Rocky coast of Sao Pedro de Moel.

Impressive rocks in the coastal town of São Pedro de Moel,  Portugal.

A story behind:  Another perfect Monday: full of magic light coming from the Atlantic ocean, full of sun and open spaces. We wondered around Portuguese silver cost the whole day.  

In the mid morning we arrived at the small coastal town of São Pedro de Moel.

I took a few test shots and found that the morning sun was overpowering the scene making it nearly impossible to hold back the sky while bringing rocks out of deep shadow. So I waited a while until the sun was blocked behind the clouds. The decision to wait paid off. For a brief time, I was able to get much softer light. The details of the rocks were now clearly visible and the background light was soft, warm, and inviting. 

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Handheld.

Aperture: f/8

Shutter speed: 1/500 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO:500

Place taken:  São Pedro de Moel, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Monday, January 28th, 2013, 11:17

Maciek.

La rivière des rêves perdus

A beach strip somewhere south of the city of Porto, Portugal. Click for the bigger image.

Update: The photo was admitted do 1x.com gallery. I was asked to write this photo tutorial in the next paper edition of the famous 1x.com tutorial album

A story behind:  Welcome to my River of the Lost Dreams. After heavy winter raining many small rivers with no-names has appeared on the beach. They may last a couple of weeks and then they are usually gone.
Last Tuesday the afternoon was dark and rainy. I captured this image about 25-minutes prior to sunset as many clouds began to disappear what had been a solid dark sky. 
My camera was positioned on a rather unstable sandy beach. I was able to program a 3-minute long exposure. Shooting these kinds of scenes requires managing a number of variables. We need to choose an exposure that properly exposes the background, and -- at the same time -- be short enough not to make a sky too blurry and allow enough time to emphasize these elegant curves lines of water in the river. The rest was as easy as catching fish in a barrel. Long shutter and B&W transformation did the rest of the job.

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Tripod. A heavy bag to stabilize the tripod on the unstable ground.

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 177 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO:200

Place taken:  Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Tuesday, January 15th, 2013, 17:08

Maciek.

The pier

The modern pier where the Douro river meets the Atlantic ocean.

A story behind:  Long shutter speed.  167 seconds. A windy end of the day in a place where the Douro river meets the Atlantic ocean. Not too many tourists. Some people fishing. The time well spent.

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 70-300 mm. Tripod. 

Aperture: f/14

Shutter speed: 167 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 85 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken:  Porto, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Wednesday, January 16th, 2013, 17:06

Maciek.

Transformers

Vodafone building, Avenida da Boavista, the city of Porto, Portugal.

A story behind:  Modern architecture is my second great photo passion. When I look at the building form the different angles I try to recognize interesting curve lines or patterns of different rectangles. Experimenting with wide angles to produce distortion and extreme perspective is another great idea. Since there is always a big number of details you can crop in tightly on the building without making the photo feel unnatural. Desaturation is another fantastic tool you can use to captivate one´s eye. Black and white ( B&W ) photos with all shades of gray can increase a tonal range and make a picture even more appealing.

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Tripod. 

Aperture: f/20

Shutter speed: 82 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 50

Place taken:  Porto, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Sunday, January 13th, 2013, 16:40

Maciek.

The misty river

 Early winter morning fog over the city of Porto, Portugal.

A story behind:  The image was on the second day of the 2013 year from the bank of the Douro river looking at the old town of Porto.  During the weekends this is such a popular spot that I decided to arrive quite early ( the sunrise was set at 8.10 a.m. ) and in the middle of the week. As the first cold light of the morning began to paint the landscape, I adjusted my filter and shot some riverscapes.

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Tripod. ND Reverse

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 1 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 22 mm

ISO: 250

Place taken:  Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013, 08:06

Maciek.

Fishing is not a relaxing hobby

A winter storm attacking the lighthouse and the pier at the mouth of the Douro river and three brave people.
Please click on the image for a full 1100 pixels photo.

A story behind:  There is no doubt that fishing is one of the most popular outdoor hobbies. When you are holding the end of a fishing rod its like it takes all your problems away for a while. Many people dont know that fishing has even been used for therapy even in children with some sociological problems. 

But today at the Douro river pier the fishing seemed more like high-adrenaline sport. The pier lighthouse is 15 meters high which means that the foam war spraying close to 25 meters into the air, propelled upward by the raging winter ocean. 

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 75-300 mm.

Aperture: f/7,1

Shutter speed: 1/2000 sec


Exposure bias: +0.3 EV
Focal Length: 250 mm

ISO: 600

Place taken: Porto-Foz, Portugal.

Date Taken: Thursday, January 10th, 2013, 11: 14

Maciek.

The Moledo beach

Moledo beach and a Saint Tecla mountain on the horizon,  Portugal.

A story behind:  The image was shot at the Moledo beach, a few kilometers from the Spanish border. 
Next day we crossed the border and spent a nice Monday wandering about Spanish Galiza.

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Tripod. ND Reverse

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 1 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 100

Place taken:  Beach of Moledo, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Sunday, January 6th, 2013, 17:02

Maciek.

The modern version of the Titanic

Modern architecture, city of Matosinhos,  Portugal.

A story behind:  I am a huge modern architecture fan. When you cut a piece of a building ( that may look boring at the first sight ) and spice it up a little by adding dynamic flow of the clouds, the result can be impressive.

The image was taken during the first day of a new year two thousand and thirteen so happy new year everybody!

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Tripod.

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 130 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 100

Place taken: Close to the beach area of the city of Matosinhos, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Tuesday, January 1ts 2013, 16:23

Maciek.