The lighthouse at the end of the world

Ponta de Arnel lighthouse in the early morning.

A story behind: With a completion of the new highway along the Northern coast of São Miguel island ( with several impressive sky bridges ) the access to this remote part of the island was made quite easy. Now from the island´s capital Ponta Delgada it only takes around 45 minutes to get to the lighthouse.

This particular morning when I got to the place the light was far from perfect but I tried to do my best. The place is beautiful but not quite serene: abandoned, with stunning 180º views, strong but steady winds and overwhelming sound of crushing 50 meters below waves.
"The lighthouse at the end of the world" is also the title of one of the novels by Jules Verne.
Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Handheld.

Aperture: f/5,6

Shutter speed: 1/60 sec

Exposure bias: -0,7 EV
Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 500

Place taken: Nordeste, Portugal.

Date Taken: Friday, January 27th, 2012, 07: 15

Maciek.

A spring time in our garden

Two hyacinths flowers just emerging in our garden are the true sign of the approaching spring.

Date: January 20th, 2012.

Gear: Nikon D80, Nikkor 17-75 mm.

Maciek.

My town at dusk

Porto old town view at dusk.

A story behind: Most of the times even our most modern cameras simply cannot 'see' the same way our eyes see. Our camera's sensor does not record anything close to the full 'dynamic range' of the human eye, meaning it can only capture so much difference between the darkest and brightest parts of an image. This means we must frequently control or moderate the light entering the camera into a more narrow range of tones which the camera will be able to 'see' as it should.

But sometimes we need to do the opposite. By setting long exposure time camera can record the images that are impossible to capture by the naked human eye. Just look above: smoothing the water surface with long shutter speed gave a great effect.

The picture was made on Sunday at dusk.

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

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 14 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 320

Place taken: Porto, Portugal.

Date Taken: Sunday, January 22th, 2012, 07: 36

Maciek.

The winter sea

The late afternoon at the Granja beach, Portugal.

A story behind: The ocean has always been astonishing me. Two photos from the same spot are never the same. Just a simple walk with a camera results in a diverse collection of seascapes. It is never, ever, predictable.
That night the particularly interesting cloud formation was hanging above the stairs in Granja. I knew, as soon as the dying sun began to illuminate the cloud, it was going to be a nice sunset.
The bright sky spots and some over-cast sky was nicely balanced with a 2-stop, soft-step ND Grad. Even in the age of digital blending and fine tuning in post processing, these filters offer something you simply cannot accomplish on the computer. I knew that brown stone stairs make a nice foreground element, so I sat down on the beach with my 16-35 mm lens and framed this scene. The 3 seconds long exposure and fast moving water added a lot of commotion to the scene. The shutter speed turned out to be long enough to smooth out the distant water, gave a fast wave movement, but short enough to maintain some structure in the clouds.


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm.

Aperture: f/20

Shutter speed: 3 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV
Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 50

Place taken: Porto, Portugal.

Date Taken: Sunday, January 15th, 2012, 18: 34

Maciek.

The last days of 2011 at the Oporto beach

The late afternoon at the Foz beach, Porto, Portugal.

A story behind: The 2011 is gone. It was a very good and productive year for me. During all my photo trips I have learned some valuable lessons. These experiences ( that I have always included in "A story behind" section of this blog ) have made me richer and I hope that you will find them refreshing and inspiring on your next photo journey.

Just a reminder of some of them: Every shooting situation is different and definitely not the same as the last time you have been on the same spot. Do your homework by reviewing online the weather and light conditions, low-high sea times and look at some other photos from the same spot as well as watch the place you want to shoot first on the web then with your camera ( there are a lot of usefuls apps I use on my iPhone ). Keep your camera clean and protect it ( and the filters ) from dust, humidity and salt.
Shoot a lot but later publish only one best photo.
Get to know your camera very well, because searching the menu button at night can be a horror. Understand and look to your histogram while shooting. It delivers very important information about your image.

And last but not the least: start a photoblog and write tips about photography, because writing is also learning !

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm.

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 2 sec

Exposure bias: -0.3 EV

Focal Length: 22 mm

ISO: 320

Place taken: Porto, Portugal.

Date Taken: Thursday, December 29st, 2011, 17: 22

Maciek.

Winter storm waves attacking the lighthouse

A ferocious winter storm wave attacking the lighthouse and the pier at the mouth of the Douro river.

A story behind: The lighthouse at the end of the recently built pier is 15 meters high which means that the foam is spraying close to 35 meters into the air, propelled upward by the raging winter ocean. Amazing what kind of weather lighthouses have to endure.
Since no people were allowed to get close to the pier that day, I used the Nikkor 75-300 mm lenses with high ISO to catch a very fast moving water.

The photo was selected for the front page of http://onephoto.net.

PS: Now also at 1x.com, click here


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 75-300 mm.

Aperture: f/13

Shutter speed: 1/2000 sec


Exposure bias: -0.3 EV

Focal Length: 250 mm

ISO: 400

Place taken: Porto-Foz, Portugal.

Date Taken: Thursday, December 13th, 2011, 10: 14

Maciek.

The sea stairs of Granja

Veteran outdoor photographer a.k.a me, standing on the stairs leading to the sea,
December 2011.

A story behind: After surviving harsh weather conditions that night me and my camera easily could be called "veterans of outdoor photography". High winds, 100% humidity, the waves crashing all over my body, camera and tripod with a dramatic sky and an approaching storm ( look left upper corner ) above not too mention a necessity of cleaning the lenses every 2 shots - these were the weather conditions I encountered that night when I shoot this photo.
I additionally used the ND 0. 5 filter to smooth out ripples on the sea caused by high winds during the longer exposure.
I used B&W technique. In general images with very colourful elements work best when presented in full colour. I found that photos with strong textures, interesting patterns, and/or stormy spotlighting make excellent black and white photographs. It is all about contrasts -- when I'm working with shades of Gray I'm relying heavily on contrast to develop a successful image.


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. ND 0.5 filter.

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 1 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 19 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Granja, Portugal.

Date Taken: Sunday, December 11th, 2011, 17: 24

Maciek.

Looking back at our 2010 trip

A old photo miraculously found on my hard drive. Grand Teton National park, looking south from the 191 Interstate, Wyoming, USA.

Gear: Nikon D80. Sigma 10-20 mm. B&W in PS3.

Aperture: f/8

Shutter speed: 1/250 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 20 mm

ISO: 100

Date Taken: August 22nd, 2010, 17: 50

Maciek.

December in Aguda

The first day of December, stormy sunset over the Aguda beach, Portugal.

A story behind: Early evening storm approaching from the mainland Portugal with beautiful, full of contrast clouds gathering over the small lighthouse and pier of the Aguda beach. I used the 3-stop soft-step ND Grad to balance the exposure of the bright areas of the sky with the pastel coloured sea in the shaded foreground.

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm.

Aperture: f/20

Shutter speed: 1 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 28 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Aguda, Portugal.

Date Taken: Thursday, December 1st, 2011, 17: 12

Maciek.

Tuesday in the Mountains

A scenic view of the Serra Estrela Mountains with wind turbines.

A story behind: In the early afternoon I climbed the Serra Estrela Mountains and settled on one of the peaks with scenic 360º views. I was familiar with the location because I did some exploring in that area back in April. I waited. The sun was slowly going down and it started to get more and more cold. These weather conditions added some red cast to the image. The clouds and fog filled valleys as the Sun went down over the western reaches the Portuguese coast. The night was coming.

Gear: Nikon D700, Nikkor 70-300 mm 1,45-5,6 ED, VR on. Handhold.

Place taken: Seia, Portugal.

Aperture: f/11

Shutter speed: 1/250 sec

Outside temeprature: 4º C.

Focal Length: 300 mm

ISO: 230

Date Taken: Tuesday, November 29th, 2011, 17: 07

Maciek.