This will be a little shorter post, as I only arrived home about a hour ago and I’m dead tired. In the last week I visited many places and had some opportunities to take few photos. But as it is currently much hotter here than it should be, there is almost no snow at all. So to at least have a little bit of the atmosphere, here is one huge Christmas ball.

I took this one while stooping for a while in the city Poprad. There were many nice decorations there, but I struggled a little to get a nice shot, as it was raining and the city was full of people. But somehow I managed to get this one without them. This huge Christmas ball also seemed to be a quite popular place to pose and take photos, so it was someone in it most of the time.

This is a HDR created in Oloneo Photoengine and finished in Photoshop.

TK Actions

One of the best resources to help you with luminosity masking is the page by Tony Kuyper. He offers a lot of tutorials and descriptions for how to create them and use them. He also offers his own Photoshop panel, designed to help you use Luminosity masking in a very simple way. For all interested in the subject, I suggest you visit his tutorial page. for more information.

Autumn Sun

A little simpler photo than my usual ones, but I liked the how the sunset looked so much, that I’m posting it. I haven’t had much chances to take photos of nature this year, so at least like this I can balance the content of my blog. Of course it’s another thing I have to correct the next one. I actually started making a list of what everything I want to add tho this blog, reviews, guides and other contest, and the list is quite big already. Let’s see if the year is long enough :)

This photo is a manual blend from two shots, one for the sky, one for the trees. Edited fully in Photoshop.

Going home

As it is Christmas tomorrow, I will be visiting my parents for the next few days. That just means that if you send me a message and I don’t reply, don’t be surprised :) I will get to all of it once I’m back. And don’t worry, the blog will have a new post everyday, as usually.

The Green pod – review

The Green pod is a small addition to any photographers gear, that can help you get stable shots in areas where you can’t use a tripod. It helped me many times. Check out my full review of the Green pod here.

Lost in a reflection

It’s quite hard to make a week worth of posts in two days. But somehow I never get to have a big enough photo reserve, so I can leave for a week without having to do a lot of preparation before hand. Maybe if I traveled more. Will have to try it next year. More travels and more photos, that is my current goal :)

But for now, here is another photo taken at the Kuchajda lake in Bratislava. This is a HDR created from 5 shots in Oloneo Photoengine (you can see my review of it here) and finished in Photoshop.

Giving credit

It really great to see that so many people liked my photo. But it’s sad that the people who posted it haven’t given a proper credit to me. It’s even more sad that they posted such a low quality version of the photo. Too bad admins of this page (and other like this) never respond to messages. They probably know that what they are doing it not completely correct. Facebook should really do a cleanup one day.

To see all the rules of sharing my photos, please check out the Licensing page.

Manfrotto Clamp Review

This was one of this years additions to my gear, after I seen my friends in Paris using it all the time. So check out my review of the Manfrotto Super clamp 035 with the 155RC head review to find out more about it.

You can also head over to my Reviews page for all my reviews on this blog.

Secret place

This is one of my favorite places to shoot in Bratislava. And I never seen anyone else there. Of course you can’t get there all the time, as the Danube is to high sometimes and also the stairs are not so visible. But once you get down here you get a great view, and you can have it for yourself. One just has to be careful, so one does not break a leg on the stones :).

This is a HDR created from 7 exposures in Oloneo Photoengine, finished in Photoshop.

Stumbleupon

Anyone from you using Stumbleupon? I’ve been using it for many years now, always when I’m in a mood for something funny, or when I need some inspiration. I recently also added a stumble button to all my posts, so it’s easier to also add my site to their database. So feel free to stumble :) And you can also find me on Stumbleupon here under my profile.

Free eBook

For those who missed it, I made an E-book for all my newsletter subscribers. You can find it very useful, especially with the upcoming new years fireworks :) So head over to the newsletter page for more information. A lot of you already downloaded it, and I hope you find the information useful. And here is a little quote about the book, I really liked :)

What a gorgeous eBook! Comprehensive and informative! The photos are so amazingly shot and processed, as is the text that frames them. The best eBook that is ever written on fireworks. Good for : Beginners and Intermediates – Vineet Suthan

Sparkling Christmas tree

I did a little photo-shooting in the Central Shopping center in Bratislava on Tuesday. It was very nice of them to give me a permit to use a tripod there. Of course I could shoot it only during their opening hours, which is not so easy. Especially before christmas, it is full of people all the time. But with a lot of photos, and long exposures, I managed to have my photos quite people free :)

This is a HDR created in Oloneo Photoengine and then finished in Photoshop.