Cem_Usakligil
Well-known member
Hi,
We are on a well deserved summer holiday in Costa Brava, Spain right now. I have been trying to take some pictures, on and off, but the weather has been abnormally bad for this region, i.e. dull and overcast; we have had 6 days with rain so far. Leaving our home base at odd hours (before dawn or around sunset) to take pictures at remote locations (driving time typically one hour each way) has not been an option since I am with my family and I want to be with them during the holidays. But one still tries.
Anyway, I have loaded Lightroom and SNS-HDR on my laptop and I have done some quick and dirty post processing (i.e. not the final versions yet) on some of the interesting pictures. I want to share a couple with with you but please mind that this work is done on an uncalibrated laptop monitor so what you see is not what I may have intended you to see, lol.
Cap de Creus is the easternmost point of Spain, jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea. It is a very rough terrain where Pyrenees have been shaped by the never ceasing winds and the sea for millions of years. It is a crazy landscape full of razor sharp rock formations it and has been described by Salvador Dali as a Geological Delirium. This has been a place of inspiration for him, when he lived in the nearby village of Portlligat. We arrive there around 7 pm, after having visited Dali's house museum in Portlligat earlier. The wind is blowing very hard, I reckon around 6-8 Beaufort. Most of the day tourists are already heading back to the civilization to freshen up and have some tapas and/or dinner somewhere. There are all sorts of people, some who has been hiking, some fishing and some just driving up to the Cap to see the view for a while and to head back. I am the only one who is walking around with a heavy tripod. People are interested and try to see what I have been capturing. As usual, there are quite a few trying to take a picture of the same views as I do, assuming that I must know what I am doing since I look pro, lol. The hard wind shakes the tripod violently, I have to grab and push it to the ground with both hands during exposures. Even then, I have to speed up the exposure times above 1/200s as the shake proves to be too much for my 100mm lens. I do not have the time to wait for the sunset as we need to be back at Cadaques for dinner later this evening. My family are tired and cold and they want me to hurry up. I still take my time to explore the different points of view, of which there are many. This is my first time here so I am not familiar not prepared, I have to get what I can get. The sun is still high up in the air but it hides behind the clouds every now and then. I want to go down to the sea level but it will take me at least an hour to descend and reclimb the few hundred meters of treacherous slopes. So I have limited options. In the end, I manage to grab some interesting shots, among others the following.
This composition has a couple of interesting elements which capture my attention. One can see the sharp rock formations and the mountain tops, which are saw shaped. The cloud formations at the top mimic the triangular shapes of the rocks. We have an entrance point on the right at the bay, contrary to the Western way of reading from left to right. This leads the eye smoothly on a diagonal to the upper left part of the picture. We then follow the cloud formations to the right and perhaps leave the picture to the right into the open sea. The couple of rocks in the sea in the middle may be a settling point for the eye. The is a winding road in landscape which leads the eye towards them. I take the picture using a 100mm lens, in order to compress the multitudes of layers in the picture. Horizon of the sea at the far shore is slightly below the middle point of the frame, creating a pleasing distribution of various parts such as the clouds, the sea, the mountains and the rocks in the foreground. The processing is geared towards retaining the details in the highlights and to show the cloud formations well. By using a slight tone mapping, the foreground has been lighted just enough to provide the necessary details.
On my daughter's request, here is another one from about the same position, but taken using a 24mm T/S. As can be seen, it suffers from lens flare although it is not that bad considering the sun shining directly into the lens. This was a 9 bracket shoot (steps of 1EV each) in order to tame the huge contrast range of the image. This time, the foreground takes predominance, showing various rock formations. To achieve that, I shift the lens slightly down which places the horizon higher. I also apply a slight tilt down to create foreground to infinity focus. Here we have a descending diagonal from left to right formed by the sun, the enclosed bay and the slight dent in the rocks below it. The round green patch to the left and the light colored boulder behind it lead the eye into the picture. We then follow the diagonal in the reverse direction to see the sun. Clouds and the sea form an easy opening to the right via which we can leave the scene.
Cadaques has been "discovered" by painters and writers such as Paul Eluard, Picasso, Santiago Rusinol, Utrillo and of course Dali. It is a small village/town which still feels like a place where artists live and work. The inevitable invasion of tourists as a result. There are lots of galleries, bars, cafes and restaurants. The church is especially interesting, along with the white facades of the houses built on the hill slopes raising from the bay. It even looks a bit like Greece due to the white and blue hues used. So there we went to have dinner at a terrace of a restaurant, overlooking Cadaques. It was about 30 minutes after sunset and while munching on my food, I saw the clouds color a most crazy hue of purple/pink. I have jumped off my chair, set up the tripod and took this picture; despite the scorning looks from restaurant guests and my wife. The hues were gone some seconds later. This was taken using a 24mm T/S lens, slightly shifted up to place the horizon in the optimal position. I have tone mapped to retain the details of the village while optimizing the hues and brightness of the clouds. Color/white balance has been done using my eyeballs and can be off a bit.
We are on a well deserved summer holiday in Costa Brava, Spain right now. I have been trying to take some pictures, on and off, but the weather has been abnormally bad for this region, i.e. dull and overcast; we have had 6 days with rain so far. Leaving our home base at odd hours (before dawn or around sunset) to take pictures at remote locations (driving time typically one hour each way) has not been an option since I am with my family and I want to be with them during the holidays. But one still tries.
Anyway, I have loaded Lightroom and SNS-HDR on my laptop and I have done some quick and dirty post processing (i.e. not the final versions yet) on some of the interesting pictures. I want to share a couple with with you but please mind that this work is done on an uncalibrated laptop monitor so what you see is not what I may have intended you to see, lol.Cap de Creus is the easternmost point of Spain, jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea. It is a very rough terrain where Pyrenees have been shaped by the never ceasing winds and the sea for millions of years. It is a crazy landscape full of razor sharp rock formations it and has been described by Salvador Dali as a Geological Delirium. This has been a place of inspiration for him, when he lived in the nearby village of Portlligat. We arrive there around 7 pm, after having visited Dali's house museum in Portlligat earlier. The wind is blowing very hard, I reckon around 6-8 Beaufort. Most of the day tourists are already heading back to the civilization to freshen up and have some tapas and/or dinner somewhere. There are all sorts of people, some who has been hiking, some fishing and some just driving up to the Cap to see the view for a while and to head back. I am the only one who is walking around with a heavy tripod. People are interested and try to see what I have been capturing. As usual, there are quite a few trying to take a picture of the same views as I do, assuming that I must know what I am doing since I look pro, lol. The hard wind shakes the tripod violently, I have to grab and push it to the ground with both hands during exposures. Even then, I have to speed up the exposure times above 1/200s as the shake proves to be too much for my 100mm lens. I do not have the time to wait for the sunset as we need to be back at Cadaques for dinner later this evening. My family are tired and cold and they want me to hurry up. I still take my time to explore the different points of view, of which there are many. This is my first time here so I am not familiar not prepared, I have to get what I can get. The sun is still high up in the air but it hides behind the clouds every now and then. I want to go down to the sea level but it will take me at least an hour to descend and reclimb the few hundred meters of treacherous slopes. So I have limited options. In the end, I manage to grab some interesting shots, among others the following.
This composition has a couple of interesting elements which capture my attention. One can see the sharp rock formations and the mountain tops, which are saw shaped. The cloud formations at the top mimic the triangular shapes of the rocks. We have an entrance point on the right at the bay, contrary to the Western way of reading from left to right. This leads the eye smoothly on a diagonal to the upper left part of the picture. We then follow the cloud formations to the right and perhaps leave the picture to the right into the open sea. The couple of rocks in the sea in the middle may be a settling point for the eye. The is a winding road in landscape which leads the eye towards them. I take the picture using a 100mm lens, in order to compress the multitudes of layers in the picture. Horizon of the sea at the far shore is slightly below the middle point of the frame, creating a pleasing distribution of various parts such as the clouds, the sea, the mountains and the rocks in the foreground. The processing is geared towards retaining the details in the highlights and to show the cloud formations well. By using a slight tone mapping, the foreground has been lighted just enough to provide the necessary details.
On my daughter's request, here is another one from about the same position, but taken using a 24mm T/S. As can be seen, it suffers from lens flare although it is not that bad considering the sun shining directly into the lens. This was a 9 bracket shoot (steps of 1EV each) in order to tame the huge contrast range of the image. This time, the foreground takes predominance, showing various rock formations. To achieve that, I shift the lens slightly down which places the horizon higher. I also apply a slight tilt down to create foreground to infinity focus. Here we have a descending diagonal from left to right formed by the sun, the enclosed bay and the slight dent in the rocks below it. The round green patch to the left and the light colored boulder behind it lead the eye into the picture. We then follow the diagonal in the reverse direction to see the sun. Clouds and the sea form an easy opening to the right via which we can leave the scene.
Cadaques has been "discovered" by painters and writers such as Paul Eluard, Picasso, Santiago Rusinol, Utrillo and of course Dali. It is a small village/town which still feels like a place where artists live and work. The inevitable invasion of tourists as a result. There are lots of galleries, bars, cafes and restaurants. The church is especially interesting, along with the white facades of the houses built on the hill slopes raising from the bay. It even looks a bit like Greece due to the white and blue hues used. So there we went to have dinner at a terrace of a restaurant, overlooking Cadaques. It was about 30 minutes after sunset and while munching on my food, I saw the clouds color a most crazy hue of purple/pink. I have jumped off my chair, set up the tripod and took this picture; despite the scorning looks from restaurant guests and my wife. The hues were gone some seconds later. This was taken using a 24mm T/S lens, slightly shifted up to place the horizon in the optimal position. I have tone mapped to retain the details of the village while optimizing the hues and brightness of the clouds. Color/white balance has been done using my eyeballs and can be off a bit.
