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akhtarkhan
September 25, 2014
Stunning landscape view, brilliant colours, tranquil and nice composition. Congrats on the feature.
mmmontgomery777
November 23, 2014
..beautiful. You have many beautiful shots. Love your photography!!
cathycounselmankelly
February 12, 2015
Water surface is lovely, and swan makes the photo even better. Framing nice too.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This shot was taken at lake Bled in Slovenia.Time
I think it was early afternoon. Actually, I visited lake with my family with no special photo intentions. Since I'm from Slovenia, I'm pretty much familiar with the lake and was not really on a photo trip. But because I always carry camera with me, this day was no exeption. Most photographers take pictures of the lake from other sides, where they can get closer look on small island with the church. There are many examples also on ViewBug. On my photo this main attraction is hardly visible in the far centre of the picture. I was not interested in that part of the view. What inspired me most was the sudden change in the weather, from sunny to dark cloudy with the promise of strong storm approaching. And the swan crossing the lake. I waited for the swan to come to the right position in my composition.Lighting
The light changed fast from bright sunny day to hard storm clouds. So, there were still some traces of the sun, like on the castle hill on the right, but most of the sky was already crowded with dark clouds. That's probably my favorite situation in landscape photography.Equipment
At that time I used Nikon D5100 and Sigma 10-20mm. The exif says: Aperture: f/10.0, ISO: 100, Shutter Speed: 1/320 at 10mm. I used the lens with the wideset possible angle I owned. To exeggarate this view and make apearance of the water even closer to spactator, I went very low with the camera. This also contribute to dramatic "flow" of the clouds to the center of the picture.Inspiration
The point of view where I stood is very common. For every visitor of the lake this will be the first stop. So, the question for me was, can I make something extraordinary from this most commonly visited place? Wheather, low perspective and 10mm lens made this view so much different from obvious.Editing
I didn't do any changes to composition. But I did some common postprocessing in Camera Raw like: increasing contrast, tonal adjustment, vibrance and sharpness. I probably did use also some advanced filters in early version of ON1 Perfect photo programme.In my camera bag
Now I have Nikon D7100 which is a step ahead of previous D5100. I have Nikon 35mm f1.8 prime lens attached and that I use the most. Than it depend on the mission. For landscape I still like to use Sigma wide angle 10- 20mm. If I think there will be a need for macro I take Tamron 90mm f2.8 prime lens which is also very suitable for portrait pictures. I also own Nikon 55-200mm (cheapy plastic but surprisingly good lens) which I use on travels where I want my bag to be as light as posible. If it's just a day trip from home I usually take Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 lens instead and for special occasions (photographing birds, wild animals etc.) sometimes even heavy Sigma 150-500mm lens fill my bag. For trips in town or in nature I take light but sturdy tripod with me - you never know when there will be a nice oportunity for long exposure shots :-)Feedback
Of course light is essential for photography. Golden hours are precious, but I also like the situations before or after storms when there is very special light - sometimes you get well lit objects in front and dark, stormy background. In many occasions, especially when you travel around, you just don't have luck with weather, the sky is dull and sunset is not as glorious as it should be, and than you have to deal with what you get. And for many things - like street photography or architecture, dull weather is just perfect! So, for me composition is essential. Not only rule of thirds or golden ratio, but even more, use of planes and leading lines, harmony of colours and shapes etc. Post production for me is also important part of photography. I always shoot in raw, what gives me a lot of space for corrections, improvements or just playing with photography. But, then again, I don't like over processed (over satuarated, grainy HDR ...) pictures. So, for my taste, this picture of lake Bled reached the edge of postprocessing that I'm willing to do.