Okay guys, I have SO many photos do go through from my recent holiday to Italy (Venice, Naples, Amalfi), so I've decided to choose 1 a day and post it here as an incentive to get me to process them in an organised fashion as I have so much other work to get through.
If seeing this thread pop up daily starts to irk anybody, please let me know!
My first shot comes from Venice... because of the cheap flight, we had 1/2 hour sleep the night before so by the time I took this photo at dusk, we were pretty exhausted. We'd also walked from one end of Venice to the other which was quite overwhelming with the sheer amount of tourists. Kate was surprisingly patient as I took the photos of the Gondolas. I saw the hordes of tourists with fancy DSLRs (my God, does every tourist on the planet now have one?), so I decided to do something a bit different with motion blur. I experimented with long shutter speeds and onboard flash with the bobbing of the Gondolas, and later on I experimented with panning as the Gondoliers rowed past with good results. Here I've been going for an impressionist feel, and pushed the saturation a tad in PS, although the colours were already very saturated due to the low light and sunset conditions.
Feedback appreciated!
I think it's very nice...
I have seen a lot of wonderful images showing the motion of gondolas bobbing in the water and wish I'd thought to take some when we were in Venice a few years ago but... I just didn't think of it.
Looking forward to seeing the rest of your pics - particularly the panned gondoliers in action.
Thanks Kavey... anyone else have any comments on the Gondolas? I'm a little underwhelmed by the response so would appreciate some negative (constructive) feedback to let me know if you don't like it.
Here's another photo from my travels, this time from Naples.
From my comments on the photo:
'One of the most photographed tourist attractions of Naples, and franky I just don't understand the appeal of this turn-of-the-century shopping mall. There is an appealling astrological motif in the centre of the arcade on the floor, but you need access to one of the higher levels to take a photo of this. I'm really happy with the unusual viewpoint that my 12-24mm Sigma lens has given me here, managing to include the domed ceiling.'
Black and white doesn't work for me - I don't like it as a low key and it doesn't have enough tonal variety for a non low key image (in my opinion).
Colour one is more interesting...
Composition is strongest element - I like the shapes and abstract feel of it whilst it remains so obviously recognisable.
And I think the one of the shopping mall is fantastic - including the roof like that really makes it stand out from the normal type of photo of such attractions.
And I'm with you on being somewhat mystified of the attractions of such malls. I appreciate the ornate architecture but don't find them as intriguing as most other attractions. Perhaps because we have lots of architecture of this period in the UK and so are less awed by it?
And I'm with you on being somewhat mystified of the attractions of such malls. I appreciate the ornate architecture but don't find them as intriguing as most other attractions. Perhaps because we have lots of architecture of this period in the UK and so are less awed by it?
Leeds has some fantastic shopping arcades with much more impressive architecture IMO, I think you're absolutely right!
Thanks everyone for the opinions on colour vs b&w, it looks like I'll delete the b&w one then unless there's any support for it.
On the way home from Naples, a Ryanair jet was incredibly near by on the same course for over half our journey. Our flight was quite empty, so it was fairly easy for me to keep taking photos of it against various backdrops below. I think this is one of my favourites as we reached land from the Mediterranean... I'm guessing it must be France (we came from Naples to Manchester).
Wow!
You must have been looking out of an unusually clean and unscratched window! That's fantastic!
You should approach ryanair and find out if they'd buy it for promo purposes or clone out their name/ colour and see if you can sell it as stock.
It's FAB!
Here's a shot of the famous Piazza San Marco, but without all the people. We were up at the crack of dawn this day, and had spent the entire day walking repeatedly from one end of Venice to the other without going back to our room, so please forgive me that this was without a tripod! The shot was taken at around midnight at the wide end of my Sigma 12-24mm lens.
I'm starting to think I gave this thread a bad title... nobody seems to be reading it! Comments are appreciated on these shots, as always.
Here's another shot from Naples... small bustling streets with mopeds and cars zooming at suicidal speeds. I panned this shot, I'm quite chuffed with how it came out.
This shot was taken in the gardens of Villa Rufolo in Ravello, which was apparently the inspiration for Wagner's Parsifal opera. I personally didn't find it that spectacular, but maybe the view was spoilt by the thunder and lightning along the coast below. Love the new macro lens, still struggling with dof though which is still a tad too shallow here.
Wow, I actually got up for a sunrise... I can't believe it. Especially this particular morning, the previous night we'd been drinking until 2-3 in the morning with all the other wedding guests. A bomb wouldn't normally wake me up, but the orange sunrise colours streaming through the shutters woke me up, and I leapt out of the hotel with my camera before the sunrise at about 5am. This photo was taken just as the sun crept over the horizon opposite our hotel. Needless to say, I did actually go back to sleep after grabbing some photos.
I took quite a few photos of this intriguing egg seller in Naples on different days, and he always looked exactly the same... his posture was unwavering. This was taken in one of the most bustling areas of town (Spaccanapoli?)... every time I took my camera out of it's case, locals would tell me it was very dangerous there and I should put it away again. Of course, that didn't put this intrepid photojournalist off(!), but everyone was very aware of what was going on around them so it was hard to point a camera at someone without them immediately being aware of it. I have come a long way since a year ago when I was quite scared to point a camera at a stranger.
As usual, Bob, very good photos and so varied. I love your panning and blur shots...a technique I perfected when I first picked up a camera...not intentionly tho!! Now, as I get older, it gets easier to do.
