Cityscapes
Stairway to Heaven
What is the bright light at the end of the stairs? Where does the staircase lead? An artful photo should open up the viewer’s imagination. I’m lucky that I have gotten to travel a fair bit through my job. This photo was taken in Lake Geneva, Switzerland.
Away from the bottom of the first few stairs the stairwell was exceptionally dark so in order to capture any detail further up I metered on the side walls. I used an ISO of 1600 at 1/15th of a sec at f5.0 with a Nikon 28-300mm lens on a D300 body for the shot. I laid flat on my back to steady the camera and capture the shot from a botton stair perspective. I know the natives must have been thinking “tourist”, but it didn’t matter as I got the shot I wanted!
I had to do a little work in Photoshop to bring some detail into highlights at the far end of the staircase which were over exposed from metering to optimize shadow detail.
Madison Capital Building
Madison, Wisconsin is a beautiful city and the state’s capital building and surrounding square is a prominent piece of the cityscape. This is a high dynamic range image (HDR) taken at first light on a Nikon D800 with a 24-70mm lens. HDR is a technique that allows a broader dynamic range of highlights and shadows to be captured in a photo. Ever wonder why the picture you took didn’t have the range of contrast that you saw? Some time it’s because the light sensors in the camera can’t reproduce the same range of dark and light that your eyes and brain can interpret. This can be overcome through the use of multiple exposures and software tools to combine them in an appropriate way. For this image I took several exposures that captured the range of light between the bright Capital dome, the sky and the unlighted shadows of the rest of the building. I used the HDR Pro function in Photoshop 6 to merge the images together and then adjusted for color and contrast as well as cropped the image to the final square format.
Madison Lakeview V2
Madison, Wisconsin is a beautiful city and the state’s capital building and surrounding square is a prominent piece of the cityscape. This an high dynamic range image (HDR) taken from Olin Park on Lake Monona with a Nikon 70-200mm lens (focal length of ~125mm) at f2.8 on a D800 camera with the ISO set at 1600. HDR is a technique that allows a broader dynamic range of highlights and shadows to be captured in a photo. Ever wonder why the picture you took didn’t have the detail you saw? Some time it’s because the light sensors in the camera can’t reproduce the same range of dark and light that your eyes and brain can interpret. This can be overcome through the use of multiple exposures and software tools to combine them in an appropriate way. For this image I took 6 separate exposures that capture the range of light between the bright Capital dome, the water reflections and the shadows of the building as the sun set and disappeared (must use a tripod). I used the HDR Pro function in Photoshop 6 to merge the images together and then adjusted for color saturation and contrast as well as applied a final crop for an optimal composition.
Window in a Window
This photo was taken in downtown Sydney, Australia while on a business trip about 10 years ago. The four blue and white panels are actually reflections of windows with curtains in them that are reflected into one large window on another building. Its a window in a window!
I have purposely removed any glare from the large window as well as decreased brightness to create the black background. I also applied a small amount of dry brush effect to give the image the appearance of a hand painted piece of art.
Shanghai Building
Sitting in a lounge on the 63rd floor of a Shanghai building I looked up and it seemed that it went on till it was nearly out of sight. I was struck by the continuous circle pattern of the floor railings in contrast with the sharp vertical line of the elevator shaft as the building stretched higher and higher.
I love the symmetry and clean lines in architecture. It is truly an art form of its own and can make for some incredible and iconic photographs.
Amsterdam Bicycles
It’s always fun when a guest in your home says “did you take that”? I can’t say that I have mastered the art of travel photography but I have picked up a few tricks along the way. The key for me is to find things that are iconic to the place or region and apply some creativity to make the images unique. I like the exaggerated perspectives that can be achieved with wide angle lenses and in Amsterdam iconic subjects abound, tulips, bicycles, buildings and people. Bicycles are everywhere in Amsterdam. The way they interweave with trains, cars, and people on the city streets is the definition of ordered chaos!! This image was taken near the main train station. It was literally a sea of 1000’s of bicycles packed as tight as sardines in a can. I knelt down at the edge and with an 18-200mm lens on a D300 took a low angle shot of the first few rows. You’re on vacation, you’re not in a hurry so, experiment a little and I think you might come away with a few shots to hang on your walls to mark the occasion.
Nyhavn Copenhagen
One of the more popular spots in Copenhagen is called Nyhavn or “new harbor”, which indicates that it’s construction started after the city already was established. Bring your camera and take full advantage of the rich vibrant color and unique city culture.
Copenhagen Terminal A
This photo was taken while waiting for a flight back to the United States. I was killing time when I wandered into this empty section of terminal A in Copenhagen International airport. I was struck by the heavenly image of the nearly pure white structure and the emptiness that seemed to beckon "where would you like go?" The answers are different for all of us, but for all of us, enjoy the journey.
Amsterdam Old Church
Don’t forget to look-up once in a while!! Amsterdam has an abundance of old beautiful churches with high arching windows and cathedral towers. This is the Zuiderkerk, or the South Church, Amsterdam's first Protestant church and was built between 1603 and 1614. I can’t count the number of full front on pictures of churches and other buildings I have taken while traveling. You can make a picture stand out sometimes with less traditional compositions.
In this image I happened to look up and I liked the view of the tower reaching up into the clear blue sky. This was taken with an 18-200mm lens on a D300 at about 70mm.
Madison Lakeview
Madison, Wisconsin is a beautiful city and the state’s capital building and surrounding square is a prominent piece of the cityscape. Ever wonder why the picture you took didn’t have the detail you saw? Some time it’s because the light sensors in the camera can’t reproduce the same range of dark and light that your eyes and brain can interpret.
High dynamic range (HDR) is a technique that allows a broader range of highlights and shadows to be captured in a photo. This is an (HDR) image taken from Olin Park on Lake Monona. I took multiple exposures that captured the range of light difference the bright Capital dome, the water reflections and the shadows of the lakefront building as the sun set and disappeared. The images were merged together in software and the final photo adjusted for color saturation and contrast.
Old on New
This picture was taken in Lake Geneva, Switzerland on a Nikon D300 with a 28-300mm lens (~50mm focal length) at 1/250th of a sec, f6.3 with the ISO set at 800. Reflections always make for interesting photos. They are great way to add a unique element to your travel photos. This refection one was particularly interesting because of the contrast of age, style and color between the two buildings and of the old and new sections of the city.