TASL TOUR 2010

[kidcole]

First I would like to say .. This "First Annual TASL Tour" was a lot of fun. I learned it was hard to take good pictures and I lost more than half due to blurry shots. I was using an IS lens, but at night the image stabilization goes out the window when the lens is open longer. I also learned that it's really hard to get shots of everything when we don't watch a full show at each location. Next year we need to prepare an "all lights on" segment so we can take pictures at each house ...

The participants were Denny (and son Bobby), Dariusz, Vic, Tom D, Scott L, Scott M, Austin and family, Jack & Charity, Steve and Theresa. Al and Mel participated and showed their houses but they could not go on the tour this year.

We started at Al's house at 6pm. Then Austin and Mel to round off the Raleigh segment. Then we headed to Cary for Denny and then Dariusz. The last three were the "Highway 55 segment" starting in Holly Springs at Tom D's house, then Apex at Scott L, then we wrapped up the night at Scott Ms in far far far (way far) West Cary. I didn't know Cary went all the way to Durham ! We ended about 10:30 and it was 29 degrees when we got in the car ...

Here are some pictures. It took me a couple hours to sort through them all and find a couple good ones from each house. My other disclaimer already started above. I will get some night focus lessons from my wife for next year ! I forgot to take pics at my house so I grabbed two from earlier in the month.

While looking at each picture you have to look hard in the lower right hand corner to see the name per the person's house you are viewing !

I could only post 10 pics so I will add more posts to this thread to finish the pictures. This first batch is Al, Austin, Mel and one of Denny's house.

[kidcole]

Here are more pictures (Denny Dariusz and Tom) ..

The site wanted to jumble up the order this time. Not sure why ...

[kidcole]

Here's the last batch of Scott L and Scott M's houses...

Scott M - I had a lot of blurred pics of your house and never could catch the Bethlehem star. Same with Scott L's arches ..

If any of you guys have more pics you'd like to share .. please post em in this topic ! Particularly Vic, Steve and Jack. We don't have any shots of your houses (all lights on) .. this year !

[Al in Raleigh]

I'm glad you guys came to see my display, and I'm sorry I missed the opportunity last night to see your displays again. I did visit everybody before Christmas at a little more relaxed pace. Happy New Year to you.
Al

[Jack Stevens]

Denny-

I was hoping your camera was different than the ones I've used, but here's what I've learned:
1.) use a tripod. No ifs, ands, or buts there.
2.) use the delayed-shoot. (timer delayed) That gets your hands off the camera body at the time the shutter is open, and since it's on the tripod, no shaking will happen (hopefully) so the blurring will be less/eliminated.
3.) no walking/moving around the tripod; even slight vibrations transmitted through the tripod legs will blur.

Manual focus would be good, as the auto-focus usually won't see the lights, as they're small and at varying differences.

And yeah, a "still photo" sequence is a must. Maybe not full intensity, but nothing changing during the shot.

The few I looked at so far above look good, though. Now to get back to looking at the rest.

[scottmcl]

Here's one I took just after the first snow we had a few weeks back.

[kidcole]

Good tips Jack. I was using manual focus but it's really hard to see if I'm correct at night .. I want to try to get some shots of my house tonight.

[Bartek]

That was a great tour. I picked up so many ideas for next year. I hope some of you don't mind if you see some things familiar next year on my display.
I could add 50% or just go double for next year, it's all about time and money.
I heard somewhere that you should add at least 50% every year.
Next tour we should make in June when is little bit warmer. :-)
I'm attaching picture taken early morning after snow.

[LightsonBeasley]

Thanks for starting this thread, I feel like I was actually on the tour. Nice to see everyone's displays and the uniform pieces that you all are using. I would like to make it to a workshop, but living 2-3 hours away not sure if that is possible. It would be nice to have a workshop on a certain set piece at the Carolina Convention though.

Great work everyone

[kidcole]

Hi Tory. I'm glad you liked the tour summary.

We have at least one guy coming from South Carolina for the next workshop. I'm sure we can find you a place to stay if you drive up and we run late. We usually hold the group workshops on a weekend to accommodate those who have some extra driving ..

[duke]

We have found that we get our best pictures right at sundown while the sky still has a glow.

[kidcole]

Wow, I will try to give that a try tonight. I appreciate the tip Larry ..