Tag: forest

nature, photo-of-the-day, photography, plants

Monochrome Monday 9-15

solaner

Europe is currently suffering from a big drought. For weeks, we didn’t get enough rain. It’s the fourth drought during summer in a row. Last week, the official meter of the river Rhine, one of the big streams of Europe, in Emmerich near the border to the Netherlands reported, that the meter sunk under zero! That’s possible because level zero was declared at some time in the past and never before did the river has a lower level. Shipping is still possible but the ships are half-empty and have to sail at very low speeds. The middle of the river is deepened to being a road for the ships.

Saturday morning, I went to our state capital Düsseldorf. At this location, the river usually should be about 400m broad. You see, I’m standing in the riverbed and the river is missing about 7-8 meters of water here according to my GPS measuring at the current water level and at the regular water level visible on the ground.

You see the clouds in the sky. During the night from Friday to Saturday, some rain fronts passed in from the Atlantic Ocean. For a few hours, we got some rain for the first time in the last weeks (months). When I got up, most of the front already passed and only some drizzling remained.

In Bavaria and Austria, they got more rain than the soil could cover. Some landslides are the result and cause severe problems. I assume, most of the water will go to the river Danube and not to the Rhine 😦 But, a few kilometers east of us, they also got flood-rains. Train tracks are damaged by the masses of water. The railway company announced the repairs would also least last about 24 hours. On the pro side, we can say, that water will help fill the rivers around and the Rhine.

Take care!

abstract, landscape, photo-of-the-day, photography, plants, seasons, winter, world

Monochrome Monday 8-47

solaner

I took this image two weeks ago. The trees were still without any leaves. So, the sunlight was able to reach the ground and paint interesting patterns on the ground. You can enlarge it, when clicking on the image, as usual.

 

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It’s sometimes hard to find images fitting to a certain challenge. For these tasks, I’m using the help of Excire Foto. I told the software where my image library is located and it starts analyzing the images. It recognizes the main colors in the images as well as the contents (what is in the images) and tags them automatically. Later, I can use the user interface to search for images with certain tags. Currently, you can save a few bucks when ordering Excire Foto, because it’s on sale. With coupon Code SPRING-30 you can save 30%.

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Take care!

art, landscape, photo-of-the-day, photography, plants, seasons, travel, winter, world

Throwback Thursday: A second night in Frankfurt

solaner

In March 2010 I was in Frankfurt again. Again, I was there for a training and again I brought my tripod and my camera for taking some night shots in the city. But, this time I went along the river instead of heading between the skyscrapers.

I’m presenting the images here although they are not so good to visualize certain mistakes I did at that time.

The time of the day was right and the horizon is balanced. But, the verticals near the sides are not vertical. They are leaning to the center of the image. That’s because of the wide-angle lens. The images are taken with a camera having an APS-C sensor and an 18-105 mm zoom lens at 18mm. Because of the height of the buildings I had to tilt the lens upwards on the tripod which results in this ugly appearance. At that time I didn’t have the tools and the knowledge to correct it in post-processing.

The next problem here is the nearly burnt-out highlights. As I wrote in my last post on night-photography in Frankfurt, I should have made more than one image of each setting with slightly different aperture times while leaving all other settings untouched. My camera at that time already had the ability to use bracketing for such images, but I wasn’t aware of it. Thanks for using raw instead of JPG, I was at least able to recover a little bit, but for the price of some noise (especially in the last one, which is also taken too late).

APS-C 24mm (~37mm), ISO 200, f16, 4s

 

APS-C 18mm (~27mm), ISO 200, f16, 13s

 

APS-C 18mm (~27mm), ISO 200, f16, 4s
APS-C 18mm (~27mm), ISO 200, f16, 13s
APS-C 58mm (~87mm), ISO 200, f16, 4s

So, when looking from today at these images, I have to say, I should return to Frankfurt and redo the job! In this post you can see (no, it’s not Frankfurt but some other night shots) how these images should look like when having done the job properly. I also explain the necessary technic in more detail over there.

Did you ever have such a review on old images of yours? Not only looking at them but reviewing and analyzing them with your current knowledge. It can help you a lot to make some progress. Do so with some distance. Keep out any memories (sweet or bad) and all emotions. Look at the lights, the darks, the horizon, and the overall composition. Be critical and name all the things you either made good or bad. Compare your images with similar images you can find online i.e. at Flickr. Ask yourself, could I do better in comparison with the other images? What could I do better? What are the reasons for the differences?

In case, you want to have an independent review, you can book me for an hour or so and we can discuss your images during an online session.

landscape, nature, photo-of-the-day, photography, spring, travel, world

Travel Tuesday: another enchanted forest

solaner

I have no idea, what exact forest J.R.R. Tolkien hs had in his mind when describing the old forest of Tom Bombadil or the Fangorn forests. But, I guess, here on the Isle of Skye he could have found the archetype.

Take care!

 

abstract, art, autumn, culture, fall, flowers, food, photo-of-the-day, photography, technical, world

Lens-Artists Photo Challange 118: “communication”

solaner

LAPC is hosted this week by a guest host again: Biasini. She asks for our understanding of “communication”.

The first thing coming to my mind is the famous statement by the was an Austrian-American family therapist, psychologist, communication theorist, and philosopher Paul Watzlawick. He said, “you can not not communicate”. It’s not a typo doubling the word “not”.  It’s simple. Whenever people come together they communicate. They communicate by their clothing, posture, mimic, and gesture – the body language.

Besides direct (oral or body language) communication between humans, we also have signs, i.e. traffic signs, lighthouses, writings, and so on.

Take care!

abstract, art, autumn, culture, fall, flowers, food, photo-of-the-day, photography, technical, world

Lens-Artists Photo Challange 117: “A Photo Walk”

solaner

LAPC is hosted this week by Amy and she asks for images of a photowalk.

At least, once a month I go on a photowalk. That our monthly photographer’s roundtable. It’s always fun: walk, talk, take photos, and discuss the results afterward online.

These images are taking during my last photowalk two weeks ago. I had to take care of my grand-son that day and took him to the hills above the town. Our goal was a visit to the deer enclosure, a round trip of about 3 km or so. From the parking ground, our path first led us through the fields where we saw corn, apples, horses, and cows. Next, we entered the forest to reach the enclosure, soon. We also passed an area, where the lumbermen cut many trees and prepared them for transport. Many things for such a young guy to discover. Finally, we reached the enclosure. Unfortunately, only one deer was visible. The enclosure is big enough to offer a lot of hides to the animals. So, we only saw one. Fortunately, the little guy wasn’t disappointed and walked back with me willingly. Btw. yesterday, he turned 4!

Take care!

landscape, nature, photo-of-the-day, photography, spring, travel, world

Travel Tuesday: escaping ents?

solaner

Have you ever read The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien? Do you know about his idea of living beings shaped like a tree and called ents? If not, do so. I guess it’s available in a public library near you. Or, at least, watch the movies by Peter Jackson.

As I wrote last week, every now and then I saw trees on the Isle of Skye which seemed to be escaped from Middle-earth. Do you agree?

Take care!