river cities: krakow

Photo by Peter Haden http://www.peterhaden.com

Krakow  Wawel Castle

I arrived in Krakow in April 2012, officially to attend workshops at the OffCamera Plus film festival and unofficially to make a dash across the border, capitalizing on the hype of the Euro 2012 soccer tournament and making a calculated bet that I could slip back into Ukraine on a 90-day tourist visa and avoid detention.  If it worked, I could live out my last eight weeks in Ukraine being quasi-legal, a big step up and vital for a successful final exit to the Balkans in June.

I set out for the castle around midnight and hovered around this bend in the river, trying to find an angle that would reflect the repetition between the bend of the Vistula (river) and that of the sidewalk.

This is an image from river cities, an ongoing project about the timeless quality rivers provide to the cities they bisect.

Specs:

Body  Canon 7D   Lens  Tamron AF 17-50mm f/2.8   ISO 400

Focal Length Equivalent (17mm)(1.6 crop factor) = 27mm 

Exp. 1  15 sec, f/11 (0 ev)  Exp. 2  4 sec, f/11 (-2 ev)  Exp. 3  30 sec, f/11 (+2 ev)

Software  Nik HDR Efex 2 Pro 2 plugin for Aperture.

river cities: budapest

Photo by Peter Haden http://www.peterhaden.com

Budapest Chain Bridge

I searched for the right perspective to highlight the lines, texture and grandiosity, trying it from both sides of the span and on the bridge itself.  A couple sightseeing boats passed by, then the coal barge.  Some Hungarian punks were hanging out underneath on the Pest side.  They chatted me up and offered me some malt liquor.  A couple made out.  It was a Wednesday night in April.  The Danube flowed on, unconcerned.

This is an image from river cities, an ongoing project about the timeless quality rivers provide to the cities they bisect.

Specs:

Body  Canon 7D   Lens  Tamron AF 17-50mm f/2.8   ISO 400

Focal Length Equivalent (32mm)(1.6 crop factor) = 51mm

Exp. 1  1.0 sec, f/11 (0 ev)  Exp. 2  1/4 sec, f/11 (-2 ev)  Exp. 3  5.0 sec, f/11 (+2 ev)

Software  Nik HDR Efex 2 Pro 2 plugin for Aperture.  This is the most intuitive HDR software I have found.

What you are seeing is an HDR image.  HDR stands for high dynamic range, and the image is created from (usually) three or more photos with the same composition but different light exposure settings.  Later, the photos are merged digitally utilizing editing software.

The long exposures give the river a subdued look, but it was moving swiftly.  I did not use the lens hood, but I will do so in the future as I think it will help cut down on the circular flaring that can be seen coming off the street lamps in the center of the image.

The Canon 7D has three programable settings on the mode dial – C1, C2, and C3.  I have two of the presets set up for HDRs; C2 to bracket three exposures at +/- 2 f-stops, and C3 to bracket three exposures at +/- 3 f-stops.  This feature is very handy.