Nashville - Downtown #6

Thought this would be a good one for Photoshop, making the lines disappear then come into view to reveal the building.  One day when I have more time...

Nashville - Downtown #5

Nashville - Downtown #4

This is said barbeque joint...supposedly the best and most famous in all of Nashville.  I didn't quite get that, but the food was good.

Nashville - Downtown #3

This was captured on a walk from the County Music Hall of Fame to a barbeque joint someone told us about.

Nashville - Downtown #2

This closer-in shot - also taken from the river - shows a log structure...surely a museum piece of some sort.  Didn't get a chance to look at it while we were actually downtown.

Nashville - Downtown #1

This and the following half-dozen shots are of downtown Nashville.  As mentioned before when these postings began, it doesn't seem likely that many would speak of Nashville as a hot destination spot, but we discovered it to be a great, vibrant city with a beautiful skyline, lots to do, and distinct culture.  And also as stated before, the Gaylord there beats any hotel I've seen anywhere in the world.

This shot was captured from a river boat cruise that meandered downtown and back from the new Opryland area northeast of town.  Upon clicking the photo to make it bigger you may notice some lines running across some of the buildings, especially on the big AT&T building to the left.  These are telephone wires from the pole in the right background.  Since they ran right across the sky I removed them, but was too lazy to redraw portions of the buildings to make them disappear there as well.  Maybe another day...

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Fauna #8

This is the last posting from inside the Gaylord Resort.  An incredible place.

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Fauna #7

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Fauna #6

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Fauna #5

The morning sun shining through the atrium was at an angle that seemed to selectively brighten individual fronds, as can be seen in this and the following two postings.

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Fauna #4

Also taken from the balcony...

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Fauna #3

In the spirit of taking pictures of things through things, this is the set of stairs leading to the convention hall from the Garden.

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Fauna #2

...same with glowing edges, set in Elements.

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Fauna #1

This, along with the next seven postings, was captured from the balcony of our room, hand-held with the 18-200mm lens.

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Angel

Also captured on the walk that day.  This was on the very lowest level, entering from the Cascade atrium.

Nashville - Garden Atrium

...taken on a walk through the maze of pathways in the Garden.

Nashville - Gaylord Garden, Twisting Branches

This thicket of twisting branches was spread out below the elevated walkway where I was standing.  Had to do some highlight darkening in Elements to bring out detail in those branches.

Nashville - Gaylord Garden, Serpentine Tree

This one is being posted because others have commented on how much they like it.  In Nashville during those days it was alternatively cloudy and sunny; I jumped into action when it got cloudy to take advantage of the even, natural light coming through the atrium roof.  Also, it was easy to play with depth of field because of the varying distances of so many trees and other plants sticking up from the ground floor.

This shot was captured on the central elevated walkway, in the direction of our balcony.

Nashville - Gaylor Garden Flower

The sun's gradual rise on that day had the effect of selectively highlighting various plants and flowers.  This is one shot where the black dropper tool in Elements was used to darken shadows, resulting in greater saturation and apparent brightness of the flower in the middle.

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Lampposts

Now that we've gone through the more general - dare I say even boring? - panoramas of the Garden atrium in Nashville's Gaylord Resort, it's time to get to specifics.  Most of the next dozen or so pictures were taken from the balcony of our room.

If you've gone through very many postings in this blog, you've observed that I like to take pictures of lampposts.  They give an older-world, nostalgic flavor to almost any photograph.

This posting was captured in the morning just as the sun rose enough to shine through the glass atrium roof.  I thought about cleaning up the scratches in the foreground top a bit, but decided that the results wouldn't be very smooth.  Maybe another day...

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Panorama #2

This panorama is a first for me because it is stacked - five on top and five on bottom.  Thanks to the serious tripod received for Christmas last year, I was able to measure the pan between each shot to a precise degree.

Though the Garden is smallest of the three atria at the Gaylord, it has by far the most intricate pathway system in the whole place.  I could have spent a half-day in here with a tripod just capturing the little waterfalls, meandering pathways, bridges, and plant fauna.

Nashville - Gaylord Garden Panorama #1

The smallest of the three atria is called the Garden, and it's easy from this three-shot panorama to see why.  Upon checking in we requested a room that would open up to an atrium, and this is where we ended up.  The next posting is a view from the balcony of that room, which is on the left side of this view.

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Mansion

Interesting to think that all of this is indoors...

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Bloom

This photo is absolutely untouched aside from a little cropping; it was taken with the older and slower 18-200 mm lens.

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Orchids

Just like in Vegas, everywhere your head turns there is a great picture to take.  Orchids such as this were everywhere in the Delta atrium and the other two...

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Street Scene

This is a view of the "street" that passes through the buildings in the Delta atrium, taken hand-held without support.

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Fountain at Night #7

This is the last of the night fountain pictures I'll be posting from our walk...

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Fountain at Night #6

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Fountain at Night #5

Did a bit of cloning on this one to hide some light fixtures in the background.

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Fountain at Night #4

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Fountain at Night #3

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Fountain at Night #2

Nashville - Gaylord Delta Fountain at Night #1

I took lots of photos while we were walking around that night.  Every once in a while the fountain featured two postings ago (the daytime panorama) does a show of sorts.  When I saw what was going on we hurried to an upper walkway - seen in front of the yellow building in the panorama - where I took this and the following six shots, all while using a railing to steady the camera.

Nashville - Delta Nightime Panorama

One night the wife and I went for a long walk around the complex, pretty much just to take my new lens through its paces - a fixed f2/8 14-55mm Nikkor. This and the following night pics were taken hand-held, as I didn't want to bore her with carrying the tripod around and setting it up.

So what is the result? Upon using the lens I immediately missed having better zoom, and also the vibration reduction. Doesn't a faster lens without VR pretty much equal a slower one with VR? My conclusion is yes, and considering the amount of dough that went into the purchase there was some regret. However, after looking into these photos in post-capture I'm observing that even with slightly longer exposures there is much less noise than with the slower 18-200 mm lens used on the Big Cahoona. The quality of the photographs is simply better. So maybe it was worth it after all.

Nashville - Delta Daytime Panorama

By far the largest of the three atria at the Gaylord was Delta, which has a walkway that serves as a street that goes in between and among a variety of buildings, what you see on the right. In the left foreground is a fountain (you can see the water from both shots in this two-shot panorama), and the place is large enough to include a river ride on a raft! All indoors.

Nashville - Cascades Lobby Closeup

A closeup in the fountain area...

Nashville - Cascades Lobby

...a glass sculpture in the lobby against a stained glass background with a country music theme.

Nashville - Falls in Gaylord Cascades

Taken with a tripod at f/22, this is on an elevated walkway leading into the tunnel behind the falls.

Nashville - Behind Falls in Gaylord Cascades (at night)

Swinging the camera in another direction, and at night, this is a view from behind the Cascade falls. As can be seen, the first is focused on the metal grate, rendering a blurred background. Focusing on the lighting at the reception desk, the falls and grate in the second photo are blurred.

Nashville - Behind Falls in Gaylord Cascades

...from behind that grate.

Nashville - Falls in Gaylord Cascades

One of the falls from the double cascade to the left in the previous postings. Notice that behind the upper falls there is a metal grate; the next couple of postings will be taken from there on a walkway that goes behind.

Nashville - Gaylord Cascades Panorama (night)

This is another, three-shot panorama in almost the same spot, taken at night with my new f2.8 fixed lens. No tripod, but the lens is fast enough to bring the shutter speeds up to a tolerable limit.

Nashville - Gaylord Cascades Panorama

Our family went on vacation last month to - of all places - Nashville, Tennessee. The wife had a business conference there, and we stayed at the Gaylord Resort, probably the best hotel in the country. Really there is no way to describe it, and pictures only partially do it justice, but here I'll try.

The hotel is divided into three huge sections, the atria of each covered by a glass and steel ceiling. Thus, even though it looks outdoors, it's really indoors complete with natural light and climate control. A bonanza for any photographer.

The first of the Gaylord series will be in the Cascades atrium. Walkways at all levels abound, and today's posting is a five-shot panorama from an angle that captures its namesake. (You can click the photo to make it bigger on your screen.) A couple of these, then we'll go closer for some different angles.

Strand Restaurants #12

This was the last place we visited. Did something here that I would not have with the magazine - cloned out many of the more noticeable spots where the black paint was chipped, as well as cleaned up the sidewalk a bit.

Strand Restaurants #11

This is of the same fountain, from a different angle...

Strand Restaurants #10

The only directive I was given on the day of the shoot was to show the proximity of this particular restaurant (of the 4 covered) to the beach. This was a bit tricky, as Seawall Blvd - with all its traffic - was between the site and the water. I crouched down so the street wouldn't show and waited until there was sufficient time between cars to snap the shot. This was the best of the lot...there was one that showed a person walking the beach, but the perspective would have given away the true distance.

Strand Restaurants #9

...another shot of the wall, using the lamp in the foreground to achieve the proper depth of field.

Strand Restaurants #8

As indicated before, all exteriors were taken with the s7000, which behaved beautifully so long as there was natural light. The 6x optical zoom was enough to play with depth of field, allowing for shots like this of the outside wall of one of the restaurants that we covered.

Strand Restaurants #7

One of the more interesting things about doing this shoot is that we had the run of the joints when they weren't open, which allowed for shots like this to be captured with great care. Being an interior shot, it was taken with the Fujifilm 3800, purchased in 2002.