Sun Rising Over Ponte Vedra Beach Florida

After school got out we bolted for Ponte Vedra Beach to spend the Memorial Day Holiday. Monday morning I missed the sunrise by about 30 minutes and instead looked for sharks teeth before the crowd and tide came in. Tuesday morning I made it just in time to catch the first glimpse of the sun cresting over a pillow of clouds at the tip of the horizon. Wherever you are, the sun rising rarely disappoints. Tuesday was no exception.

The first 3 pictures below were taking with my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 and the last 2 were taken with my 14-24mm f/2.8.

Nikon D800, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

Nikon D800, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

Nikon D800, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

Nikon D800, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

Nikon D800, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

Pigeon on the Roof

Yesterday Ben and I took off for a golf cart ride around the neighborhood to see if we could find anything to photograph.  As we left we saw this silhouette of a pigeon on the roof.

How it was taken:

Nikon D800
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8
ISO 250 – 200mm – f/4.0 – 1/5000 sec

4th of July Fireworks in Ponte Vedra Florida

Pictures of 4th of July fireworks in front of the Plantation Beach Club in Ponte Vedra Florida.

How I did it:
Nikon D800
Nikon 28-300mm
ISO 100, f/10, 15 sec.
on Tripod

Main Street Rosemary Beach Florida

A look up Main Street in Rosemary Beach Florida.  The left side of the street is lined with restaurants, bars and shops including the Cowgirl Kitchen which has great Bloody Mary’s and Pina Colada’s.

Rosemary Beach Florida Town Hall

Last night I went for a bike ride to capture some night shots of Rosemary Beach.  This is the Town Hall and US Post Office on the coastal side of 30A.  The stars were amazing and show up well in this picture.  The image was shot with a Nikon D800 and 14-24mm f/2.8, 100 ISO, 5 frames between 1.3 seconds and 20 seconds.  It was processed using Photomatix and Lightroom.

Enjoy,

Carson Matthews

Photos of Cheeca Lodge in Islamorada Florida

Florida Keys Sunrise

We took a quick trip to the Cheeca Lodge and Spa in Islamorada Florida the weekend before Thanksgiving.  It’s a pretty amazing place in the Florida Keys just south of Key Largo; mile marker 82 to be exact.  My brother, Father and I went there in 1992 on a boys fishing trip.  It was a very different place back then.  It has since burned to the ground and been rebuilt as a fabulous resort.  These photos were taken on campus as well as next door at the Moorings which is the resort next door to the Cheeca.  Sunrise and sunsets are simply amazing each day, and easy to see regardless where you are staying.  The island is probably a 10 minute walk from coast to coast.  We took a sunset cruise one night and there are a couple of pictures of that below.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

     

The Moorings

The Moorings Hammock

Moorings Tree

Islamorada Sunset Cruise

Florida Keys Sunset

In Preparation for the Georgia Florida Football Game

Cody the Goldendoodle is a huge Georgia Bulldog fan, and recently he borrowed some of our team apparel to show his team spirit.  Here is a picture of him all dressed up.

He will be ruffing on the Dawgs as they go down to Jacksonville and take on the Florida Gators which are ranked #2 in the BCS this week.  The Gators pulled through for us last week by beating South Carolina, but now it’s time for a repeat of 2011.

Sunrise Over Ponte Vedra Beach Florida

I went back to some pictures that I hadn’t developed yet to see what interesting goodies I could find.  I really like this one of the morning sunrise over the beach, and the hint of homes on the right.  I used Photomatix to process this.

 

Photomatix compared to SNS-HDR

Since I started shooting HDR photos I have been using SNS-HDR to process the images.  I gave Photomatix a shot but SNS had a more natural look that I was looking for in my real estate photography.  Today I decided to circle back to Photomatix and process some of the shots I have taken over the past year.  Here is an example of one that I took over spring break in Rosemary Beach Florida.  I like the way it processed in SNS and maintains a natural look, but this time in Photomatix I went for a more creative touch and boy did it come out.  Here is the SNS version http://carsonvision.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/rosemary-beach-grass-park.jpg.  Compared to the Photomatix version below.  What do you think?

 

Ponte Vedra Palm Tree

This week our challenge was to come up with a shot showing the rule of 3rds.  This HDR image was taken this afternoon off the back of our house in Ponte Vedra.  It was forcast to rain all day…turned out to be a pretty awesome day.

Swimming at Chastain Pool

Last weekend we took our new GoPro out for a spin at Chastain Pool. We had a lot of fun trying it out and getting some underwater footage.

 

Carson Matthews

Thanksgiving Turkey Preparation Timelapse Video

Here is a iPhone 6 timelapse video of our Thanksgiving turkey preparation on Thanksgiving morning. After this it went into the Big Green Egg for several hours and came out perfect!

Timelapse Compilation of Sunrise and Weather

Here is a video compilation of time-lapse videos out of our front window. Our house faces East so we get great sunrises and a consistent look at clouds and storms moving through.

Sunset over the Chattahoochee River

Here is a picture of the sun tonight as it began setting over the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta. This shot was taken from the East Palisades Trail of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area looking west to Cobb Parkway as it crossed the Hooch.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8

70mm f/8.0 5 frames processed in Photomatix and Lightroom

Saturday Down South

Saturday Down South