It's all about light

If someone asked me several years ago what had been the most important thing in photography I would probably had replied - Subject. However, now my answer is completely different - it's Light. No matter how beautiful the subject is (whether a gorgeous model or amazing landscape) it will look bad if the light is bad. On a dull day landscape will look flat, lacking colours and contrast and therefore boring. With harsh light the...

Night HDR shot of Zakopane

I wanted to take such a shot for quite a while but it's rather difficult in Warsaw as there is no ideal high vantage point. There was one in Zakopane, however. I took this shot from 1100 meters above sea level while the valley is at approximately 700 meters above sea level. 400 meters of difference produced pretty nice view I believe.When composing the shot I knew what I wanted to achieve. I wanted several layers (sky, mountains,...

Alpine view in Tatra mountains

There are times when no matter what you do, you simply can't ruin the shot. If light is beautiful, if view is also beautiful - there's not a chance. I think that was the case with the image above. We (me and my fiancee) just returned from a whole day trekking and were pretty tired (ok, ok - exhausted) walking in the fog. But the weather suddenly improved and we experienced one amazing sunset. The view was clear and the light...

The Summit

Forgive me yet another B&W HDR photo but I just couldn't resist uploading it as I love how contrasty this shot turned out to be.As you also probably noticed there weren't many tutorials this month. I was pretty busy recently but expect new and exciting content in weeks to come :)EXIF data:Camera: Canon 5D MK IILens: Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS USMFocal length: 105 mmAperture: f/9.0Exposure time: 1/2000 s ("middle" exposure)ISO:...

Black & white HDR: Alpine hut

Today a mountain hut (alpine hut, mountain hostel, mountain shelter - whatever you call it) in Koscieliska valley, Tatra mountains, Poland. Yesterday I posted color version of this photo on my FB profile but I think that B&W version works as well.EXIF data:Camera: Canon 5D MK IILens: Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS USMFocal length: 32 mmAperture: f/7.1Exposure time: 1/500 sISO: 800Number of exposures: 3E.V. Step: 2 EVFlash used: noTripod...

Shepherd's Hut

I found this hut while walking in the valleys surrounding Zakopane city. Would love to see it in spring when it is surrounded by green but I still like how it looks in the middle of the winter. The scene is so peaceful and calm :)EXIF data:Camera: Canon 5D MK IILens: Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS USMFocal length: 35 mmAperture: f/8.0Exposure time: 1/500 sISO: 400Number of exposures: 1E.V. Step: n/aFlash used: noTripod used: noFilters...

Before/after comparison: Blue hour HDR from Zakopane

It was a wonderful blue hour, one of the most beautiful I've ever experienced. The light wasn't really blue but rather purple and was diffused by the fog what created some really magical mood. Frankly speaking it is not really a HDR photo but manual blend. I hardly ever do manual blends because I prefer the look of tone-mapped or fused images but this was a rare case when I couldn't get this image right otherwise than to blend...

HDR tutorial: Exposure Fusion explained

New tutorial today on my blog. I will describe Exposure Fusion processing method available eg. in Photomatix Pro, Photomatix Essentials and Enfuse. Note that originally this article was published on HDR One page and I really recommend visiting that site as it's full of free HDR resources by some world's best HDR photographers (what I'm doing amongst them is sort of mystery ;) ). Note 2: this article will soon become part of my...

On the track

I try to avoid this normally but today I'm uploading a few photos in one post. Nothing spectacular - just a few signs I found on the tracks in Tatra mountain...

Mount Olympus

When I saw this scene through the window of my hotel I immediately thought of Mount Olympus. When I was reading Greek mythology I imagined that Olympus look this way with clouds separating human and divine worlds.EXIF data:Camera: Canon 50DLens: Canon 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USMFocal length: 200 mmAperture: f/8.0Exposure time: 1/1000 sISO: 100Number of exposures: 1E.V. Step: n/aFlash used: noTripod used: noFilters used: circular...

Last rays of light

Yesterday I posted a photo of Giewont mountain during sunset. Today the very same mountain during blue hour. I really like the last "patches" of warm light on the peak.As you can see from EXIF I used telezoom (at 300 mm) lens to get really close. This way I could focus on the details.EXIF data:Camera: Canon 5D MK IILens: Canon 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USMFocal length: 300 mmAperture: f/9.0Exposure time: 1/400 sISO: 500Number of...

Giewont at sunset

This photo of Giewont (1894 meters above sea level) was taken during sunset from high vantage point (approximately 1100 meters above see level). I wanted to include several layers in this shot: sky with clouds, mountain peak, forests and town in the valley. Houses and trees give nice sense of scale to this image. I'm also pretty happy with the light - it was warm and shined beautifully on the Giewont's summit.EXIF data:Camera:...

Back from the mountains

Sorry for not posting anything recently but I was away. This time I was relaxing and taking photos in Polish Tatra mountains (Tatra mountains on Polish side are slightly lower than the ones on Slovak side). The weather wasn't ideal I must admit but I still managed to capture some nice landscape photos. You can see one of them above. I took it early in the morning and was lucky to have some fog in the valley.EXIF data:Camera:...

Do I have my own style?

I had an idea for such a HDR forest shot for about two years but was never lucky to get perfect conditions. Normally I would expect them to occur around autumn. However, I took above image very recently - in the middle of the winter :)What defines best photographers is that each of them have unique style. I would recognize photos from artists like Hans Kruse, Jim Nix, Trey Ratcliff, Daniel Cheong, Jean Loper and many others in...

HDR tiny planet showing frozen lake

Today something different - HDR tiny planet. To create it I first shot 360 degree HDR panorama. I used a total of 80 RAW images to capture it. I will share the panorama later.If you're interested in creating tiny planet yourself, make sure to read my tutorial about creating the...

Lonely Outpost

Well, not really lonely but you can't see the other ones due to the trees and quite dense fog. The scene was pretty dark and sad so I decided to use sepia-like toning to enhance the mood.With my hands freezing I wasn't able to set up a tripod to take this shot so I shot a single exposure hand-held using fast ISO and wide aperture. I also tested whether my camera and lenses are really water- and weatherproof as it was raining...

In the forest

Shooting in forests is always challenging. Not only it is much darker than outside of them but also creating nice composition is tough. At least in Polish forests which are pretty dense and even using wide angle lens to give impression of wider perspective won't work in many cases.When I approached this scene I knew I have to shoot it in portrait orientation. Tall trees would be heavily cropped otherwise and that would kill monumentality...

Sepia HDR from Warsaw

Sorry for lack of updates - I spent last few days shooting moody landscape photos and didn't have time to write anything here. However, expect some nice photographs from Masuria, Poland in the following days. With some amazing fog I couldn't get photos wrong and after short review in Lightroom I know that some of them are really nice.Meanwhile I was named Author of the week on Ateliora portal. Visit my profile there. It's always...