Dark Summer

For #MonochromeMonday excellently curated by +Nurcan Azaz  +Manuel Votta +Charles Lupica +Jerry Johnson and +Steve Barge  
+Monochrome Monday 

Also, if at all possible, check my previous post please (https://plus.google.com/113722211762693166526/posts/cZ6hVWwRfLe)  and leave me your opinion. Thank you!

a cricket feeding a juicy orchid ...

sharing this for #MacroMonday

#malaysia   #canonphotography   #buggymonday   #buggyfriday   #hqsppromotion  

Best thing to do if the weather is such a mess as it is here right now?
Watch older pictures!
That's exactly why you took them:)

#normandy #normandie #landscapephotography #landschaft #landscape #see #summer #summerphotos #france #frankreich #olympuspen #olympus #hqsppromotion   #beautifulplanetearth   #photography #plusphotoextract #photography #potd  

Lotseninsel III

This is the other Tree or group of Trees standing completely on their own on the Lotseninsel Schleimünde. This was shoot from the Naturerlebniszentrum two days before I entered the Peninsula from the waterside. I think this will be my last one in the high key style for a while, missing the dark ;)

For those who haven´t seen it yet, here is a short video I made while shooting the Lighthouse and some other interesting subjects there. In the video you´ll see the Trees from a different position.

Lotseninsel

Have a great week everybody :)

My contribution for #MonochromeMonday  curated by +Nurcan Azaz +Hans Berendsen +Jerry Johnson +Charles Lupica and +Manuel Votta 
and for #MinimalMonday hosted by +Olivier Du Tré 
and finally for #SeaTuesday curated by +Julia Anna Gospodarou 

On Colorblindness and Happy Accidents

The other night, +Brian Bonham and I threw the dice and tested our luck at shooting the stars over Crater Lake. We spent the entire day with +Brad Sloan , shooting the lake from various locations with part of the intent to scout locations for the night shoot. When Brian and I returned to the park that evening, the sun had just set and we were greeted with a beautiful medley of colors. For the next two hours to so, we resigned ourselves to testing out different framing options and cracking jokes at each other's expense. And right on cue, stars began to form. At first, we pointed out one here and there. Soon, the entire sky was dotted with them. Constellations became visible and then the Milky Way appeared, stretching the span of our sky. Brian and I proceeded to photograph for about 3 hours, comparing and collaborating - and dealing with the occasional light flare up from traffic or a flashlight. As we photographed and chatted about how beautiful the scene was, we wondered whether +Gary Randall was floating around somewhere - he is a photographer who I am dying to shake hands with.

At the time that I was processing these images, I was in a hangout with Brad and +Mandy Sloan. I saw some weird luminance in my shot and I couldn't figure out what it was. I shared my screen and asked Brad and Mandy to take a look. In situations like this one, I tend to seek some confirmation due to my Red/Green colorblindness. 

Much to my surprise and glee, both Brad and Mandy confidently confirmed that it looked like I had captured an aurora caused by the eruption of a solar flare from one of the sun's larger sunspots. It was one of those moments of extreme satisfaction tinged with a bit of regret because I would have loved to have seen the colors of the aurora both in the field and when I was processing. Often times, I am asked what something made up of colors that I can't see looks like. While I appreciate the nature of curiosity and inquisitiveness, it does bum me out in a small way to know that I can be missing out on a potentially beautiful event.

Still, I do find myself returning to the memories of staring up at a sky brimming with so many little dots of light and am reminded that, really, things are pretty damn amazing even if a small portion of the color spectrum is not all that perceivable to me. :)

Enjoy the week, everyone!

In terms of processing
This was a 30 seconds at ISO 4000 and f/2.8 using my Canon 5D Mark III ( amazing low light handling) and the Canon 15mm Fisheye lens.

Very little was done to this image. I added two effects here - one was some slight Tonal Contrast onto the foreground to bring out the shadows and then a global layer of Rich Glow to add some deeper blacks in the sky.

Final touches were applied in Lightroom 4.1

Adding to #nationalparksmonday , curated by +Juan Pons

≈
It may take a little while longer to get home tonight


Cenarth Falls on the River Teifi. First time I've shot a waterfall, it aint easy! Although on the bright side it probably takes me as long to type all the curators of #monochromemonday  as it it did to process the image :))

+Jerry Johnson +Hans Berendsen +Nurcan Azaz +Steve Barge +Manuel Votta +Charles Lupica 
and as it's kinda #moodymonday  material too I best mention the lovely +Carole Buckwalter & +Philip Daly as well!

iPad Wallpaper - Lake Matheson, South Westland NZ

I have been giving away some iPad wallpapers through my blog recently - and figured that it was only right that my G+ homies get in on the action.

You can grab the 2048px wallpapers (plural) from here: http://bit.ly/NibI3J use the Password freewallpaper when prompted. 

As an aside - Some of you may have missed my D800e v Canon 5dmkii kickboxing matchup last week (I learned not to post crappy pictures with a post) - it's here: http://bit.ly/KT4Rcc (the 5d mkii is still in traction).

Cheers - Todd

Kirkjufellfoss

Kirkjufellfoss with Kirkjufell in the background. All in all we spent about 3 hours on this spot.. The first day we arrived at the spot it was very cloudy. The advantage of bad weather is that you're alone. On the second day, which was a nice day with temperatures around 15 degree celcius, there were more people visiting the spot. One of the visitors was a family with four children and you surely can image that they could not stay still for a second. They were running up and down and into the water all the time and you really can't take any pictures then.. In such situation it really pays out to have some time, relax at the spot and wait for the other guys to leave.. :-)

After all the praises (from +Dietmar Descamps, +Ingo Meckmann) for #niksoftware  I was going to give it a try and I like the outcome.. Have not tried any color image manipulation yet but surely will do during the trial period.. This one is b/w tone mapping on a single shot.. I begin to like those kind of shots..

Sony A550
Sigma 10-20mm @ 15mm
ISO 200, F8, 20s
HiTech 10 stop


#plusphotoextract  by +Jarek Klimek 
#naturemonday   by +Rolf Hicker, +Jen Baptist 
#monochromemonday  by +Charles Lupica, +Bill Wood, +Hans Berendsen, +Jerry Johnson
#iceland2012  

© Dimitar Hristov - 54ka :: blog.54ka.org
#PlusPhotoExtract by +Jarek Klimek 
#BreakfastClub by +Gemma Costa  +Andrea Martinez 
#breakfastartclub by +Kate Church - Photography & Tidbits 
#hqsppromotion by +Carina Marsh  +Mukundh B  +Rinus Bakker  +Marina Versaci  +Tammy Boldt  +Thierry Raemaekers  +Syuzanna Avetisyan  +HQSPPromotion 
#ColorsOnFriday #feelgoodfriday #colorsonfriday #photo #plusphotoextract #photography #FridayGetaway #Photo #horse #animal

Tabletop Nature Macro! [ bit.ly/fp-four ]
Table... what?

I know, I know. The purists will give me a hard time for this. I shot this macro on my desk, using 3 speedlights, a syringe with water and a blue card board in the background. See bit.ly/fp-four for details on the setup.

For this image, I had a specific idea as to how I wanted it to look. And here comes my personal philosophy: 

If you envision an image, do what it takes to produce it and be honest about it afterwards.

Enjoy!

Horseshoe Bend

Today I wanna share one of my absolute favorite pictures of the most beautiful place I've ever been so far - the magnificent Horseshoe Bend.
On my trip through the south-west of the US I came along lots of very beautiful and stunning places. But this incredible scenery made me speechless. Every time I look at this picture it gives me wonderful feelings of joy, satisfaction, peace and happiness.
Since "The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express" (Francis Bacon), I definitely recommend everyone to visit this place oneself and experience the beauty of this wonderful landscape!

One last advice: Take your time watching this picture to perfectly enjoy it. You'll see what I mean! Feel free to tell me your experiences and feelings you had.

#photography #landscapephotography +Landscape Photography
#hqsppromotion +HQSPPromotion +Rinus Bakker
#plusphotoextract +Jarek Klimek
#natureartthursday

Thanks for watching, commenting and buying my pictures!
portfolio.stefanbrenner.com