A Lighter Setup

Climbing all the hills in Lisbon gave me two thoughts: I need to take more photos again, and I really should switch to lighter photo gear. And this week, I finally made the switch.

So what did I change to? I left my DSLR behind and moved completely to a mirrorless system. The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV that I had been using for a while was replaced with the Sony A7R V. (Yes, I know a new one should be coming out soon. But based on the rumored specs, I haven’t seen anything that would make a big difference in how I shoot. At least not enough to justify the extra cost.)

Along with that, I picked up the Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS, as well as a new tripod. The Falcam TreeRoot. With a smaller camera, a smaller tripod should be more than enough.

First impressions are really good, especially the weight difference, which is very noticeable. With the camera, lens, and tripod, I’m saving around a third of the weight (about 1.2 kg), making it much easier to carry around. Now I just have to unlearn years of muscle memory to get used to the new controls—just need more practice.

Back at the Castle

To try out the new setup, I went out yesterday to take a few photos. Since I hadn’t been to the area around the castle in a while, I decided to head there. It’s changing quite a bit. With new construction right under the castle (modern, luxurious houses that, in my opinion, don’t really fit the area) it’s getting busier every day. I’m curious to see how it will look once everything is finished.

This is a blend of three exposures, though most of the image comes from a single one. As with most shots of Bratislava Castle, the additional exposures were needed to tone down the brightness of the castle.

Back at the Castle, Bratislava, Slovakia

Humid sunset panorama

Lets do another one right away. From the same evening, from the same Skypart Tower. Just taken a bit earlier.

The whole day was very cloudy and very humid in Bratislava, and only right before the sunset the sky started to clear. But the air did not clear completely, which resulted in this hazy view. Still made for a nice view. I especially like how the sun brings colour into the surrounding sky.

This is a two shot panorama, combined and edited in Photoshop.

Looking down

I have not posted a photo in a while, so lets do one today. I was back on top of one of the Skypark Towers in Bratislava recently, and I took few photos. You can see in the back, that the whole area is mostly a construction site, as there are multiple projects underway there, and more towers will be build.

I really wanted a shot where I could get the whole neighbouring towers in one shot, and include a part of the ground in front of them. That was nor really that easy, as the railing was quite far from the edge. I tried with the tilt-shift 17mm lens, but it was not wide enough. In the end, I used the 12mm Laowa lens, and I got what I wanted. Funny that even I could not see the ground from where I was standing, but the lens did.

This is a blend of 4 exposures, done in Photoshop.

Botanical Garden in Bratislava

Behind the cameraThe weather has been really nice recently in Bratislava so today I decided to go out a bit to take a few photos. But as it is really sunny, I decided to visit the Botanical Garden here. It’s really nice place to be able to relax a bit and get away from the city. It’s also great if you need to take some photos with a nice nature background, like family portraits and such. I did some in the past, and some have been also shared on the blog (for instance here, or here).

A few years back I used to post a selection of photos showcasing colors of spring from there every year, but that was not possible during the last quarantine years, and this year I missed the blooming season a bit due to the bad weather. But let’s catch up a bit today :)

On the side, a little behind the camera shot, that I shared earlier today on Twitter. I’m trying to post there more regularly now, so feel free to follow me there.

Exploring the colors of Spring

And here are a few photos I took today. I went with shallower DOF here, to give them this soft look. All taken handheld with the Canon 70-200 F2.8 lens.

I decided to share them all in a higher resolution (2560px tall or wide) and without a watermark, so if any of you would like to use them as phone/tablet wallpapers, you can easily do so.

Nature in Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Nature in Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Nature in Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Exploring the colors of Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Exploring the colors of Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Nature in Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Nature in Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Nature in Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Exploring the colors of Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Exploring the colors of Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Nature in Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Nature in Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava
Nature in Spring, Botanical Garden Bratislava

View from the Sky Park towers

Recently I posted a few different photos of the Sky Part towers in Bratislava, so how about today a picture was taken from the top of one of them. This photo is not that recent, so you can still be missing the 4th tower in the background. Either way, it makes for an interesting view. I actually wanted to take the photo a bit later, during the blue hour, but it became so windy up there that day, that I could not hold the camera steady enough. The wind would move the whole tripod around; if I were not holding it, it would blow it away.

Still, this photo is a vertorama, from two shots. Each shot blended from three exposures. Edited in Photoshop. I used the 17mm tilt-shift lens here, and if you don’t know what kind of lens it is, or how it’s used, check out my guide here.

View from the Sky Park towers, Bratislava, Slovakia
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