Updates to wallpapers page

I have been slowly updating the formatting on multiple popular pages on the blog, mostly the top photography spots ones. But today, the time has come for an update for the wallpapers page.

So you may find a bit of a new formatting, aligned with the rest of the blog. Also, since the number of wallpapers got quite big over time, I split the page into two. The 2736×1824, 3440×1440 and 3840×1200 resolution wallpapers are where they used to be, and the other, 1600×1200 and 1920×1200 resolution wallpapers, can be now found on this page. Should help with the loading speed quite a lot :)

New 21:9 – 3440×1440 wallpapers

And so it’s not just new formatting, here are also new 21:9 wallpapers at 3440×1440 for you. As always, you can get them from the wallpapers page, they are free to download and share. Just if you post them somewhere, please link back to this blog and don’t use them commercially without my permission.

Panoramas in Ligtroom

Some time ago I did this guide on how to combine panoramas in Lightroom. And I have to say, that since then, around 95% of panoramas I posted are combined using just Lightroom. I used to use PTgui and Autopano, but I did not had the need for them much anymore. And even when I used them, it happened that Lightroom gave me better results.

It’s not perfect, still missing some functions (support for bracketed exposures and 360 photos would be great) but mostly the results are exactly what I want.

What are you experiences?

Amsterdam center panorama

I took this panorama at the end of March earlier this year. It was during a quite crazy weekend. I went to Amsterdam for two days, and while I also had to go to a different city, I had to change my plans and stay in Amsterdam. So I had few hours free in the end, so I went out to take few photos.

But that was not as simple as I hoped. There was a football match that evening, so the whole city center was full of (very loud) groups of fans. Not the best moment to take photos. So I stayed in this spot in the Amsterdam center, where I could go down to the water, and avoid having them in the shot. Still behind me, the noise was horrible :)

This is a two shot panorama, combined in Lightroom, finished in Photoshop.

And here are few details:

Expanding your photo

Quite often I have to add a bit of the sky when taking photos of big structures. It just does not look so great if the structure is right at the edge of a photos. And it’s not even so hard to add a bit of the sky. I did a guide on this, so feel free to check it out here.

Even more dandelions under the Burj Khalifa

Somehow most photos I did during my last trip to Dubai were of the Burj Khalifa. So here is another one :) I posted one with the dandelions before, but these ones are on a second location, a bit further away from the tower.

This is a single exposure, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Photo puzzle

Funny thing about selling photos also in photo banks, is that you sometime just stumble over a photo you took, somewhere you would not expect it. And that happened to me two days ago. Actually a follower on Instagram messaged me that he saw my photo in an online shop on a product. And it was a puzzle from Ravensburger.

It is quite a great feeling, when I remember that I used to buy quite a few puzzles from them, and now they sell one created from my photo :) And I’m not even surprised in the photo they chosen, as it’s regularly one of my more popular shots.

For those who would like one, just search for Ravensurger 197385. And for those curious to see the original photo, it can be found here.

Prague center during a calm morning

And since already on the Prague topic. This photo was taken the same week I did the Charles bridge one. It was taken in 2012. Hard to think that I have been updating this blog for so long now. Not even 2012 was the beginning :)

This is a single exposure taken in the Prague center, edited in Lightroom and Photoshp.

Reading list

I really thought it was only Thursday today. The week just passed by crazy quickly. But as it is Friday already, let’s have a look together what book I read this week.

I got only through two books this week, and both were a bit of a disappointment. Both had some great ideas, but fell short in execution. First I read Redshits by John Scalzi. If you are a Star Trek fan, you already know who the redshits are. The idea to focus a book on these crew members is just great, too bad the author did not know when to stop. The good part is the first half of the book, then it just goes down hill.

The second book I read was the Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell by Pat Murphy. With such a name you would expect some grandiose adventure, but no. It was dragged out and boring. One one should skip. I just finished it out of habit. I like to finish the books I already started.

So not the best reading week, will have to find something better for the next one :)

Green fireworks over Budapest

Yes I love fireworks photos. I would not mind sharing one every day, but the blog would be boring after a while :) This one is another one from the St. Stephen day’s (that I recommend as the best day to visit Budapest) fireworks. Regrettably, I will not be able to go to Budapest this year, so no new ones from that. But I still have many from last years, you have not seen yet, and here is one.

I like when fireworks are of a strong dominant color in a photos, as that pushes the whole photo into that color. And here, the green fireworks just worked so well like that.

This is a single exposure, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop. I blended parts of it, by creating two copies of the same photo, one overexposed, one underexposed.