is a great time to see wild flowers in Death Valley. This shot was taken in March at sunrise. I used a gradient filter in Photoshop to darken the sky. I also had to remove lens flare from the original RAW image.

Here is another photo of the wild-flowers:

Mesquite Flat Dunes

These are the most popular and easy to access dunes in Death Valley. The shot above was taken at sunset using Tamron 70-300mm lens.

National Parks of the United States

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is about 250 miles (4.5 hours drive) north-east of Las Vegas. Hoodoos are a star attraction here - pictured in the image above. Hoodoos are amazing spire shaped stone sculptures carved by natural erosion. The picture above was shot with a Canon Powershot SX10is in panorama mode and stitched using Microsoft Research's Image Composite Editor.

 Yosemite National Park

This picture is from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. Glacier point is at an elevation of 7200 ft or 980m. It offers panoramic views of Yosemite valley, half dome, Yosemite falls, Vernal falls and Nevada falls. A must see! The drive up to Glacier point takes about 2 hours. The road is closed in summer.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park is just 3 hours drive from Las Vegas. I took this picture in fall when the park lifts driving restrictions that are in force during summer.

Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim) offers small plane rides over the canyon. This shot was taken from one such plane ride in winter.

Yellowstone National Park

This is one of my favorite shots from Yellowstone National Park. This shot was taken in late spring when the Yellowstone lake was still frozen.

Grand Teton National Park

If you are visiting Yellowstone National Park, do stop over at Grand Teton National Park which offers great photo opportunities. This shot was taken from the west side of the Tetons in the state of Idaho.