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Bratislava, Slovakia

The landmarks across Danube in Bratislava

April 11, 2017 No Comments

Destination France

And I’m off to another work trip, this time to Paris and few other cities in France. This one will be a busy year. So as before, there will be probably no updates for the next week. Or, if the weather works out, and I have time, there will be some new from France. Let’s see :)

The landmarks across Danube in Bratislava

For today’s photo, here is a quick one from the center of Bratislava. I really like this view of the city, as it shows the two most dominant landmarks of Bratislava. And right now, if I tried this shot again, the sun would be setting right in the middle of these two. To bad I have to leave, but I really have to try and get the shot when I get back :)

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

The landmarks across Danube in Bratislava

Austria

At the Skywalk Hohe Wand in Austria

April 9, 2017 No Comments

Daytime photos

I am never sure with the daytime photos. I got so used to only take photos at sunset and blue hour, that daytime photos feel strange to me. I never can get them exactly as I imagine them. But I have to try and get to where I’m comfortable with them. So you may see more daytime shots in the future.

At the Skywalk Hohe Wand in Austria

Today I took a bit of a break from Photoshop and visited the Skywalk Hohe Want in Austria. This is a walkway going out from a mountain side. It gives a nice view of the valley, but it really is not a place for people that are afraid of heights. Luckily, I am not, so I could enjoy the view :). I just could not place my tripod firmly on it, as the ground was a steel mesh, and the tripod legs would fall through it.

So this photo is not directly from the skywalk, but from the side of it. You can see the skywalk on the left. And you can also see a paraglider on the right here. There were so many of them, just flying around. Could be fun, but definitively not for me :)

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

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The colors of Keukenhof

April 7, 2017 2 Comments

Visiting Keukenhof

If you are in Netherlands in early spring, you should definitively visit Keukenhof park. It’s just so full of tulips. I almost visited it a week ago, but than had to skip it. But I will maybe get back soon :) And don’t also forget to check other photos spots I recommend around Amsterdam :)

The colors of Keukenhof

This is quite an untypical photo from me, but I wanted to bring a bit more color to the page :) Also, this was taken one very sunny day, so I’m not completely happy with it, as there are quite a few highlights here. And you can’t do that much with them, as darkening them looks just strange.

I took this photo about two years ago, in the Keukenhof park, at that time still with the Canon 5D mark II. So maybe a bit more dynamic range would help here. But I will see if that helps when I get back with the 5D mark IV.

Budapest, Hungary

Yellow lights at the Matthias Church in Budapest

April 6, 2017 No Comments

Yellow lights vs. white lights

One trend in recent years is the switching of the classic lamps in many cities, for the modern LED ones. While this probably save a lot of energy, they really do change the look of the cities. And they change it a lot. For photography, this is is a good, but also bad. If you like to take photos later in the day (as I do :)) you have already noticed this. For shots during the blue hour, the yellow lights are great. They crate a great color contrast with the blue sky and just look great. For later night shots, a more white color is better, as getting rid of a very strong yellow color cast is not that easy.

Still, I do prefer more the yellow lights. How about you?

Yellow lights at the Matthias Church in Budapest

And the yellow lights are also very strong in Budapest. Which is maybe not that great for night shots, but it truly fits well with classic architecture.

This shots is taken about a month ago, during a short visit to Budapest. This is a two shot vertorama, with each shot from two exposures, blended in Photoshop. I got most from one exposure, but needed a second one to darken few areas.

I also used another 4 shots, of the bottom area, to remove people that were randomly waling around. If you want to know how I did it, check out this guide here.

Yellow lights at the Matthias Church in Budapest

Austria

The road through the Alps

April 5, 2017 No Comments

Persona 5

Why do good games come out in the Spring? Always they are released when I have no time to play them :) Same with the Persona 5, that I received today. Would be so much better if it came out in the Autumn as it should. I had time, I could have spend the 100 hours one need to get into it. But now, I can just play a little here and there. Thats why I actually prefer console games to PC. I can play for a while, and then just suspend the game and go back to work. And when I have time again, I can just resume where I ended.

The road through the Alps

With all the photos I edited over the years, I still prefer the sunset and blue hour shots to the daytime ones. I just am never really happy with the results I get in the daytime. I always feel like I’m missing something. But what can I do, other than try and try again, until I get to what I like :)

This is one of the shots I took at the Grossglockner High Alpine Road in Austria, sometime in the middle of 2015. It’s a single exposure, edited in Photoshop.