Color Town

This is one of those shots that you can stare at for a long time, and still see some detail you didn't notice before. Don't ya just want to jump in and walk around?

Twin Buildings

I had a nice week off from work, and now I am back at it...but it was not easy coming to work today after arriving at two in the morning...needless to say, I am beat.

I can't remember the names of these churches in Rome, but I remembering wondering why they would build two identical buildings right next to each other??

Nice Alley Way in Florence

I liked the light and "emptiness" of this alley in Florence...

Inside The Pantheon

I have been posting a bunch of photos from Italy the past week or so....the reason is that I just recently "found" these photos which I thought had been lost with my Drobo failure. I had to go back and "re-work" the photos as my last versions (which I had processed before) were lost with my Drobo. So here is a shot from inside the Pantheon which was going through some renovations where I was there. It was really crowded inside, so in order to get shot with no people in it, I had to shoot UP...this limited my compositions and it was tricky to find something that worked and looked nice...

Colored Towers

Have a good weekend?

This is an HDR, but the colors are real...

Florence

Here's a little hint for you when processing your night photos...

I find that most people tend to make their photos too "warm" by moving the white balance sliders either in LR or Adobe RAW more to the yellow side. Well, the lights on the buildings are usually warm lights, and if you move the white balance sliders to the warm side, the buildings take on a very "orange" look to them, and the sky will not look natural either. So, instead, try moving the sliders to the "cooler" side, and you will get a much nicer effect on the skies and buildings...also add a bit of magenta as well...

Have a great weekend!! See ya on Monday!!

I Diverge

I made a post today on Google+ about art in galleries. You know the painting I am talking about, right? The ones that look like anyone could paint?...the ones that look like just random lines of paint or splatter?...the ones where you wonder why on Earth they are sitting in a fancy gallery and are listed at millions of dollars?...you see the philosophical pondering the meaning of the painting...what was the artist trying to say? What is the meaning? You know what I am talking about?

Can a photograph do the same thing? I took this photo in Italy a couple of years ago. I was really trying to take a photo of the bulletin board where hundreds of small posters were hung and then ripped off...I have a friend that takes photos of such kind of walls, and has done an exhibition of his photos of "ripped faces"....so, I wanted to show my buddy this photo of an interesting bulletin board...but this photo ended up being a topic of discussion with some of my friends...they sounded like those people in an art gallery trying to decipher the meaning of a painting...I wanted to laugh when I heard them talking because I had no hidden agenda or meaning when I took this photograph...I just thought it was cool the way in which the light hit the wall, and the shadows....but maybe there is more to this photograph than meets the eye...hehe...

Another "Lost" File From Cinque Terre

Here is another shot that I thought had been lost...is this a cool little town or what? I would love to wake up every morning with a view from one of those houses on the cliff...ah, the life of some.

Cinque Terre

I was going through some of my older photos last night, and was very pleasantly surprised to find some photos I took in Italy two summers ago were still in my files....I thought I had lost all of them when my Drobo failed. I did lose ALL my photos from Venice, but I had most of my photos from Rome, Florence and Cinque Terre...of course, all the files that I had worked on for hours were lost, so I had to re-work the photo below...speaking of which, the photo below is actually a panoramic consisting of eight vertical images...I often go back and re-work some of my older stuff. I have learned so many new things in the past few years, that it is often good to go back and start from scratch with some of my older images. Some of the stuff I did years ago, I wonder now what I was thinking back then...hehe...

Saint Peter's Dome in Rome Now In A College Textbook

People have said that HDR images have no place in the market place. I beg to differ...I just sold this photo to a Publisher in New York who will use it in a college textbook. HDR is no longer just a fad or gimmick...people are buying this stuff...

Bridge Of Angels

I tried three nights in a row to get down by the river to get this shot, but dinner plans and hanging out with non-photographers always prevented me from getting there. So, on our last night in Rome before heading back home, I told my wife I was going to head out on my own to get the shots I wanted without being hassled to "hurry up"...after a late dinner, Tika took a taxi back to the hotel, and I ran off and went running around Rome with my Leica and tripod in hand trying to get to all the spots I could...this was my last stop, and it was so peaceful down by the river and a glorious night (but really black sky)...

Venice With Some Texture

It has been awhile since I messed around with some textures with my photos. When I get bored, it is fun to mess around with them....I used four different textures in this photo to reach this final look...if you have a plain old blue sky, textures will add that extra little lift to the photo making it a bit more interesting...a nice way to turn your photograph into a piece of art...

While In Rome...I Like These Too

I was going through my photos last night I took in Rome last summer. I came across these two, and processed them...I like the way they turned out...the Colosseum is an amazing place, and it looks different from different angles, so if you go there, go there at different times of the day, and walk around the place and shoot different angles...

A Rome Street

Gotta love the architecture in Rome...gotta love lots of things about Rome...the people, THE FOOD, the history...what a great place!!

Venice Canal At Night

HDR is tricky at night...lots of noise comes with the territory, so you have to blend one of the original photos into the HDR to get rid of the noise. The boat in the foreground was also moving during my long exposure, so it was blurry in my HDR, so that had to be masked out as well.

I liked the way this one turned out...it is how I remember the scene...

A Village By The Sea

This is one of the villages in the Cinque Terre...but I can't remember which one...I think it is Vernazza. The coolest part is that I am taking this photo from the top of a castle that overlooks the sea and the village.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

I had heard of this bridge before visiting Italy, but it is much more incredible being there...like most things...I had read in my tour book that the Germans were ordered by Hitler to destroy every bridge in Florence during WWII. However, the German that was in charge of this area was a history buff, and didn't have the heart to destroy this bridge, so it was saved.

The Little House In Venice

I took countless photos of the canals in Venice, and most I ended up deleting...but this one, with the little house in the middle, caught my attention...I kept wondering...what came first? The tall buildings or the little house?

Light, Color and Gesture

I was recently watching an on-line video of "A Day With Jay Maisel". He is a fantastic photographer, and an even better teacher. One of the things he said (there were many great quotes) was that if a photo doesn't have either light, color or gesture, then it is really not a photograph worth taking. I think about that all the time when I am out with my camera.

No color in this photo, but the light was nice...Gesture? Ha...I guess that is up to the viewer to figure out...what do you think?

Waiting For Customers

If I were to pick one place in Rome to hang out with my horse and cart, this would be the place...