Top of the SNP bridge

If you can go to only one place in Bratislava, go here. The view of the city is just stunning, there are no windows blocking your shots and after sundown you can have the place completely for yourself :) You have to pay an entrance fee (7.40 euro currently), but I think it’s worth it. Parts of the bridge are currently under reconstruction, but the top is still accessible.

Bratislava Castle Fortifications

The opposite place to the previous spot. From here you have a great view of the SNP Bridge (New Bridge). If you didn’t know, the New Bridge is the smallest tower in the World Federation of Great Towers :) . Too bad the view of the city is obstructed by trees, but the view of the Danube is great.

Tyrsovo Nabrezie (Waterfront)

I love this place, as I can get a very nice reflection of the castle, when the Danube is calm. Great place during the sunset and blue hour. The whole path between the New and Old bridge gives you hundreds of different compositions you can try. Also there is a docket ship, which you can enter (there is a sign No Entry, but as long as there is no festival or something similar on the waterfront, nobody will stop you, but please be careful :) ), and get a unobstructed view. I noted the ship on the map.

Under the SNP bridge

All the bridge here give you nice views. Under the SNP bridge are steps, and you can get down completely to the water. I really like to do panoramas here, including the bridge and the castle. And if the water is a bit calmer, even a reflection.

Town Hall tower

If you want a nice view of the main square, that definitively go up the Town hall tower. To get there, go inside the museum that is in the town hall, and buy the ticket just for the tower. It’s around 3 euros. You can take a tripod up there without any issues.

The best time to take photos from there is during the Christmas market, as then the square is full with colorful stands and lights.

Michael’s Gate tower

Another tower you can go up into is the Michael’s gate. It’s not as tall, but still gives a nice view. It’s a museum, so you will have to pay for entrance. You can’t use a tripod inside, but on the balcony it’s allowed. They close quite early, so if you want a sunset shot, it can be done only in winter.

Apollo Bridge

A little further away from the center, but worth it. You can just walk here from the new Old bridge or from the Eurovea Shopping center. Really great for blue hour shots. Also the view from the bridge is very nice.

On the new Old bridge

The Old bridge in Bratislava was taken down few years back and there is a new bridge there now. It gives you a great view of the center, and also is great for long exposures with the passing trams. It shakes from them a bit, so be ready for that.

Under the new Old bridge

And to get a nice photo of the bridge, go under it. I prefer the view opposite from the city, as one can use the bridge to frame the old town and the castle under it.

Also if you manage to be in Bratislava during the White night event, there are usually some cool lights on this bridge.

Kuchajda Lake

This place is just about reflection. The lake is usually very calm, and the sun usually sets behind the two Millennium towers, so you can have the whole sunset twice. Also once a year they have fireworks above this lake (usually at the start of June).  As reflections go, this place is never disappointing.

Port bridge view

Ok, this bridge is quite far from the center. It shakes really a lot, as it’s a highway bridge and even trains pass through it. But if you go there in the right time when the sun sets above the Danube, and you have a long lens, you will get a coll shot of the bridges and Bratislava castle. I would not walk there from the center. Find a connection that goes to the bus stop Pristav (Port) and walk from there. It’s still about 1km away from there, but that the closest you can get.

Clear water at the Traunsee

Let’s stay at the lakes in Austria with another photo. Still a winter photo, but from January of last year. This one was taken at the Traunsee, in the town of Traunkirchen. I did many different compositions here, that I shared here before, but this one I did not share yet. I really like how the water was clean and clear, making it easy to see the bottom. So here I wanted to combine a reflection of a background, with a foreground where you can see the bottom. And it worked out nicely.

This is a single exposure edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.

What is panoramic head?

A panoramic head, is quite a big tripod head, that has two main functions. First is to move the sensor back from the center of rotation, so you avoid paralax shift (will explain in a moment what it is). The second is to allow you to rotate the camera horizontally and vertically in exact increments.

With it, you can get a perfectly shot panorama, with every photo in exact increments from each other. For big and multi-row panoramas you just have to have one. The photos will align perfectly every time if you use one.

I do have one, but use it rarely. It’s just to big and heavy to carry around all the time.

What is a paralax shift?

If you ever moved you camera, you have seen it. When you move your camera horizontally, the objects that you see move also horizontally. But you may have noticed, that things that are closer to you move much more than the ones further from you. Like this, their relative position towards each other changes.

So what effect this has? If you take two photos for a panorama, but he positions between objects in the photos changes, they will not blend nicely or at all. The reason for this is, that you are rotating your camera at the spot where the sensor is. To avoid this, you would need to rotate the camera around the spot in the lens, where the light bends (nodal point). There is a mark on most of the lenses to identify where this is. If you rotate the camera around this spot, there will be no paralax shift at all.

When do you need a panoramic head?

So since the panoramic head can help you remove the paralax shift, you need it in situations when that is a problem. These are:
– when you have something very close to the camera. The closer, the more paralax shift you get
– when you are shooting with a very wide or a fisheye lens. Both of these types of lenses (mostly anything under 20mm) add to the depth of a scene, and with this add to the paralax shift.
– when you are doing a too big of a panorama. If you are doing a very huge panorama, it’s easy to miss a spot or just forget where you started. A panoramic head will help you to get all the shots you need without problems.

For this photo I used a panoramic head, as it’s a huge 9 shot panorama and it made it easy to get all the shots properly.

When you don’t need one?

So you don’t need one in all other situations. Especially if what you are taking a panorama from, is further from you. There will be a small paralax shift, but it will not effect the final photo at all. Here are few tips for taking panoramas without a panoramic head:

– zoom in. Shoot at least at 20mm or more. I you zoom out, it can happen that the panorama will not blend.
– use manual mode. Getting all the shots with the same settings is important. Meter the scene to get you camera settings, and then use manual mode to get all the shots.
– use manual focus. You don’t want the focus to change in between shots.
– use a tripod. This is a must. You can get panoramas handheld, but they will never be the same as from a solid tripod.
– either do bracketing, or set exposure based on some average spot from your scene. If the panorama goes from bright area to a dark, it’s best to set the exposure based on something in between them.
– turn on the build in leveling in your camera. If it shows up on the camera screen, it’s easier to move the camera horizontally without moving it up or down.
– do multiple panoramas. Never do just one shot, do multiple. Bigger chance you get one right.

This panorama was taken without a panoramic head. There was nothing close to me, so it was not a problem.

Seevilla hotel at the Altausseer See

For this photo I would have preferred to go much much closer to the water to get more of a reflection. But as I mentioned with the previous photo from here, I could not. The piles of snow would just not allow it. So for this, I was actually standing in a spot where they pushed off the snow from the road. It crated a bit of a platform. I did sunk into the snow a few times, but only a little.

This photo was taken at the Altausseer See in Austria. On the left you can see the Seevilla hotel. It is a 6 tile panorama, combined in Lightroom, finished in Photoshop.

And here are few details:

Cropping photos for Instagram

The maximum size of a photo on Instagram is 1080x1350px. I like to have the photos as big as possible, so I use this resolution for them. It also works quite well on modern smartphones.

I create three versions:
Cover photo – a crop from the full photos, showcasing the most interesting part, as a single image in 1080x1350px resolution
Full photo – a crop where I add white space around the photo, so full photo can be showcased
Split version – a crop into multiple photos, that shows the full photo and visitors can slide between the parts to see it.

Like this I think I get the best options of sharing the photo. Those who only scroll by will see the cover photo mostly, those who are interested can swipe through the other and see more.

Cover photo

This one is simple. Choose the crop tool, put 1080×1350 into the ratio box in the top left (or 4 to 5, as it’s the same ratio). Then just move and resize the crop box as you need for your photo and hit enter. Now you just need to resize the result to 1080×1350 and maybe apply some sharpening. I like to do this with TK actions, but any way is fine.

Full photo

Go back to the original photo. Before cropping, change the background color selection to white. This is so after we crop, Photoshop fill the background with white. Just hid the D key to reset the colors. Choose crop with the same ratio as before. Now hold down ALT key and drag on one of the corners of the crop box to make it bigger. Do so until the sides of the crop box snap onto the sides of the photo. Hit enter to confirm. Now resize to 1080×1350, sharpen and save.

Split version

This one is a bit more complicated. First you have to decide into how many parts you want to split the photo. It really depends on the photo. A normal non-panorama shot works best when split into 2 parts. For a panorama you would need more. But it’s easy to just try out different option.

Return to original image. Choose the crop tool, and for the ratio calculate your width based on the number of slices. So if you want 2 slices it would be 2160×1350 (or 8×5), for 3 slices 3240×1350 (or 12×5) and so on. Just look at the crop box and choose one that best fits your image. Confirm with enter when you chosen.

Now we will add guides to the photo, to see where we need to slice it. Go under View/New guide layout and in the window that opens choose Columns and then write in the number of slices you want. The guide lines will show up. If you don’t see them, go into the menu under View/Extras or hit Ctrl+H to toggle visibility.

There are multiple option how to save the slices now, and I will show you two. First one is using the crop tool. Choose it, set the ration back to 1080×1350 (or 4×5) and move the crop box until it aligns wit the first slice. It will snap to the guide lines automatically. Now crop, resize and sharpen and once you save, undo it all with the history window, until you are back to the guide lines. Then just repeat for every slice.

The second option is the slice tool. If you hold down the left mouse button on the crop tool selection, it will give you the option to choose slice tool. Then just create slices by using the guide lines. Each time you create one, there will be a little number in the top left corner of it. One you you have all, resize the photo so it’s 1350px in height and sharpen it afterwards. Choose File/Export/Save for web and once confirmed, it will save every slice as a separate photo.