A dreamchaser

A fisherman on the beach of Leca de Palmeira. Click on the image for a full size.

A story behind: Friday night. This is the beach of Leça de Palmeira, just a few kilometers north of Porto, Portugal.

Location:  Leça da Palmeira, Portugal.

Gear: Nikon D700, Nikkor 16-32 mm, tripod.

Aperture: f/10


Shutter: 0,7 sec.
 
Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 250

Date: Friday, 15th of November 2013.

Maciek.

Do not take pictures, make pictures.

 

Sunset over the basilica Di San Giorgio Maggiore church.

Please click for the full size image.

A story behind: I think there is a difference between taking a travel picture and making one. Taking a picture means simply point and shoot. 
But while making a picture, you must think about all the elements in a scene and build your own composition. 

When I approached the scene the photo conditions were adverse: strong contrasts, almost no clouds in the sky, low line of horizon and fast moving typical venetian boats in the foreground. Placing the horizon line near the low bottom of the frame was a must.

I decided  to use wide-angle lenses. The lenses made a little barrel  distortion at the lower edges of the composition, just enough to create an ilusion that all boats "look" at the center of the scene where I put the church.

But that wasn´t enough. The upper two-thirds of the composition were empty. I moved a camera and consequently a view point a little down to include an old lamp. I placed the lamp at the strong point of the composiotion.

Location:  Venice old town, Italy.

Gear: Nikon D700, Nikkor 16-32 mm, hand-held.

Aperture: f/11


Shutter: 1/250 sec.
 
Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 400

Date: Saturday, 19th of October 2013.

Maciek.

The shipwreck

A shipwreck at the beach of Greek Peloponesse peninsula near Gythio.

A story behind: This is a shipwreck ones called Dimitrios.  Rumors say it was probably smuggling cigarettes when it fell into a storm and was abandoned.

Location:  Beach of Valtaki, about 3 miles northeast of Gythio, Greece.

Gear: Nikon D80, Nikkor 16-32 mm,10 stop filter.

Aperture: f/16


Shutter: 240 sec.
 
Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO:250

Date: Saturday, 28th of September, 2013. Hour: 18.58 p.m.

Maciek.

The sunset over city of Toledo, Spain.

A story behind: One can call our weekends large: they almost always start Thursday evening and end on Monday morning.
This "weekend" we travelled to Salamaca and Toledo. The sunset over the city of Toledo observed just across the Tajo river ( which finally flows into the Atlantic ocean in Lisbon, Portugal ) ends was outstanding.

Watch out for our next weekend trip to Jerez, Spain.



Location: Tajo River, Toledo, Spain.

Gear: Nikon D700, tripod.

Aperture: f/14

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO:200

Date Taken: Saturday night, July 28th, 2013, 19:33

Maciek.

A late afternoon at the Tuscan hills

Rolling Tuscan hills near Pienza, Italy. Click to enlarge.

A story behind: Late afternoon. A fading light has given the Tuscan rolling hills a third dimension.

Location: near Pienza, Tuscany, Italy.

Gear: Nikon D700, Nikon 70-300 mm,

Aperture: f/5,3

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 200 mm

ISO: 320

Date Taken: Saturday, June 8rd, 2013, 17:53

Maciek.

The white mosque

A story behind: A late afternoon. Sunset over the small town of Merzouga, Morocco, as seen from the desert. A white mosque. On the horizon the anti-atlas mountains.

Location: Erg Chebbi, Merzouga, Morocco.

Gear: Nikon D700, Nikon 70-300 mm,

Aperture: f/10

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 300 mm

ISO: 320

Date Taken: Thursday, May 2rd, 2013, 20:00

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 cloud and me

Selfportrait on the rocky beach of Granja, south of Porto, Portugal.

A story behind:  It was almost the sunset. I set a 30 seconds dalay and the camera shot a series of photos  with a one to three-seconds exposure.

Lack of polarizer didn´t allow me to remove the glare from the rocks while creating this dreamy long exposure photograph.

There was a thunderstorm on the horizon and the cloud went interestingly iluminated by the dying sun.

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

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 3 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Granja, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Tuesday, December 25th 2012, 17:06

Maciek.

Mosteiros Beach

Sunset on the Mosteiros beach, Portugal.

A story behind:  Some people say that all over the world there is 90% of average landscape ( uninteresting to the human eye ) and there is as little as 10% of miracles. I strongly disagree. Take this Mosteiro beach. When arriving most people see only unpleasant wind and dark sky. But the truth is that even this kind of landscape shines here and there and the experienced eye is being seduced all the time. Eyes stop and wide open and the admiring requires much more that the optical system. Many times you need to train your eyes to see. 

The name Mosteiros beach comes from the old legend. Back in XVth century when the first European explorers spotted this strange rock formations they thought this was a monastery ( port: Mosteiro ) building. 



Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. ND reverse 3 stop. Tripod. Rubber boots. Bashed by heavy, November waves.

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 1,6 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Mosteiros beach, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Thursday, November 21th, 2012. 18:36.

Maciek.

A view from my window

Arrabida bridge, although built in 1963, continues to be a splendid example of the modern architecture.

A story behind: November is the best month to take sunset photos from my window. The soft light travels  along the river  and deep into the city. Slow shutter speed added extra linear movement of the water in the river. Unfortunately it was moments before the night bridge illumination was turned on. 


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. 

Aperture: f/16

Shutter speed: 21 sec

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 400

Place taken: Porto, Portugal.
 

Date taken: November 14th 2012, 17:24

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.

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.

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.

The silence

Murtosa, Vouga river delta, Portugal. On the horizon the lights of the city of Aveiro.

A story behind: Standing alone in the shallow waters of the Vouga river delta surrounded by the silence. Me and my camera.

Full frame Nikon D700 allows to capture a great number of details from the full of light clouds on the horizon to the very poor lit boat hull.
With the help of my polarizer, I simply waited for the ambient light on the water to match the sunset light on the horizon. The magic happened a couple of minutes after the sunset when the light got pleasant allowing the rest of the scene to fade to softness.

Enjoy.
Location: Village of Murtosa, Portugal.

Gear: Nikon D700, Nikkor 16-35 mm AF-S ED. Tripod. RAW to Tiff.

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 3 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 50

Maciek.

The clouds have finally appeared

The Granja port lighthouse.

A story behind: The sunset over the Atlantic ocean with heavy clouds, low tide, rocks and quiet sea observed from the mouth of the small fishermen port of Granja.


Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm. Tripod. ND 0.6. Standing and taking photo from one of the most furthermost rocks of the shoreline accessible by foot.

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 12 sec

Exposure bias: -0.7 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 50

Place taken: Granja beach, Portugal.

Date Taken: Sunday, February 5th, 2012, 18: 00

Maciek.

A Friday night

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

A story behind: The Felgueiras lighthouse was built in 1886. Its system of lamps and lenses is now deactivated due to the construction of the new lighthouse close-by.

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

Aperture: f/22

Shutter speed: 5 sec

Exposure bias: -0.3 EV

Focal Length: 20 mm

ISO: 200

Place taken: Porto Foz beach, Portugal.

Date Taken: Friday, Fabruary 3rd, 2012, 18: 07

Maciek.

The summer´s gone

October on the abandoned Santa Barbara beach, Portugal.

A story behind: Windy and rainy. Waves were crashing along the Santa Barbara beach with the last surfers leaving. On the horizon you can spot the lights of the Santo Antonio village. Summer residents, vacationers and tourists are all gone. With November upon us, there is just a month to shot the best landscape photos one can imagine. I am so anxious !

Gear: Nikon D700, Nikkor 16-35 mm, ND reversed 0,6.

Aperture: f/16

Shutter speed: 1/2 sec

Exposure bias: -0,3 EV

Focal Length: 18 mm

ISO: 250

Date Taken: October 26th, 2011, 19: 00

Maciek.

The night when I lost my shoe

Sunset over the beach of Mosteiros, São Miguel, Portugal.

A story behind: I arrived at the beach quite early. Had time to buy an ice cream, watch some surfers breaking the waves. There were a few German tourist on the beach and we had a little chat. Then I started to put up my gear and prepare for the sunset. Usually I put on the rubber boots to protect me from the cold water but it was summer-time so I enthusiastically took off my shoes and went bare foot into the water.
Some dogs were playing on the beach. Suddenly one of them grabbed my shoe and ran away. For a second I considered to chase the dog but sacrifice your own personal comfort, or miss the shot. But who needs comfort when you get light like this, right? Believe me, getting back later to the hotel on one shoe was not pleasant.

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm.

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 1 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 18 mm

ISO: 200

Date Taken: September 2nd, 2011, 21: 11

Maciek.

The sky over Loch Alsh

A story behind: That night we were back from just another adventurous day on the Isle of Skye. The storm was beginning to arrive from the Atlantic ocean. The dull sky suddenly turned wild. I stopped the car. I had no time to put a tripod. Handheld, with the high ISO and short exposure the fast cloud motion got freeze. Some of the warmth from the dying sun was even captured and the effect of the polarizing filter was just enough as to not lose the reflections of the light which I felt was a necessary component of this image.

Location: Near Dornie, Loch Alsh, Scotland.

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm.

Aperture: f/9

Shutter speed: 60 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 18 mm

ISO: 800

Date Taken: July 08th, 2011, 22: 00

Maciek.

The sea wind farm

A story behind: The sunset over the beach in Rhyl, Wales, UK. Irish sea.

Location: Rhyl, Wales, UK.

Gear: Nikon D700. Nikkor 16-35 mm lenses, tripod, ND 100 Pro Stop.

Aperture: f/13

Shutter speed: 30 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 23 mm

ISO: 320

Date Taken: Friday, July 1st, 2011, 21: 50

Maciek.