GRGalleries' Adventure Logs

Keep Dreaming

gio — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:22:19 +0000

We had a long weekend here in Italy, so I spent some time editing some of the pictures taken in the past years.

The picture in this post was taken in “Val di Genova”, a small valley in the Western part of Trentino. The bottom of the valley is run by a river and a road that takes you through the entire valley.

Keep Dreaming - Canon 5D, 17-40 f/4 L, 17mm@f/16, 0.8s, ISO 200. A second picture taken at ISO 800 was used to freeze the water movements (1/8s).

As starting point of this image, I took a single raw shot taken at 0.8s. However, the fast moving water was still with few details left. So, I took a second shot at ISO 800 with a shutter speed of 1/8s enough for freezing some details in the water. Then, I revealed the details of the water using the high ISO shot.

Wolf Stream

gio — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 07:53:34 +0000

Once in a while, I manage to get out with my camera and get some decent pictures. This are the Wolf Falls, that have been already featured in this blog. Actually, I have visited this falls in autumn and winter. Now I wanted to have a picture of the summer season. To have a different composition, this time I went in with a pair of hip waders. In this way, I was able to get in the middle of the stream without any problem.

In the picture below, I used the foam in the stream as a leading line in to the frame. It also works very nice as a balancing element with the falls itself. To achieve maximum deep of field, I took two pictures of the same scene, one focusing on the close rocks and the second one for the far falls. Then, I used the technique described in Tony Kuyper’s eBook on digital scheimplfug for merging the two pictures (highly recommended). Finally, I gave an overall glow that resembles the foggy atmosphere that I experienced while being there due to the falls spray

Wolf Stream - Canon 5D, 24-105 f/4 L, 24mm@f/11, 2s, ISO 100. Two images focused on different points and blended together.

The snow is (almost) gone

gio — Wed, 11 May 2011 09:23:10 +0000

Well, well…look who is back!

Winter is gone and we are in full ”spring” mode here in the Dolomites. Lots of flowers are right now blooming and the snow can only be found over 2000 mt of altitude. Still, I would like to post some pictures taken during the past winter. To be honest, the winter was a short one: in January and February we had almost every day blue sky and no fresh snow.

Passing Storm - Canon 5D, 24-105 f/4 L, 105mm@f/11, 0.4s, ISO 100. This is a pano from 4 different vertical shots.

The image featured in this post was taken back in November 2010. It was taken at sunset from Mt Bondone looking westwards towards the Brenta Group. At the time there was a storm passing over the peaks that was side-lit by the setting sun.

The final image is the result of stitching together4 different frames. The process is not that automated as I thought. Although while processing the raw images I tried to keep the white balance similar for all the frames in the end the final result was not that good. I had to manually correct each single channel for the different frames to get to this.

gio

First Snow

gio — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 07:58:07 +0000

As the title says, our winter season has started here in Trentino. Snow has arrived and at higher altitude is going to stay. After a couple of days of bad weather, we got a spell of two nice days in a row. Thus I decided to get out early an afternoon to go to the local sky resorts of Mt. Bondone. This place offers a nice view of the lake valley and the dramatic peaks of the Brenta Group. I’m fortunate enough to live and work near some spots that in the right light condition can turn out to be quite photogenic.

First Snow - Canon 5D, 24-105 f/4 L, 40mm@f/11, ISO 100. This is a manual blend of two exposures at 1.6 and 1 sec.

I arrived at my favourite spot 15 minutes before the sun would disappear behind a wall of clouds on the South-West. Here the view is westbound, where the clouds and the mountains were getting some modelling side light. Everything looked very promising. And then it happened. As the sun was getting lower the light was getting fierce on the clouds. I grabbed some 50 frames in the changing light until the show was over! Then, I rushed into my car to turn the heat on and de-frost a couple of fingers from my left hand. Still, what a nice time.

gio

The Avisio River

gio — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 11:00:35 +0000

Last spring, we moved from Trento to a small village in the Cembra Valley. Mainly the move was due to get a house with more space for our two dogs. The first part of the valley is heavily used for vineyards due to its gentle slopes. The more remote part of the valley gets very steep and in some spots is very narrow. The valley is run for its entire length by the Avisio river.

Near where I live now, there are several narrow roads leads to the river banks. The place where I took these two images below is near the village of Segonzano. I visit this place the first time because I was looking for a climbing wall near where I live. Some locals told me about this spot near the river. I managed to get to this place and after the climbing session I went around looking for possible shooting opportunities.

At the beginning of this autumn I went down there and I was not disappointed.

Autumn Dream - Canon 5D, 17-40f/4, 17mm@f/11, 240 sec ISO 240, with B+W ND 110 Filter. Single exposure double processed.

In the first image, Autumn Dream, I attached a B+W ND 110 filter to lengthen the exposure time. I also scattered some leaves on the rocks.

Rapids - Canon 5D, 17-40f/4, 37mm@f/11, manual blending of 3 exposures at 4 and 2 sec ISO 100 and a third exposure at 0.5 sec ISO 400 for retaining details in the water.

The second image was taken after the previous one. I removed the B+W ND 110 filter and concentrated on the rapids formed by the fast moving water. To retain details in the water, I took a third exposure at higher ISO setting and I manually blended it to reveal the texture in the rapids.

Frozen Shore

gio — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:48:01 +0000

Here is a picture taken last year in November. It took me one year to process this. Firstly, because I didn’t have an appropriate display for a correct colour management. Secondly, well sometimes life has different plans for you!

About this picture: this is Carezza lake (Karersee in German), in Alto Adige. I arrived at the lake one hour before sunset. So I had all the time to set up my tripod. The beautiful mountains in the background are called Latemar Group. Unfortunately, this view is taken on their North face meaning that the sun never gets to illuminate it. Fortunately, the beautiful stream clouds above it got some nice colours. As a nice touch, the lake was frozen with some patterns that reflect the in shape the cloud formation above. Not to mention that the pattern provide a nice leading line into the picture.

Frozen Shore - Canon 5D, 17-40f/4, 24mm@f/11, manual blending of 2 exposures at 1/13 and 0.8, ISO 100.

The picture is a manual blend of two exposures for controlling the dynamic range. I had to clone our some footprints left there my my dog Alcantara.

All in all, I think that this is one of the best pictures from this location! And I’m not saying this because it is mine.

gio

The Wolf Falls

gio — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:23:15 +0000

Here is the last image that I made at the gorge of the Wolf Falls. And it is about the falls itself. The picture featured in this post was taken on a third visit (fortunately I live really close to this place). Again with my welly boots on I waded into the gorge. On a previous visit, I took some shots of the falls on the left bank of the stream. I was not that exited about them. So this time I decide to try to find a more balanced composition on the right bank of the stream. This required another cross of the stream to reach the opposite bank bank.

The Wolf Falls - Canon 5D, 17-40f/4, 17mm@f/11, manual blending of 3 exposures. I took two exposure at ISO 100 of 6 sec and 1.3 sec for the main image. To retain details in the moving water in the foreground I took a third shot at ISO 400 and 0.8 sec.

I found this nice boulder that was lighter in colour respect to the rest of the rocks. It was partially covered with water that was reflecting the blue of the sky. The dry patches didn’t look that good, so I used some leaves in the water to make the boulder wet and shining! I also picked one of the leaves around the bank and placed it on the boulder.

I think that I’m quite satisfied with this small portfolio. Now let’s wait for the real cold to come this winter and see if the falls will freeze. This would make an interesting subject.

Towards the Autumn

gio — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:45:00 +0000

Second picture from the gorge of the Wolf Falls. This time I came prepared with my knee-high boots to cross the small stream (4 meters wide) in order to go further inside the gorge. The colours in the trees this time were starting really to shine. Thanks to the low sun of the late afternoon, the colours of the trees were very brilliant. By positioning the camera on a low angle, the small pool in the middle of the picture was reflecting the colours of the trees giving a nice touch of yellow.

Towards the Autumn - Canon 5D, 17-40f/4,17mm@f/11, manual blending of 4 exposures at 0.4, 1.3, 2, and 3.2 sec., ISO 100.

In the following post, I’ll show a picture of the actual falls made on another visit.

gio

The Gorge of the Wolf Falls

gio — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 08:54:28 +0000

This picture was taken near Segonzano, in a small and narrow gorge called the “Wolf Falls”. I discovered this place before the summer, when we moved to Lisignago. I knew that this place had some potentials thus I waited for the right time.

The Narrows - Canon 5D, 24-105 f/4 L, 24mm@f/11, 15sec.

“The Narrows” was taken at the beginning of the Autumn when the trees started to turn their colours. During this visit, I didn’t have my welly boots so I could not jump into the water. But I tried to use as leading line the semi-submerged rocks. The tree in the background works as a nice anchor point. During post processing, I enhanced the the blue in the water to give more colour contrast against the red in the rocks. More pictures from this place will follow in the next posts.

On a Rock

gio — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:53:50 +0000

In July the vegetation at higher altitudes is still very vibrant. This boulder along a small stream was covered with a nice layer of vegetation still in full activity.

On a Rock - Canon 5D, 24-105L, 24mm@f/16, 1.6s, ISO 200.