Burj Khalifa at night

Burj Khalifa does not really make for an easy composition. It stands out from the surroundings just so much. And mostly you even can’t get it into one photo. Like here, where I did a vertorama to get it fully. But then I ended up with a lot of empty sky. But since there were few stars visible, I decided to add few more, to break it up. And that worked quite nicely.

This is a two shot vertorama, each shot from 3 exposures. I could have used one more darker exposure but I forgot to take it. This was right after I lost my luggage the day before, and I was in a horrible mood. And that makes one forget.

Sunrise vs. Sunset

At sunrise you have the place for yourself – Most of the places are empty very early in the morning. No cars, no people, no tourist and mostly not even other photographers. Nobody will stand in you way, nobody will photo-bomb your photos. Even very busy tourist spot (Eiffel tower, Tower bridge and similar) are empty in the morning. Of course there are exceptions. For instance there are always people at the Charles bridge in Prague. At any time.

The sun position is more unique at sunrise – Not many people do photos at sunrise. And there are probably even some that never seen one. As the sun is in a different position as for sunset, this makes for a more unique photo.

Sunrise in Amsterdam

The air is clearer at sunrise – As it’s usually colder during the night than during the day, the moisture in the air condensates and it results in a more clearer view. Like this you will get more sharper photos. This does not work always and everywhere, but mostly it does.

Better water reflections at sunrise – If you ever been in Budapest, Amsterdam or any other city with a lot of water traffic, you would seen how hard is to get a reflection in a lake that is always being disturbed. But if you go in the morning, there is not traffic, and the water is perfectly calm. Like this you can get the most beautiful reflections.

Sunrise in Cesky Krumlov

You can use a tripod at more locations during sunrise – There are places where normally you cant use a tripod. But if you are there very there is usually nobody to bother you, so nobody will mind if you use one.

Not everything is accessible at sunrise – This is sometimes a problem when taking sunrise photos. Some areas may be closed off and not accessible at all. A nice example here is a viewing platform in the middle of Cesky Krumlov, that has the best view of the city. It’s not open at all before 8am, so no luck if one wants sunrise photos.

Sunset in Paris

It’s much easier to be up at sunset – Of course the biggest problem of sunrise is that it’s so early. Especially if you have been taking photos until lat at night. I sometimes don’t even go to sleep, as it easier than waking after only few hours.

Street and decorative lights are mostly on – Street lamps and decorative lights in the cities come on closer to the sunset, and usually turn off quite before the sunrise. So it you want the light in the shot, you are better of with sunset. Most decorative light are turned off in the middle of the night and you will not have them at all in the morning. This can be a positive in few cases too. Some landmarks have very strong lights on them.

Sunset at the Neusidler See

Either way, you should get great photos at both times, just don’t forget that there are also other times in the day :)

Winter reflection

I used this winter reflection photo as an example in a post few days ago, to show how to do HDR/blended panoramas in Photoshop. And since I never posted the finished edit, here it is.

This is a two shot winter panorama each shot from two exposures. I did minimal edits here, mostly just to correct the overexposed areas, correct contrast and add sharpness. That’s it. Recently I try to keep the shots more realistic, and that goes hand in had with doing less in editing.

And here are few details:

5 fingers view

In my Top photography spots list for Hallstatt I mention that one should definitively visit also the 5 fingers lookout platform that is on a hill high above Hallstatt. And today, I will share with you another photo I took from there.

This is from last years summer, and while it was a bit hazy and cloudy, the view was spectacular. Too bad the cable cars close quite early (around 5 pm), so it’s not easy to get here for sunset. But I will try one day :)

This is a three shot blend, done in Photoshop.

New 4K wallpapers

The theme for today’s wallpapers is Paris, especially the Eiffel tower. One funny thing about this 4 photos is, that you get sunrise, daytime, sunset and an evening shot. So you got almost the whole day here :) Download them now from the 4K wallpapers page here.