Posts in Category: Germany
Sand Lizard. Germany.
I spent much more time in the countryside in Germany on this last trip than I have ever before. While I did not see a lot of wildlife, except for birds, I did see some. This the Sand Lizard, perhaps the most common native lizard in Germany. I love the patterns and the colors here!
Canon SX50HS at 1800mm equivalent field of view (full zoom plus 1.5x digital tel-converter). Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. f6.5 @ 1/500th @ ISO 800. Processed on the go in PicSay Pro on the Nexus 7 FHD.
Wood Shed
We were hiking along a road, or the last vestiges of a village street, near Tubingen, Germany, to cross the Neckar river on a foot bridge, looking for raptors late in the day over farm fields where Storks wandered…when I saw this wood shed attached to an aging barn. I could not resist. My companions, all hard-core birders, turned around to look for me when they noticed I had fallen behind. “You have to remember,” I said, “I am a tourist here, and I am going to do the tourist thing and stop to take pictures.” They had a good laugh at that…the tourist birder is a new concept in Germany…but I got my pictures!
I love the blend of textures here…raw wood, weathered wood, wood siding, bleached out particle board, concrete and brick. Such a range! I zoomed in for a tight crop with the Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Rich Tone (HDR) mode. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Google Nexus 7 FHD.
Old Wetzlar
I am home from my 12 day swing through England, Germany, and Holland, and, while the trip was wonderful, I am happy to be home. These are two of the medieval homes from the old walled city of Wetzlar, Germany. I had only a few hours to explore on this working trip, but I always try to get out into the old city to capture some of its atmosphere. You might notice that these homes were built after the first depletion of the tall forests of the region. Older homes have corner timbers running the full height of the building. This one was built in layers, using shorter timbers…and you can see that the different floors have tilted different ways over the years. This structure gives many of the homes of Old Wetzlar their unique character.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Rich Tone (HDR) mode. Processed on the Google Nexus 7 in PicSay Pro and Photo Edit.
Federsee at Bad Bacheu
Boats on the water at the Federsee in Bad Bacheu, Germany. We also saw a rare Feruginous Duck, lots of Great Crested Grebes, damselflies and one very large dragonfly. Great place! It is one of the very few places in Germany where a boardwalk allows relatively close views of birds and bugs 🙂
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Rich Tone (HDR) mode. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Flower and Moth from a German Forest
I don’t know the name of this wildflower from the German Forest at the edge of Bavaria, or of the tiny moth. I will research them more when I get home to a stable internet connection. Both are attractive and the combination is even more so. Or that is what I think 🙂
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in macro mode. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Overlooking Bad Boll
We are staying in Boll southern Germany for a few days, visiting Birding Centers that ZEISS supports. This is the view out over Boll from a local height. Boll is known, among other things, for its orchards: its fruit and juices. They call them “meadow orchards” because the trees are wide spread to allow grazing between and under them.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Rich Tone mode (HDR). Processed in PicSay Pro on the Nexus 7.
The Dom
The unfinished cathedral of Wetzlar, the Dom, dominates the old city. It is a mix of Romanesque 1200s style and later Gothic from the middle ages. It is a building clearly not quite at home with itself but it has its own unique charm.
This image from the square on the up hill side of the Dom, has been perspective corrected in Photo Editor on the Nexus 7 and final processed on PicSay Pro. Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Rich Tone (HDR) mode.
Wetzlar
I have loved the old city of Wetzlar since my first visit over ten years ago. I know it is not a major tourist attraction in Germany, where old walled cities are common, unless of course you are a canoeist floating the river Lahn or a Goethe fan. The unfinished cathedral (the Dom) was started in the 1200s and most of the construction done in the middle ages. Goethe lived and worked there when Wetzlar was the site of the Imperial Court of the Holy Roman Empire. His first works are based on his time in Wetzlar.
This is my fist trip back after a gap of several years and l made the most of the few hours I had morning and evening. This is a shot looking up one of many sets of stairs in the steep old town toward the one finished steeple of the Dom. I love the old stone and the angles.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Rich Tone mode (HDR). Processed in PicSay Pro on the Nexus 7.Â
8/28/2010: Good Night Wetzlar
One last shot from old town Wetzlar. The stone bridge, gables, and lighted shop windows, with the gloomy drama of the sky above. Without HDR treatment this shot would be impossible. To me it totally captures the feeling of the rainy evening as I headed back to the hotel, and says something about old town Wetzlar that I have felt, but never captured before.
Two shots with the Canon SX20IS separated by 3EV, and then tone-mapped blend in Photomatix. Final adjustments in Lightroom for Blackpoint, Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen. Perspective and distortion correction.
From Germany and England 2010.
8/27/2010: The Dom and the Bridge
It got later and later on my rainy evening walk through old town Wetzlar, but the evening light lasts a long time in Germany. I was headed back to the hotel when I made a last stop for this classic shot of the Dom above the stone bridge over the Lahn. Once more a shot I have taken many times, but never in this light, and never with HDR in mind. The drama of the cloud cap, the last light, the moisture in the air softening color and prespective, and elegant arches of the bridge set in rustic stone, the pastel gables of the old houses, and above it all the tower of the Dom (and that anachronistic blue polyester tarping). Quite a shot, even without the fairy light of the fountain on the trees at the right. 
Two radically different exposures allowed me to capture the light of the foreground and the gray of the sky, and Photomatix Lite put them together for a pretty remarkable effect (if I do say so myself).
A little help from my usual Lightroom routines (Blackpoint, Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen), and some perspective and distortion correction, and there it is.
Canon SX20 IS.
From Germany and England 2010.