Infrared view of the Bratislava Castle

Something different for today. It has been very sunny and hot in Bratislava recently, so I thought I try something that would fit for this weather. And it was trying to use an infrared filter. I tried one many years ago, when I just started with photography, but I did only very few photos with it. This time I did a few more. Not completely happy with the results yet, but with a bit of practice, I hope to get the one I want :)

This is a single exposure, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop. I used the HOYA Infrared R72 filter here. Not sure if thats the best one, but currently have no others to try.

And here is also a comparison to the original RAW file. As you can see, as with all infrared photos, it’s very very red. But a bit of editing helped here a lot :)

Lago di Misurina

Back to another lake in the Dolomites today. This is the Lago di Misurina. And before somebody asks, yes, this is a fake reflection, created in Photoshop. When we were at this lake, it still was mostly frozen over and covered with a bit of snow on top of it. And while I liked the top part of this photo, I really did not like the bottom one. There was no reflection and it was just boring. So I did a bit more in the editing.

I do hope to get back here this year, and get one with a real refelction. But for now, this is what I have. This is a two shot panorama, each shot blended from two exposures. Blended, merged and reflection create in Photoshop.

Late night Dubai Marina

I posted quite a lot of new photos of landscapes in a row, so it’s time for a cityscape shot. This one is one of the many I still have not edited from my trip to Dubai last year. I took this one late in the night while returning to the rented apartment in one of the skyscrapers nearby.

Btw. what do you prefer to book when you travel? Hotel or something like Airbnb? I tend to go mostly for Airbnb, as in some locations the price difference is huge and having a full apartment is better for longer trips.

This photo is a blend of three exposures, done in Photoshop. This is not a panorama, but it was taken with the Laowa 12mm lens and then cropped to get rid of too much foreground.

And here is also a comparison to the original RAW file. As you can see, mostly here I worked on the brightness to get detail in the background. I also used parts of the brighter/darker exposures to have the moving ship in a better location and to get rid of the ghosts of moving people on the walkway.

Mountains in the distance

As I mentioned with a different photo from this spot, this is a very popular view for photographers. And again, trying not to go with the obvious photo (which I of course did and will share sometime later :)) I tried something else. I was sitting by the road there, waiting for the clouds to move and I liked what I saw.

This is, of course, the mountains over Santa Maddalena in Dolomites, Italy. This is a combination of three exposures. First, there are two normal photos, one for the middle part and one for the sky. Then I took another photo for the foreground. To get it so much out of focus while still taking a wide photo, I used the 17mm TSE lens, where I tilted the lens, to change the focus plane. Then I put all together in Photoshop.

Gnarbox 1.0

The one I tried is the Gnarbox 1.0 128GB. It has an Intel processor and graphics, Wifi, SD and micro SD slot, one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port and one micro USB 3.0 port for charging and using it like an HDD. It’s dimensions are 13.5cm x 8.6cm x 2.5cm and has a 4000mah battery.

It’s very rugged and all the ports are covered with thick covers. A nice thing is, that the memory card slots are big enough to fit the whole card in, and you can even close the covers with the cards in.

In the box, you get the Gnarbox, a USB to micro USB cable and a short quick start guide. The build quality looks solid, with the drive and port covers feeling sturdy and well made.

Using the Gnarbox

To use the Gnarbox, you need the Gnarbox app. After installing it and turning on the Gnarbox, you have to connect to it using wifi. Once this is done, you control it completely through the app.

Once you put in a memory card, or connect a storage device using USB, you can see it under devices and can access its content. From here you can view the photos or directly copy them to the Gnarbox. You can’t connect your camera directly to the Gnarbox. With the 5D Mark IV connected, the camera switches to storage mode, but the Gnarbox app will not recognize it.

I tried this with a Sandisk Extreme SD XC card, rated at 80MB/s. Photos from my 5D Mark IV were recognized properly and I could copy the files. 10 raw files, 272Mb in size took 15 seconds to copy, with the app showing no loss in battery life. 186 raw files, 6.2Gb in size took a bit longer. They took 5 minutes and 26 seconds to copy, with the Gnarbox battery losing 4% of its power. Gnarbox also works with videos, and you can create a highlight reals using the app. You can then save the results easily to your phone.

One thing to note here is that the Gnarbox heats up a lot while doing this. It’s hot enough that you will not be comfortable holding it in your hands.

Main screen

Select device

Copy images

The app is overall easy to use except a few strange things here and there. Why would they name the Copy window Move files, and then explained in the dialog that it’s not Move but Copy? Why can’t I just select multiple videos and add them to the real, instead of choosing one by one, hitting edit and then swiping up to do so? I had to look into a guide to find out how this is done, as it’s not so obvious even with the tip the app gives you. Why isn’t the USB mode changed automatically to mass storage when I connect it to a PC? These are all small quirks, but I think they could be easily ironed out.

Folder view

Drive files

Video Reel