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04
May 2012

Dreams In Color – Cinque Terre

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Dreams In Color – Manarola

Manarola, Cinque Terre is simply stunning any time of day but when the sky turns shades of pink, it’s out of this world. It’s at those times that the color sings. (Or maybe that was the wine talking)

I know that I’ve been releasing a lot of photos from Italy lately but I just can’t help it. I’ve said this before but Cinque Terre is my photographic happy place. Since I’ve been a little down with a virus over the last week (some really strange Chinese cough thing) , I’ve been using some of these italian photos to lift my spirits.

Post-processing Before and After

This photo is a blend of two exposures 0 & -1, with a tiny tiny bit of tone mapping thrown into the mix. After that I applied a few simple color and contrast adjustments. Nature provided me with such a great base that I really didn’t need to do much. It’s always nice when that happens. :)

Questions are always welcome.

Filed Under: Architecture, Before & After, Cinque Terre, Italy, Landscape, Manarola, Sunrise and Sunset, Travel
14
Mar 2012

Falling Tide || Post-Processing Before and After

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Falling Tide – Getting Close To The Finish Line

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last week but things have been absolutely nuts. With less than 2 days left before I begin my permanent traveling & location independent adventure, I have at least 10 days worth of work left to do! It’s a good thing I bought extra espresso yesterday. I’ve almost gone through an entire brick since then and I’m just getting started. Zooooom!

To prevent myself from continuing to bore you with the details of my current predicament, here’s another shot from the stellar Cinque Terre (aka, my happy place).

Falling Tide - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy)

Post-Processing Before And After

Manarola is one of 5 beautiful towns in Le Cinque Terre and throughout each day, I’d set out to scout these amazing Italian Villages. Some of the days greeted me with cool cloud formations and with the long summer days, the lighting stayed warm and beautiful. It made for great shooting conditions from sunup to sundown.

The Post-Processing for this photo is pretty straight forward. All I really did was give the scene a tiny bit of encouragement and a few small color tweaks using simple masks and adjustment layers. Let’s just hope I tweaked them in the right direction. ^_^

before
Filed Under: Architecture, Before & After, Cinque Terre, HDR Photography, Italy, Manarola, Travel
13
Dec 2011

A Spotlight on Cinque Terre

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The Beautiful Vernazza Before the Floods

The Beautiful Vernazza (Cinque Terre, Italy)

In May of this year I had the fortunate opportunity to visit Cinque Terre in the Liguria region of the Italian Riviera coast. Known as “The Five Lands” it’s comprised of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The villages and coastline, as well as, the hillsides surrounding them are part of the Cinque Terre National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I saw a photograph of one of the villages hanging in my cousin’s house (Ciao Donna) and I instantly knew that I had to visit this place. Each village has it’s own unique charm, the entire visit was truly a wonderful experience, and the area holds a special place in my heart. That’s why seeing the devastation to the region during the floods and mudslides of October 25th, 2011 is so upsetting. You can read more about the Cinque Terre floods here.

Some shocking video during the floods:

The Ligurians are said to be strong and resilient, and they are making progress with the clean up effort. But homes, businesses, loved ones and livelihoods have been lost. They’re struggling to overcome this tragedy and rebuild their towns and lives. They have received tremendous support from fellow Italians, from far to the North and South, but there is still much to do to restore this unique and beautiful part of Italy.

The clean up process begins:

I’m reaching out to you to help restore this magnificent area, please donate to the Italian Red Cross, Croce Rossa Italiana. It takes just a moment and can be done online. Use the dropdown menu to choose “Emergency Tuscany and Liguria.” With the cold weather of the winter months coming upon them, they are urgently trying to finalize repairs.

The funds raised will go to restore the beloved towns of Vernazza (see vernazza before and after) and Monterosso al Mare in Cinque Terre and also to support other towns in the area that sustained tremendous damage.

Here are some of my favorites from Cinque Terre, click the image to see them in the Cinque Terre gallery.

A Riomaggiore Sunset - (Cinque Terre, Italy)

Manarola Moonrise - Italy Golden HourRiomaggiore At Dusk - (Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy)

 

Filed Under: Cinque Terre, HDR Photography, Italy, Levanto, Manarola, Riomaggiore, Travel, Vernazza
20
Jul 2011

Village By The Sea

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This is the second photo that I’ve processed from Manarola, Italy. — (By the way, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that I make useful links out of keywords like “Manarola” and “Italy.” Follow these links to view photos and posts from these specific areas or specific posts like “Manarola Moonrise.”)

I still have piles of images to finish from my trip to Cinque Terre. — Of course by piles I mean a bloated hard drive. — I’ll try to release them more rapidly from now on because, well honestly, I absolutely love looking at them. 5 Terre was such a great place to visit with it’s beautiful scenery, sunsets, food, botched language technique, duct tape shenanigans (a story for later), and wine induced monkey business. Thanks again to all my Italian friends and family that always keep me well fed and in wonderful company. The only things that the fond memories don’t outlast is the belly fat. ;)

Daily Banana – Village By The Sea

Village by the Sea - Manarola, Italy - Cinque Terre

Filed Under: Architecture, Cinque Terre, HDR Photography, Italy, Manarola, Travel
11
Jul 2011

Manarola Moonrise

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Sunset + Moonrise = Visual Orgasm.

To answer the most obvious answer about this shot, yes, that’s the real moon. I didn’t photoshop that bad boy in. — No, seriously, I didn’t. — I also had no idea the moon would rise right there. That was 100% pure & simple luck. (Thank you universe)

This cool little Italian town in part of the 5 villages that make up the region called Cinque Terre. As you can see, Manarola is one of the most photogenic ones with easy access to many vistas and vantage points.

I spent an entire week shooting in Cinque Terre, concentrating specifically on sunsets and blue hour. It was a perfect project for me because I didn’t have to wake up early at all; not even once. Sunsets happen at a much MUCH more reasonable time than Sunrises.

Curious how this photo was created? Read the Technical Mumbo Jumbo.

Daily Banana – Manarola Moonrise

Sunset and Moonrise over Manarola, Italy

Filed Under: Architecture, Cinque Terre, HDR Photography, Italy, Manarola, Sunrise and Sunset, Travel