A small pier and a ship

A small wooden pier and a ship photographed yesterday at the Foz beach, Porto, Portugal.

A story behind:  Shooting long exposures at the beach can create many challenges. First the waves hitting the tripod can move the camera. Second the sudden and unexpected wind blows may also ruin your photo. Beware of the droplets of water carried by the wind from the sea which quickly cover you camera and filters making the final image blurry. The long exposures of 180 seconds ( like the one above ) and plus another 180 seconds  ( when the camera reconstructs the image ) allow you only a few shots during the best light.


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Polarizer. 10 ND-Stop. Tripod.

Aperture: f/9

Shutter speed: 180 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Foz, Porto, Portugal.
 

Maciek.

The lake houses

Two houses by the lake Furnas, Portugal.

A story behind: This is another example of over 30 seconds long exposure.
It transforms the small pier overlooking Furnas Lake into the quite serene scenic photo. 
The Furnas Lake is amazing. I try to visit the area every time I am on the island. When a solid shooting technique is mixed together with an emotional impact the result can be even more awarding.
Square format of the image mathematically adds harmony.
Please enjoy !


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Polarizer. 10 ND-Stop.

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 35 sec

Exposure bias: +0,7 EV

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO: 50

Place taken: Furnas, Portugal.
 

Maciek.

Catching the wind

"Do not believe clocks - time has only invented them to play with us".
.
The Casa da Musica building, Porto, Portugal.

A story behind: This has always been my dream to capture a picture like the one above. My desire was to create the image with long exposure extending from 30 seconds up to 1-minute. I wanted to portray a sense of motion that would contrast with the monumental and massive concrete structure of Casa Da Muscia. It hasn ´t been easy. What you need is Cumulus clouds fast moving in a direction longitudinal to the long axis of the building to make an image dynamic; sunny afternoon but with the sun hidden during at least 1 minute long intervals behind the clouds; strong wind but not too strong to get your camera and tripod moving and lots of time ( since one shot takes about 3 minutes and camera movement can ruin your image ).
Finally this Sunday  afternoon I did it. 
Going with the square format was also perfect for this series. I find the square format very elegant and try to use it more and more. 

Please enjoy !


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Polarizer. 10 ND-Stop.

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 40 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO: 50

Place taken: Porto, Portugal.
 

Maciek.

My bridge

The Arrábida bridge, Porto, Portugal, built in 1963, is a splendid example of the modern architecture.

A story behind: This is another thing that I am recently very interested in: slow shutter speed - long exposure photos. 
The fast moving clouds on the slow shutter speed of 48 seconds make an image more dynamic.


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Polarizer. 10 ND-Stop.

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 48 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO: 50

Place taken: Porto, Portugal.
 

Maciek.

Negative space photography

An Atlantic Ocean view, Portugal.

A story behind: This is my new obsession: negative space photography. I am taking first steps and believe me: it is not so easy. Too often I get caught up trying to put too much inside one frame thinking that everything is interesting to the observer: people, lines, shapes, objects. I tend to over complicate things and giving an observer no space to rest his eyes. 
So I decided to go minimalistic. 
What is "negative space" in photography? It simply means the empty space around one object. First the empty space seems like a waste. In fact it plays a very important role adding importance to the subject.

This is also an example of a successful breaking the golden rule of landscape photography placing the horizon in the center of the frame.


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Polarizer. 10 ND-Stop.

Aperture: f/20

Shutter speed: 127 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 19 mm

ISO: 50

Place taken: Village of Nodeste, Portugal.
 

Maciek.

My top spot for photography

A view at the mouth of the small river and the Sehor da Pedra chapel in Madalena, Portugal.

A story behind: This has always been one of my favorites spots for late afternoon photography. But as I hustled down there yesterday afternoon I had not expected to find such wonderful conditions. 
Is does not happen very frequently. In fact it happens only maybe a few days per year: a small lake made by the unnamed torrent being full from the rain we had a couple of last days ago combined with a high sea at the end of the day that pushes water from the ocean to the riverbed and the last, but most important and rare, no wind. 

I soon set up my D700 and 16-35. I added a polarizer and the 3-stop soft-step ND Reverse Grad to balance the exposure of the bright areas of the sky and water.



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

Aperture: f/20

Shutter speed: 4 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV
Focal Length: 19 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Village of Madalena, Portugal.
 

Date Taken: Friday, April 6th, 2012, 20: 03

Maciek.

Our garden in early April

 

From the top left clockwise: Pelargonium, first Mont Favet tomato flowers, strawberries, Cucurbita, Azalia tree flowers blooming. 

Gear: Nikon D80, Tamron AF 28-75 mm
ISO: 400

Date Taken: All pictures taken on the same day, April 6th, 2012.

Maciek.

Just sit and enjoy ( the pleasure of traveling )

Early morning on the abandoned Santa Barbara beach, Portugal.

A story behind: The Santa Barbara beach faces the north. It is usually very windy and rainy and it never lacks impressive moments.
On Friday´s morning the beach was empty so I could enjoy the view all by myself and had enough time to prepare my camera to photograph fast moving clouds and an empty white chair that I decided to place in the left down corner of the image.

Gear: Nikon D700, Nikkor 16-35 mm, ND Full Stop. Tripod.

Aperture: f/16

Shutter speed: 35 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 50

Date Taken: Friday, March 24th, 2012, 10: 10

Maciek.

The spiraling stairs

Looking up the spiraling staircase at the Pão de Açucar hotel in downtown Porto.

A story behind: In early July our friends are coming to Porto. They made a reservation at the Pão de Açucar hotel in downtown Porto. As I was passing by the hotel I stepped in and ask at the reception desk in everything is OK with the reservation. A spiraling stairs immediately caught my eye.
I put my camera and shot some photos.
Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm.

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 1 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 22 mm

ISO: 250

Date Taken: Thursday, March 15th, 2012, 13: 17

Maciek.

This is my world

A view at the mouth of the Douro river as it flows into the Atlantic ocean.

A story behind: As I hustled down to the river and set up my D700 and 16-35, I already had an idea in my mind of how I wanted to compose the image: the foreground with stone stairs, long exposure time to soften the water and three lighthouses on the horizon. My lens already had my polarizer and I added the 3-stop soft-step ND Grad to balance the exposure of the bright areas of the sky with the pastel colored sea in the shaded foreground.

From the south the moisture-soaked clouds were approaching and the sky was lighting up for the sunset. I set my camera with the remote and sit on the stairs enjoying the view.

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

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 30 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 22 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken ( map ): Porto, Portugal.

Date Taken: Thursday, March 15th, 2012, 18: 45

Maciek.