Friday 18 May 2012

Sunrise over the Douro river


A sunrise over the city of Porto as seen from the Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.


A story behind: It was 6.05 in the morning. I settled into place with my tripod and waited for the golden light less than a quarter of an hour. All day long this spot is flooded with tourists but at this hour the streets were empty and everything was so quite.
As the sun rose up and painted red some clouds I started to shoot photos.Lens anomalies like barrel distortion, chromatic aberration and vignetting can have a profound effect on the images. These are typically encountered when using wide-angle lenses. Barrel distortion can make horizon and, in that particular case the boats´ masts, unnaturally curved. 
I also try not to punch my photos with too much saturation so usually I downgrade the saturation by generally accepted rule of thumb 10-15%. 
Set the aperture somewhere around 9-13 to get most of the sharpness from your lenses.



Gear:
Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Polarizer. 3-stop soft-step ND Reverse Grad.

Aperture:
f/11

Shutter speed:
4 sec

Exposure bias:
-0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 50



Place taken: Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
 
Date Taken: Friday, May 18th, 2012, 06: 32

Maciek.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

A night to remember



A story behind: Football Club Porto won the Portuguese league this night. More than 20,000 people flocked to central Porto and the street night party started. These particular moments of street "festa" where you can see pure joy and happiness on people´s faces are unique. And the street party began amid blaring and impromptu fireworks! It is wonderful to live in Southern Europe.




Gear: iPhone 4. Nikon D700. Nikkor 50 mm.

Focal Length: 50 mm


ISO: 2500


Maciek.