Today I was joined for a little evening photo-shooting by Marek Kijevský from Marek Kijevský photography and his lovely wife. To bad they visited Bratislava so late in the year, as it was quite cold and cloudy. I think we got some usable photos, but probably nothing spectacular. Same with the photo I’m sharing today. I really like the colors on the bridge and that you can see few of the stones under the water, but I’m still missing a better blue hour sky here. A dark blue would looks so nice. Still good to know that they changed the bulbs on the bridge. They all look white to the eye, but have a distinct color to the light they provide. It’s really something worth revisiting.

This is a HDR created in Oloneo Photoengine from 7 exposures and the blended with original exposures in Photoshop.

I just have the feeling like I’m looking at a toy here, not a city shot. And It would be really enhanced by a tilt-shift lens, I just don’t have one (and I’m not a big fan of the fake tilt-shift effect anymore). I still really like how the buildings here create something like and S curve, even if it’s not so dominant.

This is a manual blend from 3 shots, taken from the Three towers in Bratislava. I think not many people from Bratislava will recognize the buildings here, as you almost never see them from this side :)

Also big thanks to Lucka for letting me occupy her balcony again :)

After all those city shots I really wanted to add a nature photo. But looking through my recent photos I just could not find any that fit. So I vent back, and back and even more back, until I got to my photos form 2011, and there I found one :)

This is a HDR created from 3 exposures in Oloeno photoengine and finished in Photoshop.

As usually for the All saints day, I went to a nearby cemetery to take a few photos. With all the candles it looks so stunning, that for a moment you can almost forget where you are. I think photos of pumpkins and masks would be a little more cheerful, but for that I would probably have to be in a different country. And at least this is more spiritual.

This is a HDR created from 6 shots in Oloneo Photoengine and then finished in Photoshop.

So it’s not all just landscapes and architecture here, for today I chosen a little different photo. So yes, sometimes there are also people in my photos. It’s a nice change from time to time.

I took this one in the Botanical garden in Bratislava, where I did a little photo-shoot with Alexandra. I love shooting with natural light, and it’s the same here. It was a lovely sunny day, and the sun gave a great back-light, which I countered with a weak fill in flash from the front. I also used the Canon 70-200mm F2.8 lens, which is just so great for these type of photos. It’s very sharp and also gives a very lovely bokeh. Of course this is not HDR, this was edited mostly in Lightroom, with few minor tweaks and sharpening in Photoshop.