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.

Merzouga

A story behind: Very early morning. Just a few minutes after the sunrise. Cold wind blowing west from the Algerian border. 

A camel caravan passing the dunes of the Erg Chebbi.

I used the F-stop of 10 just to gain maximum sharpness. I shoot against the light to maximize the contrasts on the dunes. 
Plese click on the image to get a full screen preview.
Photo on the front page of : http://www.fotocommunity.com/

Location: 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: Friday, May 3rd, 2013, 06:31

Maciek.

Early April in our garden

Last days of Gardenia flowers. Wild strawberry.

A choice

A story behind: Those who choose to succeed always do better than those who never choose at all.
Early morning Monday picture of the Sado River fishing port in Carrasqueira, near Alcácer do Sal, Alentejo, Portugal.

Location: Sado river, Alentejo, 80 kilometers south of Lisbon, Portugal.

Gear: Nikon D700, ND hard 10 stops, tripod.

Aperture: f/20

Exposure bias: +0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO: 50

Date Taken: Monday, March 25th, 2013, 12:09

Maciek.

Flores Island. The interior.

Near Caldeira Seca, Flores Island, Portugal.

A story behind:  This is how the interior of the Flores island looks like: a huge caldera that hosts 7 lagoons. Averaging 500 meters above the ocean level, the plateau is bounded by the rim of the not-so-old volcano walls. The volcanic island is relatively young. It appeared only 20 000 years ago. That is why it has a landscape filled with deep valleys and high peaks, lagoons bordered by steep cliffs carved by grottoes.  
Flores (Flowers) takes is names due to a great profusion of wild flowers.
In 2009, Flores was included on UNESCO's list of World Network of Biosphere Reserves at the Man and the Biosphere.

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

Aperture: f/8

Shutter speed: 1/250 sec

Exposure bias:-0,3 EV

Focal Length: 16 mm

ISO:500

Place taken:  Island of Flores, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Monday, March 4th, 2013, 13:15

Maciek.

Walking early in the morning. The westernmost part of Europe.

  Walking early in the morning. Near Cerdos, Flores Island, Portugal.

A story behind:  Another perfect morning. The first rays of sunlight after heavy night raining. Looking north toward the small village of Cerdos with the Corvo island on the horizon.
Flores island is the westernmost part of Europe.
Walking gives you instant energy and relaxes your mind. You feel a physical and spiritual upliftment with the morning walk. The chirping of birds, fresh air and a calm environment changes your perception and you reach from the everyday conscious mind to your highest level of mind. 
Even with the little light the full frame D700 with a 1250 iso speed produces a perfect image with no grain.

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

Aperture: f/5,6

Shutter speed: 1/250 sec

Exposure bias: 0 EV

Focal Length: 20 mm

ISO:1250

Place taken:  Near Cerdos, Island of Flores, Portugal.
 

Date taken: Sunday, March 3rd, 2013, 07:33

Maciek.

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.