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30
Oct 2012

Ponte dei Sospiri | The Bridge of Sighs

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On my last post, I wrote about how I’m always looking for a certain variables to line up in Venice. Ponte dei Sospiri (The Bridge of Sighs) is a perfect example of this. Over the last series of visits, It’s always been covered with scaffolding and under restoration. Because of this, I’ve never been able to get a clear shot of it. Well, that is, until now.

I did quite a bit of scouting on this visit to Venice and thankfully I was able to shoot this on the same morning as Venetian Blues. Any time that I can squeeze 2 shots out of a 4AM wake up call is call for a celebration or at the very least, an extra shot of espresso in my victory coffee. :D

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 24-70 f/2.8 (Shot at 45 mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100 at f/8 / 400 at f/2.8
3 Exposure Brackets at f/8, 1 Exposure at f/2.8

Hardware: 15” 2011 Macbook Pro, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet

Software: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK

Technique and Details: Digital Blending using 3 Bracketed Exposures at f/8 and 1 Manual Exposure at f/2.8. The f/8 was used to correct the motion blur on the boats from the long exposures at f/8.

In photoshop—with the help of my Wacom stylus—I blended the 3 exposure brackets ( -1, 0, +1) together with simple hand painted masks. Then, with an additional layer, I masked in the boats from the fast exposure at f/2.8. Since the water wasn’t completely soft, I softened it by using a gaussian blur filter along with a few brush strokes with the blur tool. This allowed me to seamlessly blend the edges where the building structure meets the water.

Espresso: Lavazza Rossa (one of my staples)

A morning view of The Bridge of Sighs, one of the most famous briges in Venice.

Filed Under: Architecture, Blue Hour Photography, Italy, Travel, Venice
25
Oct 2012

Beyond The Rialto | The Grand Canal

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As photographers, do you think we create our own luck? By placing ourselves in the right place at the right time, do we create our own opportunities for success or are we simply ruled by earthly variables like the weather? And most importantly, does my reverse naked raindance actually work?

Sadly, no matter how fun and visually mesmerizing my naked raindance may be, I’m fairly sure it’s not altering the weather. However, I do believe that it’s these uncontrollable variables that have the potential to create the magic in a photograph and give it that special something. And while we can’t control certain variables, we can learn to understand and recognize them.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit Venice quite a few times and each time I’m always looking for the perfect amount of variables to line up, especially in places like The Rialto Bridge and views down The Grand Canal. The boat and gondola traffic, the clouds, the light, the turbulence of the water, the restoration projects and scaffolding – getting all these things to work together in harmony can be tricky business but when it all works out, you can come away with something truly unique. This is probably what compels me to visit Venice year after year; that pursuit of that one magic shot. Well, it’s either that or the abundance of amazing (and cheap) pinot grigio.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo | Before and After Comparison

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 14-24 f/2.8 (Shot at 17 mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100 – 400
4 Exposures at f/8, 1 Exposure at f/6.3, and 2 Exposures at f/2.8

Hardware: 15” 2011 Macbook Pro, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet

Software: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK Software

Technique and Details: Dynamic Blending using 4 bracketed exposures and 3 manual exposures, shot at different times over the course of 30 minutes. The aperture and ISO settings were changed on the fly to compensate for moving objects and fading light. With shooting, the tricky bit was keeping the mob of people from bumping into my tripod since The Rialto Bridge is one of the busiest places in Venice.

In Photoshop—with the help of my Wacom Tablet—I was able to manually blend in the exposures together using hand painted masks. I started with a base of exposures 0 and +1 before brushing in the sky with a blend of exposures -1 and -2 for. Using more hand painted masks, I then brushed in the 2 separate f/2.8 exposures to create the water. Lastly, I brushed in one more exposure at f/6.3—shot 15 minutes later—adding the lighting on the buildings.

Espresso: A lot of it! Thankfully, I packed accordingly.

Filed Under: Architecture, Before & After, Italy, Sunrise and Sunset, Travel, Venice
04
Oct 2012

Venetian Blues | San Giorgio In The Distance

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Today is my last day in Italy and even though I’m sad to leave, I’m happy to get one more day to explore the fascinating city of Venice. With each visit, I learn more and more about the culture, the history, and the world class architecture. It’s also interesting that no matter how many times I visit Venice, I still get completely lost trying to navigate the narrow streets and bridges. In the end, I always end up where I’m going but I’m never able to take the same path to get there. I’ve never had so much fun being lost.

Ciao Italia! Fino alla prossima volta.

Before the sun rises, all alone, and overlooking San Giorgio in the timeless city of Venice.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo || Before and After Comparison

Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 24-70 f/2.8 (Shot at 30 mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100
2 Exposures: 5 seconds at f/8, 24 seconds f/14

Technique and Details: Digital Blending using 2 manuel exposures, equivalent to bracketing -1 and 0. While I was shooting a +1 equivalent long exposure, a garbage hauling boat pulled right into this slip, leaving a long glowing light trail and ruined the shot. Thankfully the Camera RAW files already had plenty of data inside the shadow regions and with a bit of color correction in Adobe Lightroom, I was able to recover all the luminance data I needed. After that, it was blending as usual. The Before and After comparison should help shed light on the rest. (no pun intended) ;)

Software: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK Software

Espresso: Lavazzo Oro – My very favorite.

Before the sun rises, all alone, and overlooking San Giorgio in the timeless city of Venice.
Filed Under: Architecture, Before & After, Blue Hour Photography, Italy, Travel, Venice
15
Jun 2011

Memories From The Edge Pt. 2

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title fail:

Here’s the second photo in my ongoing series, “Memories From The Edge,” cleverly named “Pt. 2.” Like the title? No? — Well, maybe I should have called it, Venice Strikes Back? IDK.

Every night, rain or shine (mostly rain). I’d return to this spot in Venice to watch the light fade from the sky. Each day had a different feeling and mood, constantly changing as the hours ran late. Combining those feelings with my already grumpy demeanor (because it was freaking raining every day) & a steady influx of white wine (also because it was raining every day), helped me produce this really soft, distant work.

There’s probably going to be 1 or 2 more photos in this Night Photography series. Maybe I should cue up some better titles ahead of time? Any suggestions?

Daily Banana – Memories From The Edge Pt. 2

Venice Italy - Memories From The Edge 2

Filed Under: Blue Hour Photography, HDR Photography, Italy, Night Photography, Travel, Venice
13
Jun 2011

The Setting Sun

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2 bottle minimum:

When I arrived in Venice last week, I was exhausted. I really didn’t want to do anything. — This is rare for me too. I’m usually always amped up to go shooting. — So knowing that I had a few days to get the shots I wanted, I resolved to grab a few cheap bottles of wine and call it a day.

Before I went out though, I decided to check the weather. You know, just to help mentally plan the next few days of shooting… And then…

##@^^#@#ER#$# ARRGGHHH!!!! The forecast called for the next 10 days of solid rain! WTF?! Really?!

To make a long (and angry) story short, this is one of the few Photos that I shot last week in Venice, Italy. It was also one of the only spouts of real sun in a 10 day rainy spell.

On a little side note however, it turns out that my camera bag fits 2 bottles of wine inside the pockets. ;)

Daily Banana – The Setting Sun

Venice Italy - The Setting Sun

Filed Under: Architecture, HDR Photography, Italy, Sunrise and Sunset, Travel, Venice
08
Jun 2011

Memories From The Edge Pt. 1

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Soft sounds and distant memories:

Venice is one of the most beautiful cities in Italy and arguably one of the most beautiful in the world. It has it’s issues just like anywhere else but there’s something romantic about it too, especially when you can break away from the crowds.

I found this spot a few nights ago and instantly fell in love. So much so that I returned each night to watch the light fade from the sky. — After a few nights, Not only did I accumulate many different photos, I also finished many bottles of wine.

Since each shot seems to have its own personality, I decided to release a few of them as a series. The following photo is part 1.

Check out some more photos of Venice, Italy

Daily Banana – Memories From The Edge Pt. 1

Venice, Italy - Memories From The Edge 1

Filed Under: Blue Hour Photography, HDR Photography, Italy, Landscape, Sunrise and Sunset, Travel, Venice