It's out now - my first book!

I did it! My first ebook is finally published and if you like you can download it as a pdf file right here in the blog. And here comes the best, it is free of charge! :-) Just click over in the side bar on “Andreas’s books” and you will enter the download page.

Why a book with photos about Prag, the capitol of the Czech Republic? Joan and I were over in Germany in May 2012 for the wedding of my son André and his wife Seraphine. Following this wonderful event was a three day trip to Prague, which is only three hours away by train from my home town Bautzen. I have been many times in this magnificent city during the Eighties and had very good memories of all the visits. Joan has never been there and so it has been for a long time on her travel agenda.

I didn’t really plan on making a book. I just had the camera with me and was shooting away for three days. We had some gorgeous light situations but no matter how the weather is, this city has so many nice places and subjects for all kinds of travel, street or architecture photography. Back home and after reviewing the images I decided to create a book about Prague as a Christmas gift for Joan. It is a hard cover 12” x 12” and it was printed and bound by a professional print service. Later I showed a first ebook version to some friends and family and everybody asked me, did you publish the book yet? So finally, over a year later, here it is. I added text for some of the images to make it a little more accessible for people that have never been in Prague and made some small changes in the layout.

Travel photography isn’t really what I’m doing most of the time anymore (have done a lot back in the days of film and slides) but working on this book was a great learning experience that hopefully will help me to make another one about wildlife or landscape photography sometime soon. Maybe this book will inspire you to pack your bags and travel to Prague. A wonderful city full of history, good food, and awesome beer is waiting for you…

Indoors with 32-BIT High Dynamic Range (HDR)

 

I like to share another image that I created with the same technical means I have described yesterday here in the blog. Indoor pictures with great architecture can really benefit from HDR, with or without ton mapping, as you can see in this photograph I made inside the St. Vitus's Cathedral in Prague, Czech Republic. There is just no way that you can catch the details in the sculptures without blowing out the highlights in the stained glass windows with a single exposure. You sacrifice one part for the other if you only make one click. By blending a series of exposures (here I used 4) into one 32-BIT image I was able to expand the dynamic range and the result is much closer to what our eyes have really seen in this wonderful cathedral. This image is part of a special project I'm working on at the moment and that I will come out with hopefully soon. So please stay tuned...

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...

Travel impressions - Prague, part 4

If you ever visit Prague it is an absolute "must" to visit the Jewish Quarter with its synagogues, the Old Jewish Cemetery, and its streets, many lined with wonderful Art Nouveau buildings.

One of the most interesting places is the Old Jewish Cemetery. It was founded in 1478 and was for over 300 years the only burial ground permitted to jews. Because of the lack of space people had to be buried on top of each other, up to 12 layers deep. Today we can see over 12,000 gravestones crammed into the tiny space, but several times that number are thought to have been buried here. The last burial was in 1787. (source: Travel guide Prague, DK Eyewitness Travel).

Travel impressions – Prague, part 3

 

I like to continue my little series about Prague with views from Europe's busiest pedestrian bridge, Karluv Most (Charles Bridge). It connects the Old Town quarter with Mala Strana (Lesser Town) and the Prague castle, the biggest castle in the world. That it is also the most visited castle in the world can easily be found out by just walking across Charles Bridge. It is impossible to make a picture without having lots of people in the frame. The only way is to shoot just above peoples heads like in the photo above. A dark sky with nice clouds and the buildings illuminated by the low evening sun made for a great color contrast. I used the tele end of the 24-120 for this image. It compresses the view over the bridge nicely and the churches in the background appear much closer than they really are. An image I always wanted to make.

The bridge is lined by 30, mostly Baroque, statues mounted to the balustrade on both sides of the bridge. It is supposed to bring good fortune if you touch the plagues below some of the statues. I have seen people waiting in line for doing this, it must be true... This young man thought so too and gave me the chance for this shot in best light. I'm usually very hesitant to make pictures of people I don't know (you probably can tell by browsing through my picture galleries). In Prague everybody runs around with a camera around their necks and shoots whatever comes across. It is easy to blend in, even for me... ;-)

Charles Bridge is not just an architectural highlight in Prague it is also a place where art is performed, displayed, and sold. Dozens of artists try to make a living and offer their paintings, drawings, jewelry, and other handcrafted things to the millions of tourists that walk across the bridge every year. Musicians and other performing artists gather good crowds all the time. By just listening to or looking at the people you can tell that the visitors come from all over the world. Bus loads of tourists with their guides make navigation sometimes not easy. The trick is to wait patiently for your chance to make a particular image. If you wait too long someone may have walked into the frame already...  More to come.

Travel impressions - Prague, part 2

I actually wanted to write about the famous Charles Bridge in Prague today but a question in my last post from Brian, a cool guy from Germany, made me change my plans. Let's talk about beer and food instead... ;-)

Yes Brian, I have been in the famous "Pivovar U Fleku". I wanted to show my wife Joan where all my bad habits started... (just kidding... :-)  ). This was indeed a place I have visited many, many times in my younger years. I haven't been there for more than twenty years but not much seemed to have changed since. The beer was still good and the food looked better than ever. We had a great time.

It is really not difficult to find good places to eat in Prague. Many restaurants are in very old and charming buildings. Most menus are in Czech, German, and English language and it is easy for tourists to find their way around. There are places for every price level and beside international cuisine most restaurants offer still the traditional way of Bohemian cooking.

The Bohemian brewing traditions are very old and famous and a real beer connoisseur must have Prague on his bucket list. The best places to enjoy a good beer (pivo) are the small micro breweries and pubs (pivovars).

Travel impressions - Prague, part 1

The avid readers of my blog knew already I wouldn't start this little "travel impressions series" about our trip to the capitol of the Czech Republic Prague with a "postcard view", if there were not some special ingredients involved. One of them is great light and the other one are the wonderful clouds over the scene. I usually don't care much for this kind of image unless the light sets it apart from the usual tourist snapshot. For those who have never been in this beautiful city, this is a view from Prague's most famous bridge, the Charles Bridge, over the Moldau River to Stare Mesto, the Old Town of Prague. I can tell you, this city is photographers heaven. You can shoot all day and never run out of interesting views and details. I will show you during the next few days just a few of the things that drew my attention. I hope all friends that watch out for nature photography only get something out of this too..., so please stay tuned!