A pink sunrise over the little port of Ponta de Arnel

The first light over the little fisherman´s port of Ponta de Arnel, São Miguel island.

A story behind:  I revisit this place almost every time I stay on São Miguel island, and many times I feel I can pull out an image that is different from what I already have. Ponta de Arnel is always a beautiful spot.
"Bad" weather is often very good for photographing. In fact I love “bad” weather. When clouds form and rain, these are the times when truly unique images are made. It takes a lot of time and patience, but in between storms there is often a clearing that will offer some truly magical cloud/light patterns.

Gear: Nikon D700. Polarizer, Tripod.

Aperture: f/5,6

Shutter speed: 1/10 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Easternmost point of the Sao Moguel island, Portugal.

Date taken: Thursday, October, 25th, 2012, 06:49

Maciek.

Monochromatography: see the world in the shades of cold steel colour

A steel-blue monochromatic image. Island of Madeira, Portugal. 

A story behind: The image whose range of color consists of shades of a single color or hue can be called monochromatic.

With a B&W image we pay more attention to shapes, textures and patterns—features that are often enhanced by monotones and hidden in coluor image. We must be more aware of the lighting, composition and how the colors will convert to gray scale. Monochromatic also often means more artistic. This type of pictures tend to instantly catch the attention of every viewer.

A wide dynamic range of gray scale from rich blacks to glowing whites makes any time of day the perfect time to shoot. 

Gear: Nikon D700. 

Aperture: f/20

Shutter speed: 5 sec

Exposure bias: +0,7 EV

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO: 50

Place taken: Santa Cruz, island of Madeira, Portugal.

Date taken: Sunday, October 14th, 2012, 18:36

 Maciek.

"Fajã" - an almost 90º angle shot from above

An almost areal view on the Achada faja, island of Madeira, Portugal. 

A story behind:  This is an almost perfect areal shot of Fajã Achadas de Cruz from the high cliff above. A word "Fajã’ in Portuguese stands for a landfall at the base of a high cliff forming a beach-like landing. 
There are a lot of "Fajãs" on the Azores archipelago and some on the Madeira island.
The cable car is the only mean of communication between the landing, the beach and the rest of the island.  While traveling in a cable car don't be surprised if you see farmers coming up with their crops. Many locals have their lands down there.

Gear: Nikon D700. 

Aperture: f/10

Shutter speed: 1/500 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Achadas de Cruz, island of Madeira, Portugal.

Date taken: Monday, October 15th, 2012, 12:55

 Maciek.

Long journey dreams

An old pier on the beach of  a small village of Santa Cruz, island of madeira, Portugal. Deserted islands on the horizon.

A story behind:  This was a first night of our second trip to the Madeira Island. Santa Cruz is a charming little town on the eastern coast of the Madeira Island.
From our home town of Porto it takes only 90 minutes by plane to get there.

Gear: Nikon D700. 

Aperture: f/20

Shutter speed: 5 sec

Exposure bias: +0,7 EV

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO: 50

Place taken: Santa Cruz, island of Madeira, Portugal.

Date taken: Sunday, October 14th, 2012, 18:36

 Maciek.

Ysios again.

 

The main entrance to the Ysios winery.

Maciek.

The Rioja wine region

Contemplating the Rioja vineyards while sipping wine at the Ysios, Spain.

A story behind:  The Calatrava-designed Ysios winery certainly imposes on the local landscape of the Rioja region. I can say I was as enamored with the modern building of the winery as I was with many small medival villages of Rioja and Laguardia.

We were tasted wine and stayed a little bit on the upper deck of the winery. Modern architecture of the Ysios from the inside resembled a cathedral of sorts. From the outside it brings to mind a ship surrounded by the wavy sea.

Gear: Nikon D700. 

Aperture: f/11

Shutter speed: 1/200 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 600

Place taken: not far from Biasteri, Spain.

Date taken: Monday, September 8th, 2012, 11:41

 Maciek.

 The wine cellars of the Ysios winery, Spain.

Sunrise over the Nervion river, Asturias, Spain.

The mirror reflection of the Guggenheim Art Museum in the still waters of the Nervion river, city of Bilbao, Spain.

A story behind:  We love Basque province of Asturias. It is much less crowded in comparison with other Spanish provinces. And above all the region is blessed with much better photographic conditions.

This photo was taken on the 9th of September at 5.51 in the morning. First rays of sun were hitting the roofs of the museum. Some parts of the roof were still in shadow. I used the polarizing filter.
One might not think that filters are important during the "golden time" of the soft light at the early morning, but I have found them sometimes to be essential to record the deep color saturation of the  walls. The polarizer removes bluish reflections off the non-vertical surfaces. Second, it eliminates the stray light scatter off the texture of the angled parts of the roof, thereby allowing the camera to capture much more texture detail. Third it removes some moisture forming over the river.
One must not forget that the moments of "no wind over the river" will last long. In my experience there are up 5 minutes of pause when the night sea breeze transforms naturally into day land breeze. So one must rush things up and take the picture in the right moment. 

Gear: Nikon D700. ND 0,3 soft, Polarizer, ND 0,6 hard. Tripod. .

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 1/200 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Bilbao, Spain.

Date taken: Saturday, September 7th, 2012, 05:51

Maciek.

The light is everything

 

Village of Capelas, Northern coast of  São Miguel island.

A story behind:  Tropical Storm Nadine spun around near the Caribbean and US East Coast 4 weeks ago, though the storm ended up circling back east toward the Azores Islands. Last Thursday it hit the archipelago bringing some rain, high winds, quite high temperatures and an amazing 99% of humidity in the air. 
Three factors influence how natural light renders a subject: time of day, camera direction and weather condition. 
That night a combination of high air temperature and moisture, acting like a massive filter,  ended up in wonderfully soft and multicolored lighting that gives a calm, peaceful mood to all subjects. This kind of light I have seen twice in my life ( first time was shortly before the tropical  storm in Key West, Florida: link ).
Moisture is a natural soft box: it scatters light sources so that their light originates from a much broader area. Humid air is also much more reflective to light, which often tricks your camera´s light meter into thinking that it needs to decrease the exposure. 

Gear: Nikon D700. ND 0,3 soft, ND 0,6 hard. Tripod. Rubber boots. Umbrella.

Aperture: f/11

Shutter speed: 1/30 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 100

Place taken: Capelas, Portugal.

Date taken: Thursday, September 20th, 2012, 19:25

Maciek.

The proper scale

The concrete-made staircase at the tower of the Niemeyer Center of Art, Avilez, Spain.

A story behind:  Sunday morning at the Niemeyer Center of Modern Art, Avilez, Asturias, Northern Spain.

A photo creation:  High contrast, bright light. In-camera shadow lightening did a great job.
A small human silhouette and huge stairs - another person lost in a concrete world.

Gear: Nikon D700. 

Aperture: f/11

Shutter speed: 1/250 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Avilez, Spain.

Date taken: Saturday, September 8th, 2012, 10:25

Maciek.

The six giants and the princess

Eastern facade of the Museum of the Modern Art, Bilbao, Spain.

A story behind:  This was our second visit to the Spanish city of Bilbao and its monumental Guggenheim Museum of the Contemporary Art.   

A photo creation:  I approached the museum skyline sunrise (above) feeling the impulse to eliminate the clutter and find the patterns and shapes that would add clarity. The idea was to place the window in the center of the image and make it look small and half-hidden. The surrounding six giant metal structures overwhelm and almost squish the window. Properly exposing the photo was another was another challenge. Every-second rising sun was changing the illumination of the building. The light was very different from my last visit to Bilbao ( on the 1st of January 2011 ).

The mystery of creating a three-dimensional image lies in playing with all the light-and-shadows. I choose f/11 as an aperture small enough to assure good overall depth of field and to maximize the sharpness. To achieve the right combination of 1/100 at f/11, I grudgingly selected an ISO setting of 700.  I was standing on the suspension bridge close to the eastern facade of the Museum. Although the traffic at the early Sunday hours was low, the bridge was oscillating, so I high ISO allowed to achieve the right shutter speed and eliminate the camera trembling.
Next was the selection of the polarizer filter to both increase little the color saturation and, more importantly, cut the glare.

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

Aperture: f/11

Shutter speed: 1/100 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO: 700

Place taken: Bilbao, Spain.

Date taken: Sunday, September 9th, 2012, 07:25

Maciek.