Rick Louie Photography http://www.ricklouiephotography.com Capturing Life Through Imagery Wed, 27 Dec 2017 03:14:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.1 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/cropped-RL-Only-Blue-512x512-32x32.png Rick Louie Photography http://www.ricklouiephotography.com 32 32 86212369 Fuji X-Series Landscape Kit http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/fuji-x-series-landscape-kit/ Wed, 03 Aug 2016 17:48:37 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=7291 I’ve finally made the full commitment and cut over from Canon to Fuji so today I thought I’d share my landscape kit with you.  The kit is probably 90% complete. I’m not sure I’ll ever say it’s fully complete because there is always something new that comes out. What’s not shown in the picture is my tripods.  I have two, one being a Gitzo Traveler GT-1541T – which I have had for years. It’s been a work horse for me and I was tempted to get rid of it a few times, but the package is small and lightweight and folds up into a carry on if needed. I’m so glad I never got rid of it.  It’s paired with a Really Right Stuff BH-30 ball head, which is small and strong and will hold a full size 70-200 lens if needed. It’s perfect for my Fuji gear and was even able to handle my X-Pro2 with the Fuji 100-400 lens without issue.  The other tripod I have is the MeFoto Backpacker.  It’s a very small package that can fold up into a backpack.  It’s aluminum so it’s a little heavy, but very compact. I think my Gitzo is lighter, but doesn’t fold up as small.  I’m not sure I’ll keep the backpacker. I think I can probably manage with the Gitzo for backpacking and just attach it to the outside of my backpack.

Ok so onto my Fuji Camera Kit. The picture below was taken with my Moto-X Pure smartphone so not the best of images or lighting, but it will get the point across.  I’ll describe the kit below this image from left to right, top to bottom. I’ll describe the lenses in equivalents compared to a full frame camera so you have some perspective for the lenses.

Fuji X-Series Camera Kit for Landscapes
Fuji X-Series Camera Kit for Landscapes
  • XF 50-140mm f/2.8
    • 70-200 and it’s the long range landscape lens and can also is good for the occasional wildlife that shows up out in the field
    • It’s a large lens – 55-200 could replace this for landscapes
    • Ability to compress small details/flowers at a distance using f/2.8
    • Can be paired with 1.4X multiplier for more range
    • Very sharp lens – great for bringing in elements at a distance
  • Fuji X-Pro2 Camera Body
  • XF 35mm f/1.4 (mounted on x-Pro2)
    • I use this with the MCEX-11 – 11mm Extension Tube for Macros
    • Not weather sealed
    • 50mm equivalent
  • MCEX-11 – 11mm Extension Tube (to the left of the 35mm mounted on the X-Pro2)
    • great for macros – can be paired with 23mm, 35mm, 56mm
    • prefer with paired with 35mm for macros – cheaper than purchasing 60mm macro and maybe sharper, but haven’t done a comparison to 60mm macro.
  • Tiffen Filter Holder
    • Holds my screw on filters
      • Circular polarizers
      • Neutral Density Filters
      • UV and Digital Clear Filters
  • Lee Seven5 Filter Pouch
    • Holds the Lee Seven5 Filter System
    • 75X90 Graduated ND Filters
    • Lee Seven5 Adapter Rings
    • Prefer the Singh-Ray Filters if they are available
  • XF 14mm f/2.8 R (21mm equivalent)
    • Great wide angle lens
    • Excellent for large skies and astrophotography
    • Sharp
    • A Close 2nd to this and a little wider is the Rokinon 12mm f/2, but it is manual focus
  • XF 23mm f/1.4 R (35mm equivalent)
    • 35mm is a great all around focal length
    • On my camera 80% of the time
    • Close focusing distance
    • Fast lens – will work for astrophotography
  • XF 56mm f/1.2 R (85mm equivalent)
    • Great portrait lens
    • Excellent for isolating subjects and compression
    • very sharp lens
  • Think Tank SD Pixel Pocket Rocket
    • SD Card Holder
    • Fits 9 SD Cards
    • Small and compact
  • Think Tank DSLR Battery Holder
    • Holds Fuji NP-W126 batteries or equivalent
    • Holds 4 batteries
  • Lee Seven5 Filter Holder
    • Small compact size
    • Holds 75X90 Filters
    • Uses graduated filters meant for smaller mirrorless camera lenses
    • Filters are cheaper than equivalent 4X6 filters
  • Field Notes Expedition
    • Great for taking notes out in the field
    • Yupo Synthetic Paper.
    • Hi-visibility Antarctic Survey Orange front cover
    • Durable waterproof and tear resistant
    • Works with smear resistant Uni-ball Jestream RT Pens
  • Uni-ball Jetstream RT Fine Point Retractible Ball Point Pen
    • Unique hybrid ink offers the smoothness of a gel with the quick-drying properties of a ballpoint.
    • Ideal for left-handers because the ink dries so fast, there’s little chance of smudging.
    • Uni Super ink is specially formulated to become trapped in paper, helping prevent criminal check washing and other document alteration.
    • Archival-quality, acid-free ink is fade- and water-resistant.
    • Retractable tip, embossed grip

Hopefully this gives you some insight into what I carry when shooting landscapes.  If you have any questions regarding my gear or how I use it feel free to leave a comment or contact me.

]]> 7291 Colorado Fall Color Tour 2016 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/colorado-fall-color-tour-2016-blog/ Tue, 21 Jun 2016 04:13:07 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=7117 The Colorado Fall Color Tour for 2016 is now open for registration. Tour space is very limited and will be split up into two tours – Aspen and Crested Butte, Colorado. This is a discovery year for me so cost is low if you want to do some discovery work with me this year.

Hope you can join Chris and I this year!

Colorado Fall Color Tour 2016
Rick Louie Photography Colorado Fall Color Tour 2016
]]> 7117 Hardrock 100 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/hardrock-100/ Tue, 15 Mar 2016 00:26:35 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=6750 Each year in the San Juan Mountains ultra-marathoners run through the night for 100.5 miles with a total elevation change of 67,984 ft. – average elevation of 11,000 ft for the Hardrock 100! I captured this lone runner just as the sun was coming over the horizon plodding along over to the next mountain pass. Cheers to these amazing athletes!

Hard Rock 100

Capture Notes:

]]> 6750 Milky Way over Mt. Evans http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/milky-way-over-mt-evans/ Tue, 08 Mar 2016 04:39:57 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=6747 Back to Mt. Evans and Summit Lake again for this image. The storm clouds were just clearing on top of Mt. Evans as the evening got dark enough to capture the Milky Way. Some of the clouds were just dissipating as I captured the Milky Way over the Mt. Evans and it appeared as if steam were rising from the mountain, almost as if an volcano was erupting. Something and unique and different capturing the stars during our Jamboree last year.

Astro Eruption
Astro Eruption – Click to Enlarge/Purchase

Capture Notes:

]]> 6747 Sunset Milky Way http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/sunset-milky-way/ Thu, 03 Mar 2016 07:30:54 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=6743 I found this image unprocessed from the Astrophotography Jamboree a couple of years ago. This was taken from Summit Lake near Mt. Evans as the sun has set below the horizon.  The light from the sunset was still highlighting the evening clouds below the mountain and above Denver. It created a unique silhouette the hillside, while making the clouds golden and being so high in elevation you could see the milky way illuminated in the sky overhead. It was such a unique combination of lighting situations. I was just lucky enough to capture it.

Sunset Milky Way

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]]> 6743 Fire Over the East River http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/fire-over-the-east-river/ Wed, 02 Mar 2016 21:02:20 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=6739 Here’s a cityscape to change things up a bit today. I was visiting New York City a couple of years back and Mark Garbowski was showing me around the area. I took this image with the Fuji X-T1 and used the Panorama feature. It stitches in camera a wonderful panorama and produces a nice jpeg and other than boostiing a little saturation and cropping slightly the image was ready to go!

Sunset over New York City
Bright fiery orange sunset over the East River and the NYC skyline.

Capture Notes:

]]> 6739 Dillon Pinnacles http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/dillon-pinnacles/ Mon, 29 Feb 2016 21:00:03 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=6736 Just outside of Gunnison, Colorado is the Curacanti National Recreation area. The Curacanti National Recreation is a series of 3 reservoirs and a the Gunnison River that runs between them and serves as an inlet to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. This area is best known for its excellent salmon and trout fishing and highlighted by the large Blue Mesa Reservoir. When you see the Blue Mesa Reservoir in person you’ll understand why it has Blue in the name.

Ascending from the sagebrush are the Dillon Pinnacles which were formed from eroding volcanic rock. These pinnacles form a unique butte overlooking the Blue Mesa Reservoir. This image was taken on a slight overcast day and the afternoon sun just gave a nice pleasent light on the Pinnacles.

Dillon Pinnacles

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]]> 6736 La Sal Mountains http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/la-sal-mountains/ Mon, 29 Feb 2016 05:51:04 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=6734 The La Sal Mountains are a prominent feature in the desert landscape near Moab, Utah and act as a stark contrast to the sandstone and canyons surrounding Moab. This past winter as we were driving down the Potash Road the La Sals stood out fully covered with snow as the foreground leading up to the mountains were still filled with fall colors and the different textures of the sandstone and canyons leading up to the magnificent range of mountains.

La Sal Mountains

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]]> 6734 John Moulton Homestead http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/john-moulton-homestead/ http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/john-moulton-homestead/#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2016 15:30:59 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=6731 It’s been awhile since I’ve gone back into my archives, but since I’m heading back to Grand Teton National Park I thought I’d look back through my images to look over some past scenes and also to see if there were some I never got around to processing. I noticed this one of the John Moulton Barn and Homestead.  Many images are taken of the famous Thomas Moulton Barn, but this is his brother John’s Barn and homestead.

I caught this image right after the morning sunrise and used a 17mm tilt-shift to capture the wide perspective as the storm clouds rolled past the homestead. The morning light is really nice on this homestead after sunrise and the sage give it a nice foreground element leading up to the homestead.

I’m looking forward to heading back to Wyoming again and hopefully showing some photographers this area who have never seen it before.  It’s truly a sight for the senses!

Home on the Range

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]]> http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/john-moulton-homestead/feed/ 1 6731 Volcanic Frost http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/volcanic-frost/ Fri, 26 Feb 2016 15:30:59 +0000 http://www.ricklouiephotography.com/?p=6725 Along the Blue Mesa Reservoir outside of Gunnison Colorado is the Curacanti National Recreation Area. The Curacanti Recreation area is great for boating, fishing, swimming and hiking and also forms into the canyons leading into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. This is area also contains two volcanos that helped form the volcanic layers in the area.

A winter storm has passed through the area and the original mission was to see the clear bubbles on the Blue Mesa Reservoir that had frozen over, but since the snow storm left about a foot of snow the original mission was squashed. The snow however made for very interesting textures along the volcanic rock rising above the reservoir along with interesting contrasts.

I felt this scene needed a cinematic look so I cropped it to a wide format style along with a compressed look from the telephoto lens. Note the small trees on top of the formations have a miniaturized feel to them that help them stand out.

Volcanic Frost
Volcanic Frost – Click to Enlarge/Purchase

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