Two of my passions are roller coasters and photography, so when I blended them together, I got what I call a "superpassion." I was immediately hooked. After realizing that my small point n' shoot Canon Powershot didn't have the functionality and power I needed to take photographs at the quality I wanted, I realized it was time to move up to a Digital SLR (single lens reflex). Although the Rebel Xti is known as more of an entry level Digital SLR, it is exactly what I need--it packs a big punch in a small space. For those of you who go to amusement parks frequently, you know what a hassle it is to have to deal with large objects you cannot bring on rides. So, I chose the camera mostly for its size. It is one of the smallest of its kind.
I started Coaster Capture when I realized that I had no easy way to show the rest of the coaster community my pictures. I wanted to get my photography on the web. Instead of contributing my photos to a third party site, which would therefore cause me to swear allegiance to that site, I decided to make my own. This way, there are no strings attached, and I can use my pictures wherever I want, whenever I want. All of the photographs in the gallery were taken by me, another benefit of having my own site ("if you want something done right, do it yourself"). Although I am not a computer guru, a close friend of mine has been extremely helpful in setting up this website to work intuitively and flawlessly. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me via the contact page.
My Photography
Although I have been taking photographs of roller coasters for a while now, I only recently bought the Canon Digital Rebel XTi and a 28-300mm lens from Tamron. All the photos you find in the gallery of Coaster Capture were taken from that combination, which is why although I have photographed more parks than appear on the site, I choose to leave out the ones not taken from the Rebel XTi. This is to ensure the best of quality in every photo you see when browsing the gallery. All photos are taken at the 10.1 megapixel level, and therefore I can provide all the images you see at full size. Although some of the images you see are cropped, the full size has still proved big enough for all the projects I have done, including printing large sized photographs. When I take a picture of a coaster, I think about angles, lighting, speed, and an array of other options I have to ensure great pictures of every ride. I do not heavily change the look of any photos, however in many photos the white balance and saturation have been altered, as well as other small, barely noticeable effects. All of the alterations made to the photos on Coaster Capture are to enhance your viewing pleasure.
Although a copyright symbol is embedded in all the photos found in the gallery, the copyright has not been permanently attached to the full sized file. Because of this, I can provide any and all photos without the copyright symbol if necessary. The reason for this tagging of images is to prevent image theft. If you see any of our photos on other sites without a link to us, please contact me.
