Not so blue mosque

I finally did the trip to the old town. Surprisingly, it was not as crowded as Pera. Or maybe there were as many people, but the streets were less narrow?

Anyway, it was a white sky day - hence the black-and-white processing.

Nikon D7100, 105mm, 1/50s @ f/5.6, iso 100

Fluffy monster

Normally, not an animal photographer, but cats (and dogs) here in Istanbul are so cute!

Nikon D7100, 292mm, 1/320s @ f/5.3, iso 1100

Routine check

This picture showed on my Facebook today, as a reminder of what I posted a year or two years ago. In fact I was in Peru in 2013, but the picture had to wait over a year to actually be edited.

At the time of editing I was experimenting heavily with Nik Collection and the result was making a version with Analog Efex (see the second picture). However, seeing this picture today I thought it is a lot better than I initially thought and remade it using just Lightroom. I also (finally!) straighten it up :)

Nikon D5100, 52mm, 1/2500s @ f/2.5, iso 100

Same photo, old edit

Look the other way!

This one is a lazy camera play during an evening snack (delicious fresh fish BTW). I like the bokeh and the boy's face expression. In reality he went for a ball, but it looks like he's after the flower :)

Nikon D7100, 300mm, 1/40s @ f/5.6, iso 100

Sur le Pont d'Avignon...

I am still travelling and taking photos, there is never enough time to develop them though. Too much happening outside the photo-bubble right now...

Just before the end of the year 2015, I have got a chance to visit Provence and one of the first places there was, naturally, Avignon. Too bad it was winter and the day was very cloudy in addition. Nevertheless, I am pretty happy with the end result.

The picture shows, of course, the famous Pont d'Avignon from the song. At the place I joked - as probably so many other tourists - that it was not worth visiting as it is not even whole. But it was. I just wish I could see Provence in spring, summer and autumn...

Nikon D7100, 105mm, 1/160s @ f/5.6, iso 200

Sunday special - rain & flowers

It's been a while since I took my camera out with the very intention to take photos. Recently it is more like: "hmmm, I am going to this nice place, if I take a camera, maybe there'll be an opportunity to get few nice landscapes?"

So today, I was walking in the light rain down the street I live on and I noticed all these plants extending their leaves to catch the water. And by the way: the plants are the only ones happy with this kind of summer. People just hate it.

But to the point. Seeing the beauty is just around the corner I geared up and went for a short walk. And now I am publishing not one, not two, but ten pictures!

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/320s @ f/2.8, iso 400

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/5.6, iso 1250

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/2.8, iso 3200

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/5.6, iso 1000

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/5.6, iso 560

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/250s @ f/2.8, iso 400

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/11, iso 1250

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/80s @ f/11, iso 400

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/9, iso 1600

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/250s @ f/5.6, iso 400

A day on the river

Enough of those sad, monochrome pictures... Although the one published yesterday actually took me back to Thailand and then I found this one.

The river in Bangkok is a very interesting place. Where an inattentive tourist can spend a hundred bucks on a cool trip that otherwise would cost him maybe 100 baht if he paid for the tickets on the boat and at the temples. It is also a place when you get out of the heat, sort of. I mean, it is better to feel the water breeze on your face than sit in a park in the full sun...

One thing in Bangkok never changes though - the river is as busy as the roads.

Sony RX100M3, 35mm, 1/250s @ f/11, iso 125

Stairway to sky(train)

To complete the series of monochrome images I'd like to include this one, from Bangkok, that I always wanted to publish, but never was in a mood too. Thailand is a land of many colours and to make a black&white frame felt almost like a sacrilege...

I am not 100% sure, but I believe this is the view from the entrance to Terminal 21 on one of the exits from the sky train (BTS) at the Asok station. What I liked about this frame was how the stairs compose with the rest of surrounding architectural elements.

Of course, it being Thailand, I could not resist to add some warmth to the monochrome image. Though - give the recent Mad Max hype - maybe it would have looked better in chrome?

Sony RX100M3, 34mm, 1/13s @ f/11, iso 80

Classic postcard from Charleston

Another mansion from Charleston, SC. This time I shot at the gate to capture the "inviting" character of the alley.

The original RAW was a bit too green for me, so I switched to monochrome. And then I decided to give it that classic postcard look with white vignette and a bit of sepia, courtesy of Silver Efex.

Sony RX100M3, 24mm, 1/50s @ f/5.6, iso 320

Picture-in-picture

One of the charming qualities of Charleston, SC - beautifully preserved old mansions along the main roads. Sometimes you can get a full view but just going around, but most of the time you are limited to just peeking through a gate. However, even those gates can be a marvel. Look at these crafted patterns, the gas lamp at the top. I am still not sure if the bird just happened to be there or was part of the metal artwork.
From the pictures I took, I chose to publish this one, where I caught my friend's hand taking a picture too! Hence the title...

Sony RX100M3, 24mm, 1/200s @ f/5.6, iso 1600

Crémerie Holy Donut

A sunny spring day. Noon. A car. An ice cream shop. A small town on a lake. A funny name. All you need for a perfect "opening season" picture.

I could have gone with a retro post-processing, but decided to keep the original colours, just warmed up a little. A very cheerful result!

And for the record - Saint-Donat is the name of a saint. But who knows, maybe he liked donuts?

Sony RX100M3, 31mm, 1/160s @ f/5.6, iso 80

March 27th :|

The same morning, different place. Unlike the picture from the previous post, this one really captures the feelings of every person in Montreal right now. Which are: will it ever stop?? And - believe it or not - this photo looks even sadder in colour...

No matter. This weekend showed signs of spring. And yes, I've already went to buy coffee wearing only a t-shirt. Because I can! :D

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/200s @ f/10, iso 3200

Let it snow?

This is probably the most frustrating thing about Montreal in March: after a few days of sunshine and (relative) warmth there comes a morning like this... BAM!

The world is suddenly dark, the sky is cloudy, and the dreaded frozen flakes are falling from up there... It is nice in November, exciting in December, normal in January, already depressing in February, but March??

However, a beauty can be found in this, too. What I like about the picture below is how great the bokeh looks in ISO 3200. Usually I would shoot this kind of picture with ISO 100-200, but I may experiment with that high ISO grain a bit more.

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/1600s @ f/5.6, iso 3200

Lights of McGill

And again, having the heavier camera in my backpack paid off (too bad I did not pack a tripod too)! I've been just returning home from a meet-up when this sight caught my attention. It was almost dark, only the sky was a bit lighter with one of those cloud formations that make pictures interesting.

Not having a tripod I improvised by resting my tele lens against the fence. With high ISO and VR mode active I managed to get a pretty decent shot at 70mm (105mm in 35mm terms) and f/10. I tried 85mm too (the second photo), but I like the framing in the first one better. On afterthought, I could have tried to step up the aperture a bit.

Nikon 7100, 105mm, 1/6s @ f/10, iso 3200

Nikon 7100, 127mm, 1/6s @ f/10, iso 3200

Dark Hedges of Mont-Royal

North Ireland has got its Dark Hedges, in Montreal - at least for me - that would be the park alley, an extension of Rue Rachel, that leads to the Monument of Sir George-Étienne Cartier. I pass this place almost every morning on my way to work. Today was a very sunny day, so I took my tele lens to make the most of it.

I tried two different versions - the original picture was the darker one. Then I tried the overexposed settings of the Silver Efex software. And I have to admit, the lighter variant looks better, more along the spirit of the season, which in Montreal - unfortunately - is still winter.

Nikon 7100, 255mm, 1/200s @ f/9, iso 100 (overexposed)

Nikon 7100, 255mm, 1/200s @ f/9, iso 100 (dark variant)

Stop winter!

A snowy Montreal Sunday morning - from a week ago. Not that this weekend was any different.

This time I tried a tele-zoom. Has a nice way of bringing the object on the picture closer.

Nikon 7100, 105mm, 1/100s @ f/9, iso 1000

Lost in winter

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/60s @ f/14, iso 125

Choices, choices... 

The moment I imported the photo into Lightroom I knew it has to be black-and-white with a colour accent. Few adjustments later I ended up with the picture #1 (below). The problem was, even though the red is strong, it wasn't enough to make the subject stand out from the background.

I thought blurring with a radial filter was the answer (picture #2). But the blur was looking very artificial, like I tried to fake a DOF very clumsily, as some of the critics noticed. Oh, I posted those two photos to the Street Photography group on 500px looking for tips.

After a bit more pondering, I finally toned down the background a bit, but without blurring it too much. A bit of shadows brightening, a tad of contrast and voila! The end result is exactly, what I was trying to show.

I had two good titles actually three) for this photo:

1. Lost in winter
2. Looking for summer
3. Which way to summer?

Ended up using the first one. What do you think?

Sharp (#1)

Blurred (#2)

Warm evening

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/1.4, iso 1250

So thanks to meetup.com/ we went to an evening stroll through the centre of Chiang Mai to learn some of the history of this place. Tomorrow I'm trying that pad thai Tony recommended!

Oh, and here's more pictures from this walk.

Fruitarian paradise

Nikon 7100, 75mm, 1/50s @ f/5.6, iso 3200

Walking the streets of Thai cities leaves a little wonder why for example Steve Jobs became a fruitarian. Of course, there are countless opportunities to eat something else (and usually uber-delicious), but you can live off fruits without problem. Some of them you've never saw before...

Why me?

Sony RX100M3, 40mm, 1/50s @ f/11, iso 1250

Back to black-and-whites...

This picture was taken when a storm was hitting the Cleveland's lakeside. The same summer storm which was chasing me from Detroit and I just manage to arrive 20 minutes before it caught up with me.

Fun! But not as much fun and those guys packing instruments had.