Posts in Category: architecture
11/23/2009
Wall Art: Wetzlar Germany
Downtown Wetzlar has corners where wall art (aka graffiti) is evidently not only tolerated but encouraged…and, by the evidence, some very talented artists. I am never sure about this kind of image: essentially a photograph of someone else’s art…but I think it works here in the grand sweep of the wall.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Basic added Vibrance and Clarity, with the Sharpen Landscape preset in Lightroom.
From Germany 2009.
11/22/2009
Lich Germany: Kloster Arnsburg
Happy Sunday!
We spent two days in business meetings at Kloster Arnsburg: the cloister in the forest (or wild), part of which operates as the Alte Rlosstermuhle Hotel and Restaurant. I got outside only for rare and precious moments, and only once in actual full daylight…and that time, which was during our lunch break, my H50 was locked in the conference room. I did however have my Sanyo Dual Camera in my pocket and was able to shoot some stills with it. I generally put it in HD mode, which yields a 16/9 wide frame image at about 7.5 mp.
The cloister garden and grave yard within the square of the massive buildings yielded this image, which appropriate to the day. I like the foreground dark shapes stepping down, the cross against the sunlit stonework of the building in the back, and, of course, all the stonework detail of the old building.
Sanyo CG10 at about 100mm equivalent for framing. F3.8 @ 1/250th @ ISO 50. Programmed auto.
Basic processing in Lightroom using presets: Auto Tone, Punch, Sharpen Landscapes. A little added Clarity and Vibrance, and a touch of Fill Light for the foreground.
From Germany 2009.
11/21/2009
Tower in the Wall
Part of the old wall of the City of Wetzlar, Germany, dating to the medieval ages…now incorporated into a a much more modern dwelling. A touch of color on an otherwise bleak November day from the barberry below.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F4.0 @ 1/160th @ ISO 100. Programmed Auto.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint slightly right. Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Germany 2009.
11/20/2009
Gables of Wetzlar
I have take this shot on every trip to Wetzlar over the past 7 years, and this is the first one that has worked. I love the shapes of the contrasting jumbled gables, and all the various textures of the building materials.
Perhaps what makes it work is this is my first trip with the H50 with its long zoom. 150mm puts the skyline in correct perspective and crops it effectively without losing detail in the textures.
Sony DSC H50 at about 150mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/160th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Some Recovery in Lightroom for the sky. Added Clarity and Vibrance (not much Vibrance). Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Germany 2009.
11/19/2009
Old Town Wetzlar: half timbered house
Wetzlar is a medieval walled city in north west Germany. It features many of the half timbered houses, from the 1500s, built one story at at time so that over the centuries, each story has developed its own list. Some are elaborately restored and decorated as when they were new.
They are hard to photograph, especially in Wetzlar which still actively uses the cobble streets they are on. There are cars everywhere. And there is never a decent angle. I end up photographing snippets of building, and strange angles like this one.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/250th sec. @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
In Lighroom, a bit of Recovery for the sky, blackpoint slightly right, added Clarity and Vibrance, and Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Germany 2009.
10/25/2009
Another from a Cape May Dawn
Happy Sunday!
Capy May Gingerbread is always a treat. And the fad for white gingerbread is well past, or never caught on in Cape May. The Victorian era homes, now mostly B&Bs are painted as they were when new, in a full rainbow of colors. Even in the light of a cloudy dawn they have a glow.
Sony DSC H50 at about 110mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/60th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
This is another shot that required Lightroom’s Graduated Filter to bring up the foreground and make the scene look something like it would to the naked eye. GF from the bottom with added exposure, clarity, and just a touch of contrast. General application of Recover for the sky. Added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen Landscapes preset. Cropped slightly from both bottom and top for composition.
From Cape May 10/09.
For those of you who love Gingerbread, I walked around Cape May late yesterday afternoon as the rain held off and shot a quick gallery of Gingerbread images, using my little pocket Sanyo camera, to show my wife what Cape May is like. You might enjoy it too. Best Quality Cape May Gingerbread on Posterous.
9/20/2009
Web
Happy Sunday!
Lakeside Ohio sustains three amazing populations. The most abundant are the Fox Squirrels. Big as the largest Gray, and fox red. Impressive animals. The second population is feral cats. They are everywhere. And finally there are more spiders in Likeside than I have seen in a long time. Their webs drape street signs and fill any open architectural gap. This one adorns a trellis gate. Late afternoon light picked it out against the shadowed wing of the house behind and the shapes of the trellis made for an interesting composition. It is cropped slightly from the left to eliminate the whiter portion of the support post.
Sony DSC H50 at about 410mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/125 @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Recovery in Lightroom for the white highlights. Added Clarity and Vibrance in the Presence panel. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Lakeside OH.
9/16/2009
Portland Head Light: the other view
Shooting against the light, the problem is always balancing the exposure and using post-processing to bring up the whites of the Lighthouse to some semblance of reality. They eye, of course, has no difficulty seeing the brightness of the foreground and the brilliant white of the white-washed stone, but no photographic medium, be it film or digital sensor, can do that trick. So I exposed for the scene and trusted I could “pull it out” in Lightroom. And of course in this shot, the sky behind the light house is just as much the subject as the light house itself.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/1600 @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Heavy Fill Light in Lightroom for the light house, as mentioned above, and some Recovery for the sky. Added Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel. Sharpen landscapes preset.
From Portland Head Light.
9/15/2009
Window Work
The Goddard mansion, which overlooks Ft. William Park and the back of the hill Portland Head Light is under, still stands as a ruin. It was a private home when built, but the army turned it into quarters before it was abandoned. It has some of the most impressive stone-work I have seen in a long time. Apparently it was built of local native stone, which seems to have been hand quarried and shaped for building. Interesting. The parapets actually seem to be rubble with a flat stone cap.
Windows always catch my eye, and when, like this one, they frame interesting shapes and textures and light…they are all the more interesting. I zoomed out to medium zoom range to frame.
Sony DSC H50 at about 180mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/500 @ ISO 100. Programed auto. -.7EV exposure compensation.
In Lightroom this shot needed a good deal of fill light for the interior shaded areas within the window. Added Clarity and Vibrance in the Presence panel. Sharpen landscape preset.
This is the full facade for comparison.
Goddard Mansion
9/14/2009
Up the Light
I always take several of these up the Light shots, mostly because there is no medium distance vantage for a good shot of the Light. You are either across the inlet or right under the light. Nothing in between. When you have some interest in the sky, this kind of shot can be satisfying. Here the wispy clouds draw a pattern on the sky that somehow complements the solid shapes of the light and tender shed, while the white-washed stone and the red brick offer a contrast of textures. The angles catch the eye, and the massive black and faceted glass of the light-housing itself sits bold and high. Altogether on of the more successful up the light shots I have taken.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 100. Programed auto with -.7 EV exposure compensation.
Recovery in Lightroom for the sky and white stone of the tower. Blackpoint slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance in the Presence panel. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Portland Head Light.