Invertalon

Which shot exactly? The underwater viewing or the one above showing the slides and such? I will assume your talking about the underwater shot, but just correct me if I am wrong. I did little to nothing on that image actually. I used a circular polarizing filter to cut reflections off the glass while shooting and placed the lens hood right on the glass to further reduce the reflections. CPL filters are great at getting rid of reflections from reflective surfaces and making skies nice and blue (if the sun is in the right position). They are a great tool to use!

At least for me, the first thing I do when I import my photos is check for lost detail in highlights and shadow areas in Lightroom. You know, the 'blinkies". I generally will try to recover what I can so detail is not lost on either end. From there, I will adjust levels to get the final image I want and make it appear just as you would see it in person. That is generally my goal when I edit. Not to push photos away from how I saw them when I took the image. Sometimes it does help to change it a bit, but I am a fan of realistic appearance. The best thing I ever did was calibrated my monitor. Recently I just upgraded it to an IPS display as well which was another huge benefit to my editing and viewing. Calibration was the biggest game changer though... Old photos that looked good once turned terrible due to how bad the monitor was off. Prints I did before did not match what I saw on my screen and it was frustrating. So I bought the Spyder 3 Pro a few years ago, and it was money well spent. Generally, monitors ship very "cool" in color and extremely bright and vivid. This is not realistic. When I calibrated my display my desktop looked extremely weird for a few days (much warmer, not as bright), but the prints I did were 100% matches in color to what I saw on my screen. I quickly got used to it and it is amazing just how accurate my display is to what I print. Sometimes due to this though, it is hard to take some criticism unless the person giving it is on a proper display and is seeing the images as you intended them to be viewed. Not in relation to composition, subject, technique, etc… But I am talking more exposure related issues, or white balance and color. This is why on photography websites, feedback of this sort will be noted in some way that their monitor has been calibrated. But the big change you notice after calibration on a good monitor is expanded dynamic range viewing the images online. At work, images I view can look terrible. Some will look blown out, weird colors, etc… As soon as I get home its worlds of a difference. You can make out details that appeared to be completely gone, colors are now accurate and details much easier to see. As far as HDR goes, 80% of it is done incorrectly. Seriously. People have this illusion they are nothing but trippy, over-processed images. But honestly, the best HDR are those images that you don’t even notice as being modified in anyway. THOSE are the people who know what they are doing. I did a few HDR images at work that turned out great. The camera sensor could not capture the detail that I wanted, so I had to bracket and combine due to the high level of shadow detail I needed along with highlights. Many turned out very natural looking, and they looked amazing. I would love to show them, but I am not allowed because it is government defense stuff and all that, and don’t want to get in trouble, lol. I would love to practice it more because it is really effective when you need a wide range of capture. At this point I just feel bad at it, but I don’t do it enough to practice it more. I got to work on that this winter when my shooting dwindles away. And Andyuk… I currently use a Canon 5D Mark II along with the 24-105L, 70-200 f/2.8L II, 135L and Samyang 14mm f/2.8 – Seems to do most of what I want at this time. But it always tends to change I would love to add another telephoto to my setup, but I am waiting to save my spare cash for the next 5D whenever Canon decides to announce it.

Some pics from CP this fall: IMG_2070.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_7901.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2100.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_7744.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_3563.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_3493.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2142.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_7717.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2052.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_2175.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_3416.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_3422.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_3536.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_3542.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr And a pumpkin for halloween! IMG_5538.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr

Thanks, I appreciate it! Real, I loved my 10-22 when I had it! I was not big into ultra-wides for a long time until recently. When I got my 5D2, I had to sell my 10-22 and had a hard time finding a good replacement. The 17-40L was good, but the corner/edge performance was terrible. I found out about the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lenses and gave it a try and wow, blew me away! The sharpness is unreal at the edges for something so wide. And the price was only $300 for that lens… You really cannot beat the performance for the price. It has no electronics, so you have to manually focus and set aperture. But I just focus using hyperfocal distances and never AF anyway with it. You may want to look into that lens if you want something with amazing performance with a lower price tag. You also hit it spot on with processing images. People think you “cheat” or something by editing afterword but it is simply a part of the process. White balance for one, is a JPEG killer. RAW images allow recovery of highlights and shadows, increased sharpness and the ability to really transform an image into your vision. Especially with the limits of dynamic range on digital sensors, RAW images are amazing for pushing levels to make them look as good as they can be. I would be lost without my RAW files! It really is impossible to get the perfect image right out of the camera unless the light is just perfect in every way. There is always some type of adjustment needed to make the image look exactly how it appears when capturing a moment. I am not talking about editing every bit of the image either, just the smallest most subtle adjustments can make the image really pop and stand out. The end result is all that matters, though. My biggest correction is simply fixing the horizon line. I never get my images straight!

Conneaut Lake Park probably for me, out of those I have been to.

That is one big benefit with Roa's Rapids, capacity. No matter how busy the rest of the park got, you can just hop in there and stay for hours. We were in there one day for two hours or something. I look forward to going there again in January, hopefully the temps are above 70 when we head down. Last two years it has been on the chilly side. The atmosphere of the park is second to none though. I love how all the spiels have the bubbly Australian accent guy for example, no matter where you go in the park. Just a small touch that adds a lot to the experience. Along with the sand beaches which were simply awesome and the animal exhibits that were seamlessly integrated. Then they also bring out some different animals to pet, like a possum one day and I believe an armadillo or something similar another. The slides are great and the park is extremely clean. I just feel like it is more than just a waterpark, but more of an ‘experience’ in a way. It is a nice contrast to the other Orlando/Tampa parks. Relax the day away. Again, appreciate the compliments on the photos! I actually did get an offer for purchasing a few of my waterpark images from this park and WWK @ GL, but due to model consent rules (the fact I could not give them documentation signing off to who are in the photos) I could not sell them. They were going to be used in advertising pamphlets for an Ohio waterpark which would have been pretty cool. I don't do this professionally, just as a hobby so it was pretty great just to get the offer. Thanks again and Happy Halloween!

I plan to do a lot more of it now, just seeing the results of doing it this time. This shot was more so a test, but it turned out really well is far as resolution and just coolness at full size. Sadly it needed to be cut down so far to upload, the original file is amazing. The mill in color is alright... The light was actually quite harsh and I could not get the image to look how I wanted. I want to go back and get some more when the light is nicer, toward sunset. In cases like this when the light is too harsh I generally try B+W and other effects, to try and "save it" I suppose. Not the most happy with it, honestly, but it was not bad enough for me to delete. I knew the light was harsh when I took it, so I bracketed three images (-1 1/3, 0, +1 1/3) and tried to do an HDR to save it. In the end I just made it B+W and tried to bring out as much detail as I could. I may rework the color one next week and see if I can get it more to my liking. The stitching is an awesome technique though! You definitely have to try it out. I wish I took another layer upward so the aspect ratio was not so "panoramic", but it still turned out really well. I am going to try this method on some other subjects hopefully soon. I may take the camera with me to CP this weekend and try it out there, but with all the people it may look a bit funny, as the same people would be in multiple locations. I will have to check it out though!

I currently use a Canon 5D Mark II... I was using a 7D before that. I mixed pictures from two separate trips that were a few months apart. During that time I switched camera bodies. Lens wise, my current collection consists of the 24-105 f/4L, 70-200 f/2.8L II, 135 f/2L and a 14mm f/2.8... During these photos, I also had a 17-40 f/4L for my 5D2 and 10-22 lenses (for 7D), which I no longer own. So quite a variety of lenses were used! Thanks again!

A few from this past weekend. Just enjoying the fall colors and such. IMG_6059.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_5979.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_5905.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_6037.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_6042.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_6018.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr IMG_6040.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr Old Mill BW.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr And this one, which is a large panoramic stiched photo taken with a telephoto. About 15 images merged into one. Final image size was something like 14,000x6800, which had to be resized to upload to Flickr to about 5500 on the long end. Less then half the original resolution. Click on this photo and view "original" to see the nice resolution of the image. The original is amazing and plan to use this method more in future photos I take. The PSD file alone was around 2GB in size. The JPEG about 80MB. Mill Creek Park Lake Panoramic by invertalon, on Flickr

We really enjoyed just how "lush" both parks really were, especially Aquatica. We spent a few days there and actually bought 2-year passes our last trip we enjoyed it so much even though we live in Ohio... It is a nice alternative to the other parks in the area to spend a day. Appreciate the compliments as well on the photos.

Photos below from our visit to Aquatica and Discovery Cove. Both amazing parks, and we look forward to returning each time we go back down to Florida. Not a big TR writer, so on to the pics: For more, higher resolution photos check out my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/invertalon/sets/ Aquatica! This are so fun, especially this model. Beautiful Beaches. The normal slides have excellent air on the last drop, especially with two people. The smaller funnel tubes are alright, not the biggest fan of them. Signage Viewing for the Dolphin Plunge. The effect is not noticeable at all. Love the landscaping. The integrated fish displays along this river are a nice touch. Best lazy river ever. It is a "speed river", no tubes allowed. You basically get pushed at high speeds all around the loop. It is fun just to "foot surf" along the river. You will encounter rapids and fountains along the way. Kids area. One of two wave pools. Nap time Another day, when we got in for "early entry". They don't have one, but let us in early anyway. Had the place to ourselves for a solid hour and half with no waits. Toilet bowls Midway wee Airtime! Many times we totally lost it at this point and would have quite a rough "landing" Great slides! Speed river once again... You can also get life-vests and just float around. I wish more parks would get these rivers. They totally kill normal lazy rivers. Always fun to beat your fastest time! For guys out there, the best method to prevent "damage" during this part is raising slightly with your knees to lift your body. Prevents any pain. Safety First! This drop is awesome though. Totally surprised me. Next stop.. Lobby Inside Beautiful, of course. White sand beaches all over. Water is freezing, but the wet suit helps a bit. As well as the free unlimited beer. This was the lazy/exploration river... No fish, but it is warmer temp then the fish exhibit. They brought out various animals throughout the day. Including this owl. Very cool to snorkel around in this exhibit. I really enjoyed the entire day and felt it was worth it! Food was great as well they served throughout the day. One of the snack bars... Free ice cream, snacks, beer, soft pretzels, etc.. It's awesome. There is an aviary you can walk through as well. He was very chatty Dinner time! Colddd Oh yes, they had dolphins too.. Of course. They had about 2 minutes with the dolphin it seemed. We did not add on the Dolphins, and just did everything else. Much cheaper to do it this way. Live entertainment was nice! The rays were great... So fun to be able to interact with them. This concludes the TR!

CW throws an excellent event, one of the best ones I have been to outside of HHN. Although the park lacks good rides (besides the obvious), it is a really well kept park and we enjoyed our time there a few weeks ago. I must say, I underrated Behemoth going into it. I always thought Diamondback looked much better, and always a big fan of that ride. Behemoth exceeded my expectations though, and I much prefer it. For the Haunt we planned on getting Fast Lane passes, knowing how busy this park can get. Luckily, we hit every house within the first hour and a half, no wait for any of them. We also repeated a few along the way. The park lacks scarezones, but the houses make up for it. Very well done, excellent scare-actors. Was suprised just how well done "Cornstalkers" really could be, along with "Club Blood". The CP/KI versions are not nearly as good. Can't wait to make it back next year for Leviathan and the Haunt next year as well. Higher resolution images can be found at Flickr page: Main Gate Fall colors were apparent at the park. It was beautiful all over. Did not ride. Helix of death... A nasty kink in there somewhere. Star of the park. Surprised how short the queue is. Torture Device. Did not ride Flight Deck either, although walk-on all day. Don't waste your time. Why the name change from Wilde Beast to Wild Beast? Wild Beast I suppose. Meh. Saw many people taping at this park. As well as riding with backbacks, glasses, etc... Total opposite of any CF park in the US I have been to. If you look to the left of the girls head, you will see a bee. They were everywhere at this park. It made me laugh to see this picture when I got home. Awesome house. Nice midways throughout the park. My only real photo of this ride. Lighting was terrible at this point of the day, and shooting into the sun is no bueno. Oh well, next time. And this one. This park has a nice collection of flats. Brace! I always enjoyed the SLC at GL/SFO/SFWoA... Considered one of the better models for whatever reason. I spot a bee in this picture. That is not sensor dust. Midway performer. What just happened? Ugh... Terrible show. Pyro... The only good part. One of the people by the main gate. The end!

Woah there, I think you are over-reacting a bit. I am not saying anybody is wrong, nor challenging anybody. It is fine what Robb or whoever else thinks. I am just saying, in the scope of the entire park as a whole, people will not pay attention to some mold/dirt/whatever on those rocks. Just my opinion, that is all. As far as expansion, I was not sure if there was land behind the castle in that direction. I am not all that familiar with it and that was my idea of where they could expand. If that is not possible, I was not aware. I am not a Universal fanboy either, I simple enjoy the parks I go to… I am far from a fanboy for any park I go to. Just giving my honest opinion, not saying what I say is fact. Calm down a bit… This a forum for people to discuss, agree or not. Makes life exciting, no?

I have been going down to Orlando twice a year for the past few years (Since 2005?)... My last visit felt like all my others before that. Nothing ever felt neglected or run down. The park looked and operated like it always has. I do agree Mythos seemed to have gone down hill the last few years, but we only ate their once a few years ago and it was pretty good. Still prefer to find better places to eat in the area. The rock display pictured above looks fine to me. So it has some dirt on it, it's a (fake) rock. I think 99% of all people who walk past that display will not think anything of it. Including myself. I look forward to a HP expansion eventually if they do. Just hopefully they expand away from JP and the rest of the Lost Continent. I enjoy the area, when its not mobbed with people. My last visit it was the least busy it has been, and the area was much more enjoyable. I could see a B&M wing coaster in that area, themed to something from the movies.

Went to CW for the first time this past weekend. One note, it is a shame that CF has not yet fixed the season pass issues from other parks. Last weekend at Kings Island our passes did not scan from GL/WWK and the same at CW… We were held up at the parking booth for a few minutes while they called a supervisor and found out why our passes would not scan. I think I will write an email to Cedar Fair about it. Quite a pain to be honest. Anyway, I was very impressed with CW. The ride collection is so-so at best, besides Behemoth. But the park is beautiful. Clean as can be, great landscaping, friendly staff. We got to ride everything with little to no wait at all Saturday morning. I must say, I did not expect it but I prefer Behemoth over Diamondback by quite a bit. It was just way more fun than I thought and the airtime was amazing. It was a blast! Rode that awkward flying coaster, Time Warp or whatever the name was. Talk about a torture device! We still made fun of it and it was fun to finally ride one of these. Did not ride Italian Job, SLC or the boomerang. Wooden coasters were “meh”. Halloween was a blast though at night. We planned to buy the express passes but managed to hit all 10 houses in just over an hour by getting there at 7pm. It was interesting to see how excited everyone was for Windseeker here. It had a huge line with people running right to it when the park opened. For the Haunt, Terror London was amazing. We did not expect it to be so well done. Cornstalkers was MILES better then CP’s version, as well as Club Blood which surprised us. The Miners one was great fun and reminded us of Terror Mines from HHN a few years back. We enjoyed all the houses, but found the ones by the front gate the worst of the night. The clown house was alright, but the Asylum and the trio back by the Arrow corkscrew were the worst of the night. Still not bad by any means, but not to the level of first half. These houses were by far the best houses out of HHN we have seen, very impressed. We plan to make it back next year to go again. The only thing they lack is better scare-zones. If they could combine Kings Islands midways with CW’s houses, it would be one amazing event. One note, there is this screamster that roams around in the Carnival scare-zone who is double-jointed and runs around like a spider backwards… It was by far the BEST actor we had ever seen at any event. I had never laughed so much watching a scareactor work. It was incredible! He really was into his role and freaked the hell out of everybody. Bravo to him for making this event so much better!

Wide angle lenses can be a ton of fun. The specific one I am using is actually quite cheap, the Samyang 14mm f/2.8... It is manual everything, including aperture and focus. It only cost $315 and is sold under many names (Rokinon, Bell and Howell, Bower, Pro-Optic, etc...). Same lens, different names. All are made by Samyang in Korea, though. I picked up the Bell + Howell model for like $300 even. Its performance is outstanding, and surpasses optically the $2400 Canon 14L lens... It is extremely sharp across the frame for 14mm on full-frame. For you, if you want a similar perspective, you will need an 8-10mm equivalent lens. I highly recommend the 10-22 Canon, I had it with my 7D and loved it. But when I sold my 7D and went to the 5D I had to lose the EF-s lens. I use the 17-40L and Samyang 14mm for my ultra-wide stuff now. Some other great options for the "crop" sensors include the Tokina 12-24 and 11-16 models. Sigma also makes a few models, including an 8-16mm ultra-wide. Depending how wide you want to get! They are a ton of fun though. This was my first real outing with my Samyang and was super impressed. The depth of field is so large you just set it and forget focusing basically. At 14mm on full-frame, near everything is focus at f/8... From 3' to infinity basically when focused around 8ft.

Nice TR! That "Razzle Dazzle" remind sme of a ride I have been on at an old waterpark we used to go to when I was little. It had a circular ring attached to chain around a center post. Everybody would get off and “wind up” the riding ring on the center pole. Once it was all wound up, everybody would jump on and take it for a ride. It was built over sand so if you flew off you would not be seriously injured, but it was a blast to say the least. There would be 20 people at least riding it at one time. Was so much fun!

Thanks, and I agree. I did some post work in Lightroom 3, but just some exposure and level adjustments. Other then that I really did not play around with them too much.

Thanks for the welcome back everyone! It was interesting to see how they used SOB's station for the haunted house. I was surprised just how they were able to do it, you would never really know once inside and is larger than you would think. On a side note, I really hope CF has a plan for Son of Beast… I really loved the demented babies throughout the park, especially the “playground” setup by Racer. I always enjoy the weird quirky Halloween props. For a yard haunt one year we hung babies from a front tree and it got quite a reaction, these reminded me of that. It was just nice seeing more than just tombstones and skeletons like at CP everywhere but the scarezones. I think a park up here would do awesome with a large Halloween budget, like HHN, and becoming a PG-13 event and the entire park converted into a big single haunt. With attendance figures as good as they are during these events, surprised a park like KI or CP have not done it yet or be more like Knotts. They are getting better though!

John, I am currently using a 5D Mark II with various lenses. No filters or special effects applied. The distortion caused by my ultra-wide 14mm may give the look of an effect, but it simply just due to the lens itself being so wide. Causes the edges to "drag" a bit. I am guessing that is what you are referring to? If not let me know! Cedar Fair events I have been to so far (Dorney, CP and Kings Island) have all generally been pretty good. I prefer KI over the other two, followed by Dorney and then CP. I just think CP could make very small tweaks and make it really good, but hold back in some regards. Gore, haunted train ride, roaming scareactors, etc... Kings Island just felt to be the most "composed" in a way. I am looking forward to CW this weekend. Hope it is even better then KI (which it may look to be, but we shall see).

We went to KI this past weekend to see how 'The Haunt' was. Never been to their Halloween event, but heard many good things about it. We generally go to HHN every year, but this year did not plan on it sadly. So we tried to find other events besides Halloweekends at CP... Which is generally the same stuff every year, and lacked a bit this year IMO. Arrived to Kings Island Saturday evening, around 5pm. The houses are not supposed to open until 7pm, but were in fact open early. We hit all but one house (Carnevil) and two of the walkthrough/houses before it got completely packed. At that point we just walked around the park enjoying the atmosphere of the place. I really enjoyed this event, very much. Sure, it is not HHN caliber, but really reminds us of the old "Fright Fest" events at SFO/SFWoA where I spend almost every weekend. It was nice to get a bit of flashback to those days, which really made it a bit more special. KI is not afraid to use blood or show gore, which is a big plus. Houses were all really fun, and much better then I expected honestly. We had a blast the entire night. We left around 11pm I believe... Planning to come back the next morning for early entry. We did get back to the park a bit early thinking it was 1-hr early like CP, but is only a half hour. So we had to do a bit of waiting, but ran into an old buddy of ours we worked with at Geauga Lake. Once 10:30 hit, we walked over to Diamondback and walked on front seat. Great ride as always, and even better without a wait. It was dead this morning, so we just filled any empty seats for a few laps. Afterward, headed to X-Flight (err... Firehawk) to visit our old ride... Worked this ride back in 2006, so it is always weird to see it somewhere else. The ride was excellent, always enjoy this ride. At this time the park opened, but it never got any busier. The entire day was walk-on everywhere and ended up staying longer then we expected. Rode the coasters, the train and Scooby Doo or whatever it is called now. Left around 4pm to drive back home. This was by far the best trip to KI we had ever had. Always liked the park, but was never all that crazy for it. This trip was really great though, and we plan to go back next year for the event again. Next weekend we will be trying out Canada's Wonderland for the first time, so that will be fun. That event looks really good! Now on to some photos from the trip: I have even more at my Flickr page if you would like to see even more: Main Gate Scrambler fun... Waiting for the first house. This house was located in SOB's station, which was interesting. Main midway prop Walking about the midway between Windseeker and Racer I liked these alien, thingies. This house was interesting... Mysteria... Not much going on, but was fun. "High Five" Yum Looked/Smelled so good. I really liked all the window displays they did like this all along the main gate midway. Spooky zone inside of Planet Snoopy This house was awesome. Really well done! Really loved the "pumpkin" midway where starlight is By the main gate. Acting like statues. Main gate display Sunday, they change the event to be more "kid-friendly". Including covering up the more gory props This house was great... Really reminded us of the "Leave it to Clever" house at HHN a few years ago. $5 special today for all the upcharge rides. Wish it were still green. I always loved the look of the last roll The fall trees made for very colorful midways Vortex What's inside? Monsters! Too bad the ride is nothing like its original self. Choo Choo Little Jimmy. I enjoy vortex, but did not ride it this trip... Too many laps on Diamondback got me quite sick. Sadly. I wish the trims let off a little bit more at the MCBR... The ending would be incredible if so. Vroom Vroom The end!

So far I have been to Halloweekends at Cedar Point and for the first time this past weekend, 'The Haunt' at Kings Island. I must say I was very impressed with it and prefer it over CP's event. This coming weekend we will going up to Canada's Wonderland for the first time ever to the park. We did not make it down to HHN this year, so we are trying to make it up at other places a bit closer to us. Looking forward to it! Best time of the year by far.

LOL ^

I actually made NO excuses and took the advice of those who mentioned it and reduced the size of the mark on my Flickr images, and will be even more-so on any future exports. I did not edit my images here due to the time it would take to do so, given how the upload system operates. And since the images were directly uploaded to this site, they did not change when all my Flickr images were updated. So don't say I ignored anybody, I listened.

Why would you upload them, without posting the link? Nice.