Plansee, Austria

PLANSEE in TYROL, AUSTRIA

JANUARY 2014

So my Garmin routed us around the Plannsee enroute to Linderhof Palace last week and on the way back I decided to get a quick shot of the lake with the mountains in the background. We will definitely go back this Summer for a few days of relaxation.

Take My Picture

So I was out practicing with my Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 35mm 1:1.8G on the outskirts of downtown Heidelberg, Germany when this guy just ran up out of nowhere. I snapped this shot from the hip and was amazed at the quality considering I didn't prepare for it. What you see here is an in camera (Nikon D5100) edit with an exposure adjustment in Photoshop Elements 11. The copyright symbol and the text are my standard edits with CS2 because I haven't figured out how to do this in PSE 11.

Old Benz

I saw this car in Stuttgart and the headlights caught my attention. I'm not sure what model it is because it wasn't on the back of the car and I can't find pictures of a model with this headlight configuration. It is very similar to the W114 models made between 1968-1976. Based on my recent research these headlights were on the North American version.

NitrOlympX 2013

This was an awesome day. I always wanted to go see this event but never made it. But thanks to meeting new people I was able to score a weekend pit pass.

This is one of my favorite shots from the event. Here are the original details from the shot:
Nikon 5100
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6G
150mm  - ISO 200
1/1250s f/4.5
Edited in LR4.4 & CS2

Link to NitrOlympX: http://goo.gl/nQ5qlK

Stuttgart on a January evening

  This was shot from Panaramastrasse around 18:50. I always wondered why my photos were never producing the detail that some professional guys were putting out when I was using the same software that they were. Well I of course do not have the cameras that they have (D3x or D4) but I still felt that I could step up my photos to get closer without spending more money on a new camera. Well I just had to listen closer to the pros and I'm improving. My camera (Nikon D5100) is not a bad camera but it will only shoot 3 photos when in bracket mode. So when I was listening to one of the pros his camera can take 5 photos in bracket mode (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2). So his photos were an HDR merge of 5 pics versus the 3 that I was merging. So since my camera is on a tripod when I take photos like this I just shot additional photos at various settings in bracket mode in order to get the 5 shot variation (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2). Now this picture is not the best but I just had to go and test my theory out and based on previous photos I can see more detail over my normal 3 shot HDR.


Camera & Picture Info
Image Quality: Compressed RAW (14-bit)
Device: Nikon D5100
Lens: VR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G
Focal Length: 32mm
Focus Mode: Manual
AF-Area Mode: Single
VR: OFF
Aperture: f/6.3
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 200

Merged with Photomatix Pro
Edited with CS2

Schuztengel von Jürgen Goertz

Very interesting fountain with quite a few different sculptures in it. The "Schutzengel" "Guardian Angel" looks really cool so I thought I would share it with those who may never get to see in person. This particular sculpture was completed in 2007. The church in the background is the Saint Laurentius Catholic Church which was built between 1745 and 1751.

Picture 1

Image Quality: Compressed RAW (14-bit)

Image Comment: grnantphoto.blogspot.com            

Camera Info

Device: Nikon D5100

Lens: VR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G

Focal Length: 55mm

Focus Mode: AF-A

AF-Area Mode: Auto

VR: ON

AF Fine Tune:

Exposure

Aperture: f/4.2

Shutter Speed: 1/500s, 1,1000s, 1/250s

Exposure Mode: Manual

Exposure Comp.: 0EV, -1.0EV, +1.0EV

Metering: Matrix

ISO Sensitivity: ISO 100

White Balance: Auto, 0, 0

Picture 2

Image Quality: Compressed RAW (14-bit)
Image Comment: grnantphoto.blogspot.com            
Camera Info
Device: Nikon D5100
Lens: VR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G
Focal Length: 55mm
Focus Mode: AF-A
AF-Area Mode: Auto
VR: ON
AF Fine Tune:
Exposure
Aperture: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/50s, 1/100s, 1/25s
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Comp.: 0EV, -1.0EV, +1.0EV
Exposure Tuning:
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 100

White Balance: Auto, 0, 0

Howling Bokeh

So today I bought some black construction paper, some tape, a Fiskars Pop-up Star punch
 and successfully conducted a DIY project that allowed me to add the stars to this picture. So the deal is you  have to make a cover for your lens that changes what would normally be round circles into shapes. Fairly easy to make and they sell them online in sets with many different shapes.  So the setup consisted of some candles, a multi-color flashlight, my daughter's miniature ironing board and one of her little toys.

Camera: Nikon D5100

Lens: Nikon 50mm f/1.8D

Aperture: f/2.8

Exp: 1/10s

ISO: 200

Tripod

Night HDR

Jubilee Column in the Stuttgarter Schlossplatz in Stuttgart, Germany

I originally went out tonight to get some shots of cool Halloween costumes but I couldn't pass on this shot. I used Photomatix Pro and Photoshop to merge and edit the shots.

Nikon D5100
Lens: VR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G
Length: 48mm
Mode: Manual
Bracketed: -1/0/+1
ISO: 320
Aperture: f/8
Exposure: 3 sec
2 sec delay with Nikon ML-L3 remote
Tripod: Manfrotto MKC3-H01