Post your memorable St. MAARTEN PICS HERE!

[MDSue]

MDsue, but a motorcycle costs many thousands, the camera you are thinking of-NikonD90 just over a thousand. Ok, roof comes first, but then what? Not for me, nor am I trying to tell you or anyone else what/how to do things, just that coming from a twice divorced man, some things are 1-not worth fighting over and 2-is this a battle really worth fighting over? Please don't be mad at my input...but if you , guess I can live with it. About next year's cruise....maybe that might cancel both his motorcycle plans and your camera plans.

 

Rob---uh oh, did I just open up a major can of worms that I should just have stayed out of.....sorry if I did.

Not really a battle- just a debate, As for the cruise, my husband lives to ski and goes every year, I love to cruise and need my annual get-away. So even though I haven't mentioned it yet- he knows I'll be going, and I know he'll go skiing.

[Aplmac]

What settings do you set your camera on? ===Automatic with flash cancelled.

I have a D40 and an nikor 18-200 vr lens and use a polarizer,

and while the pics are quite an improvement over my old point and shoot camera,

they don't look anything like yours.

Your blues in the sky and water are just so, well, blue! ===> Expensive glass.

My photos always seem dark and the colors not as vibrant as I would like.

Granted, I don't really know much about taking pictures, so I am sure the problem is the user. ===> No.

I usually just have the camera set on either auto or the landscape icon and go from there.

I also always turn the polarizer so that the blues look deeper in the viewfinder. ===> Sometimes, but not always.

Am I using this correctly? ===> Play with various pol.filter rotations.

I'm not using ordinary lenses.

I always had a thing for ultra-wides...they seem to collect and manage light differently.

Everyone freaks out on the tele-zoom end of the lens availability range..

Aplmac goes the other way. :cool:

 

Polarising filters are odd things, don't always work the way you want or think.

Don't always go for that Darkest Blue look.

Sometimes you can get lighter blues that come out...not as dramatic, but more pleasing to the eye?

I don't use mine hardly ever,honestly

but then the glass I use

is extraordinary in its light transmission abilities.

 

Polarising filters are not for everyday use. Try leaving it at home sometimes.

I took mine on the Apr. cruise...never once used it on the 18-105 Nikkor

 

 

I also pick my days and my shots.

I shoot lots of pics (950 on a recent 3 day cruise) and then select carefully.

 

Photoshop helps, although I don't do a heckuva lot with it,

just gentle tweaks

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[Aplmac]

here are some pics from our trip last week*

to give you an example of how my pics do not compare with yours.

 

*I see awfully cloudy days: that's half the problem right there.

 

Not a darned thing you or I can do about the weather

but remember what I said about picking my days.

 

Some days I just won't shoot. Waste of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing like bluuue sky days to make me go out and shoot.

 

.....................................

 

Hi-contrast lighting.

Bottom Bay, S.E. coast of Barbados

 

 

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[sun bum]

 

 

 

posted this earlier as a thumbnail but just found out how to post as a larger image.taken where the cruiseships dock.

[KYBOB]

How did you post the bigger picture? Cut ths size of te file down??

[KYBOB]

jrice08 Here are some more things to consider that will improve your shots. Which are not bad by the way.

 

You could improve them with a little editing with a good program photoshop elements, etc. get used to how that works then step up the 'bigger' programs. But find one you are comfortable with.

 

Shoot with the sun over your shoulder, not into the sun or Whit the sun to the side unless you get closer to 90deg (sun on left or right of you).

 

If using a telephoto do not shoot a great distance shot of something over a half a mile unless you have clear day, it is in the morning or toward evening what it is slightly cool. The air during the middle of the day will have more water vapor you have to shoot through that will cause distortion. When shooting with a telephoto over a long distance to get the best out of your lens look at the f stop and make sure your lens is not wide open. If the largest f stop is 5.6 you want to be 3 or four stops below that and the smaller the aperture the better. because the closer you are to f22 the 'sharper and more in focus earthing will be. Remember f8 is the 'magic' number the closer you are to it the better. aplmac is using a supper wide angle lens that will let a lot of light in, has a very short focal length, and has a maximum aperture of 2.8. The picture he shot of the beach chairs was 1/320 at f9. So he was in the 'center' of the lens he was not using the 'edge' of the glass. Where if it was open more say to 5.6 or 2.8 he would be 'using' all of the lens all the way out to the edge causing more 'distortion'.

 

Most important the bigger the number f22, f15 the smaller the opening, f5.6 the larger the opening more of the lens surface you use.

 

Use the 'sun' shade that comes with the lens.

 

Buy a UV filer that is of the same quality as the lens. many people will buy a $700.00 or $400.00 lens and put a $19.00 'UV' filter and wonder why their pictures look bad.

 

If using a telephoto shooting over distance (landscape) use a tripod or mono pod.

 

If going to shoot with a telephoto the more $$ the sharper the pictures and again use a tripod or something to steady it because it will weigh a ton. You want lug this thing around unless you have a backpack. I am idiot who does.

 

Shooting on cloudy days or over cast days should not stop you from shooting. You can get some very dramatic pictures on those days, just have to look harder. And you do not have to have them in color, Black and white on cloudy days are great. who says it has to be in color.

[Aplmac]

After several years of offering just one pier with capacity for four average-size cruise ships

St.Maarten started building another pier, North-West of the existing infrastructure

(seen at left in this shot)

 

 

I've heard two stories...that it was Carnival who was financing it

but also that it was being built to accommodate monstrosities like Royal Caribbean's huge Oasis of the Seas, due out later this year

-in which case I very much doubt that the Carnival Corp. would be financing a pier for the competition! :cool:

 

Does anyone know?

Maybe it's the SXM Gov't. themselves who are doing it?

Who knows?

 

.................................................

 

 

This is what it looks like on the land side of things, near the Water Taxi operation

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited May 26, 2009 by aplmac

[KYBOB]

 

Here is the after picture

 

 

Here is the before picture

 

I ran this through Capture NX, it is a matter personal of taste as to which you perfer. Just fun to play with.

 

PS I figured out how to post bigger pictures.

[KYBOB]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Big Booper]

Nobody gets blue skies like Aplmac and even then it varies. If one shoots 100 pics a day and posts the best two or three........

 

Thanks to Kybob for the quick tutorial, good ideas there.

 

Does the UW really let in more light towards the blue end of the spectrum?

 

 

But then Aplmac does a great job of indoor shots also, as his series posted on the Mariner 60 day round the horn thread illustrate. Great eye, great experience and great equipment.

[Aplmac]

Nobody gets blue skies like Aplmac

and even then it varies. ===> Not all days/atmospheric conditions are the same! ;)

 

But then Aplmac does a great job of indoor shots also,

as his series posted on the Mariner 60 day round-the-horn thread illustrate.

Great eye, great experience and great equipment.

Many thanks for the kind words,sir.

 

 

The bluuue skies you see...I have to thank the Sigma Corp for those,honestly.

Their 10-20 mm. wide-angle zoom obviously comprises special elements that 'do it'.

 

 

As for those Mariner interior shots...

...not sure how this particular exterior shot came out so blue..

 

 

.. if you want to see more/all of Mariner

please go to the Photobucket cache at URL...

http://s177.photobucket.com/albums/w219/aplmac/LUNCH%20on%20MARINER/

and have a look.

 

 

With the exception of the very first shot showing her making her way into Port,with the tug alongside..

all shots at the above URL were shot with the Sigma 10-20

-it was the only lens I walked with, that day!

 

 

 

__________________________________________

 

 

I think this one below is my favourite...

 

 

.

Edited May 27, 2009 by aplmac

[The Big Booper]

Many thanks for the kind words,sir.

 

 

The bluuue skies you see...I have to thank the Sigma Corp for those,honestly.

Their 10-20 mm. wide-angle zoom obviously comprises special elements that 'do it'.... {{snip}}

 

 

 

I think this one below is my favourite... <<mine also>>

 

 

.

 

I remembered this one !!!!

[The Big Booper]

I found a pic that has blue skies. Maybe the key is to underexpose (which I always suspected). Between the white ship and the bright cloudless sky......

 

 

....and this one

 

Edited May 28, 2009 by The Big Booper

[Aplmac]

I found a pic that has blue skies. Maybe the key is to underexpose (which I always suspected).

Between the white ship and the bright cloudless sky......

 

 

Too much Cyan in that shot.

 

try this...

[The Big Booper]

Too much Cyan in that shot.

 

try this...

 

Photoshop?

[Aplmac]

Photoshop?

Yes...little tweaks here and there. Nothing major.

Same minor tweaks I do for all my shots ;)

 

Did you notice the cropping?

 

.

[The Big Booper]

Yes...little tweaks here and there. Nothing major.

Same minor tweaks I do for all my shots ;)

 

Did you notice the cropping?

 

 

.

 

Yes.

 

I saw what you did, but my skill level is not high enough to look at pictures and figure out how to apply minor tweaks to really improve them.

 

Which is why we all admire your stuff :)

[DrmnOfMaui]

Aplmac... do you store your photos in iPhoto? So to use Photoshop you would export then use the program and re-import?

[Aplmac]

Aplmac... do you store your photos in iPhoto? ===> Eeeuuwww! :eek:

So to use Photoshop you would export then use the program and re-import?

Camera-to-Computer transfer:

 

I take the SD card out of the camera

and stick it in a card reader connected to a USB port.

When the card shows up, I go in and find the folder my new shots are in..

..usually I rename the folder, before right-clicking and Sending-To ..Documents

 

.........................................

 

I use ordinary Windows folders to store my pics

usually re-named per day, per cruise, per ship, per whatever...nothing more complex than that.

I often have sub-sub-folders within sub-folders within folders...:D

 

From time to time, I drag the pic-folders over to a CRUISE folder in 'My Photos'

-all the cruise-ship stuff is in there.

 

Right now it's got 11.9 Gigabytes of stuff in there - :eek:MG!

 

To work with Photoshop, I simply select an image and use a right-click to Open With....Photoshop.

Up pops P-shop and away we go! :)

 

 

Keep it simple, stupid...

 

 

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Edited May 28, 2009 by aplmac

[DrmnOfMaui]

I used to do that! My husband laughed at my sub, sub, sub folders! But is all worked for me and made perfect sense. Now I use iPhoto and am really pleased with it. Not as easy to access photos though for something like photoshop. The only way I can easily access the pics is to put them in a folder on the desktop and play with them that way. I was having trouble with iPhoto recently and called for help, when I told them the size of my library (>30K pics!) they said "Ahhh...that is your problem!". I started a new library and it is all working better. I have everything on there from when I went digital.... I really think I need to weed out! :)

[The Big Booper]

,,<<snip>>... I started a new library and it is all working better. I have everything on there from when I went digital.... I really think I need to weed out!.. :)

 

And back up, of course. You can never have enough backups.

 

I currently have 4 working computers (look at my sig). Every computer has most photo groups and of course the flash drive used to transfer the photos is never erased. I lost 3 trips when a computer crashed. Lucky we duped for a couple we traveled with on 2 of those trips 100 of the best pics from each.

 

Flash drives are cheap when buying on sale. At last count over the last 5 years I have bought 30 or so of these babies for work and play.

[Hav2cruise]

Hope you like it

[Aplmac]

.

I just came across this old (January, 2008) picture of mine

showing the beginnings of the cruise pier extension project at Philipsburg.

 

That's the Water Taxi stand with the bright red roof

 

We just went thru there in late April 2009 when looked like this..

 

 

Different camera positions unfortunately, but you can see what they've done in that time

 

 

.

[The Big Booper]

Aplmac -

 

Looking at your older 2008 pictures and the later ones.........

 

You can see the difference made by the special optics on the Sigma 10-20 lens. Not just the dramatic composition made possible by the ultra-wide, but the basic colors themselves.

 

No way will DW let me buy that lens AND a camera body to mount it. We currently use a Panasonic FZ30, Nikon P80 (bought after the FZ30 got drenched in a rainstorm and didn't come back to life like a Phoenix until after 30 days) and the Olympus UW720 waterproof. She may not be a photo buff but she KNOWS what our camera collection looks like :cool:.

Edited June 1, 2009 by The Big Booper

[Aplmac]

I just dug out a few oldies from our first trip to St.Maarten, 2 yrs. ago

 

Hope I'm not duplicating any previous submissions

- flame me if I am..it's okay

 

..................................................................

 

 

Our girls going ashore...down Cruise Canyon!

 

 

 

 

Downtown Philipsburg

 

 

 

 

An afternoon view of the dock at Philipsburg, as we pulled away - 2nd. May, 2007

That's GLORY at left, Carib.Princess hidden in the middle ..and VICTORY at right.

 

 

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Edited June 4, 2009 by aplmac