Dresden - photo walk at night

 

I like to show you a few more pictures of the nightly Dresden. Rebuilt after the city was nearly destroyed in World War II, it is a pearl among European cities. Drizzle made for some interesting, but unwanted effects on my lens during this photo walk at night.

“Der Goldene Reiter”, the statue of “August II the Strong” was on my shooting list since a long time. The Elector of Saxony and King of Poland has established Dresden as a major cultural center and is probably best remembered as a patron of the arts and architecture.

Chicago...night, light, and colors

 

It was quiet here again in the blog during the last week. I just returned from GRAPH EXPO, the annual trade show of the graphic industry at the McCormick Place in Chicago. I had plans to post some images during this week but due to a “pilot error” the cable that connects the camera with my notebook was not in my photo bag and so I wasn’t able to upload any photos… :-?

Our company stayed at the Hyatt Hotel next to the McCormick Center and it paid back to ask for a high floor during my check-in. There isn’t much time for any private life during a trade show but I did not waste the late night and early morning hours because of the great view to the Chicago skyline from my room...

Unlike in many airplanes the hotel window was relatively clean and by holding the lens very close to the glass the reflections were almost eliminated. Early Sunday morning the fog from Lake Michigan was creeping into the city. Hours before the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field the first light of the day was reflected in the glass of the stadium. The Ferris wheel on Navy Pier stuck out of the fog in the background during the blue hour…, what a great way to start the first day of the trade show…

Clouds poured in on Monday and the top of Sears Tower on the left was hidden. The city’s light was reflected from above and made for a spectacular night scene.

Wednesday morning the first rays of the sun touched the skyline and revealed the colors and pronounced the lines of Chicago’s wonderful architecture.

Colorado landscapes: Great Sand Dunes - a place to beat the light pollution

 

A few months ago I read the book NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY - From Snapshots to Great Shots by Gabriel Biderman and Tim Cooper. If you try to learn about all aspects of this kind of photography this book is highly recommended. Easy to understand, even for a not-native English speaker like me, very good illustrations and photos, and a just straight forward and simple teaching style made the book a great pleasure to read and a wonderful source of information for me. Needles to say that I was eager to apply some of the new knowledge to my photography during our vacation in southern Colorado. Here is my little story about the first try…

There was only a very short period when we could expect to photograph the Milky Way up in the nightly sky and that was right at the beginning of our Colorado trip, just during our stay in the Great Sand Dunes National Park. For the rest of the time we had waxing moon. As good as this was for shooting mountains illuminated by the moon, it doesn’t help to make an image of the Milky Way.

Watching the sky at night in the Great Sand Dunes made me again aware how much light pollution we face even in a state like Iowa, that is not as densely populated , like for example Central Europe or the big cities here in the US.

The best results in order to capture the Milky Way, or at least parts of it, were achieved by using the Carl Zeiss Distagon T*, 35 mm / f2 ZF, wide open, f2, and an exposure time of 10 seconds. In order to stay below 10 seconds I had to dial in ISO 1100, which is kind of a stretch on my good old NIKON D300s in regards of noise and image quality. Any time longer than 9.5 sec. creates star trails instead of seeing the stars as dots and it would have made the Milky Way real “milky”.

Several mistakes have been made during this shooting session in the dark right beside our tent and I felt like a golf player that is the first time on a golf course. But hey, I really love this stuff and I learned my first lesson in the field. Can’t wait to try it again!! :-)

Easter on the farm

 

We spent Easter on the farm with our family in Northwest Iowa. Thank you to Don, Shelly, and Shelby for having us again and for being such wonderful hosts! Beside eating a wonderful Easter dinner we spent quite some time outside and despite a snow shower coming down we had a nice fire going.

It is an exciting time on the farm. Eight calves were born in the last few days and a few more are expected soon.

I always like to walk around on the farm with my camera and look for interesting subjects. This time I was on a mission. I have made many pictures of the more than 100 years old barn before but this weekend was probably my very last chance to work with this old farm building. It will be replaced by a new barn very soon because its shape may bare a safety risk and repair is not really an option anymore. The barn is still in use and everybody is a little sad about the fact that it has to go. It was the first time that I made pictures of the barn at night. There is a lamp post right beside the building and its position is just perfect for this shot. The fresh snow solves the problem with the muddy foreground and shoots some extra light towards the barn.

Travel impressions – Prague, part 5

 

I still owe you the final part of my "Travel impressions" series about Prague in the Czech Republic. If you like to see the older posts about this wonderful city again, please feel free to click HERE and a new window will open and let you review the older posts and photos.

I can't finish this series without talking about how gorgeous Prague is at night. The castle, towers, most churches, and many buildings are illuminated and let the old architecture stand out. I did not bring my tripod because of the weight limits during air travel but this didn't stop me to try some night shots. In an old city like Prague you can always find a spot to place the camera for a long exposure shot. Any wall, statue, or even a restaurant table is good for supporting the camera.

I hope you enjoyed my little series about Prague. Drop me a note if you did, or even if you not did...

Not even HDR

No, not even an HDR image, just a brief "Hello snapshot" from Kansas City, Missouri. Business requires my presence here and that means no wildlife shooting this week. I have lots of unpublished images from the last couple months on my hard drive but I thought it doesn't hurt to show something totally different today. I hope you still enjoy.