sunset in zagreb

Sunset from the special viewpoint in Zagreb also looks magnificent, right?

silhouette [p52 | w22]

Staying one more night in Zagreb turned out to be a great opportunity to get very nice pictures! Especially when I get to know a very special person, who has the early morning access to the 360° Zagreb Eye viewpoint above the city (Thanks Joe!). Silhouetted is beautiful Zagreb’s main cathedral. Picture taken at about 5am, and key to get such a vibrant colors is to change white balance to tungsten (yeah, halogen light!) Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-300 @145mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 50 To, že som musel ostať v Záhrebe jednu noc navyše nakoniec nebola až taká zlá vec, lebo sa mi pritrafil kopec príležitostí na skvelé fotky! Obzvlášť keď som sa zoznámil s jednou skvelou osobou, ktorá mala skoro ráno prístup na vyhliadkovú vežu Zagreb eye vysoko nad mestom (díky Joe!). Siluetou mi poslúžila nádherná katedrála v centre mesta. Fotil som ráno o 5 a kľúčom k dosiahnutiu takch nádherných farieb bolo prepnutie nastavenie bielej (white balance) na halogénové svetlo (tungsten). Veru tak!

flora – garden in my living room [p52 | w18]

Yes, I know, everything’s in bloom and to shoot flora and flowers is very easy. But instead of getting my belly dirty and muddy, I’ve took our labrador Bonnie for a walk and pick up some wild flowers. Arranging them at home at the white mat semi-transparent board with two flashes was then easy. And while set up was ready, I just play with some other flowers found at home or in the garden (sakura petals looks very girlish, right? 🙂 PS: Behind the scenes at the bottom Áno, viem, všetko vonku kvitne a na to aby som nafotil flóru stačí vybehnúť z domu. Ale keďže sa mi nechcelo si zašpiniť brucho, tak som si zobral našu labradorku Bonnie na vychádzku a nazbierali sme cestou lúčne kvety. Doma som si ich naaranžoval na polo-priesvitnej plastovej doske a spolu s dvoma bleskami to bolo fakt jednoduché nastavenie. No a keď som už bol vo švungu, tak som sa ešte pohral so zopár ďalšími kvetmi, čo som našiel doma a na záhrade (obzvlášť tie sakura lupienky vyzerajú riadne dievčatkovské, čo? 😉PS: Spoza scény zábery nižšie.

street photo – project 52 | week 17

Street photography is very much associated with black and white photography. Even nowadays…So to challenge myself, I have decided to come up with a street photography shot, which will be full of colors. And this window shop with MAC cosmetic decoration was exactly what I was looking for! With a heavy rain I got soaked within a few minutes… But also got few good shots, bursting with colors! And believe or not, this colorful (and broken) umbrella at the second shot was just laying there – waiting for me! Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70 @ 56mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO 2000 Zábery z ulice – teda street photography – boli a aj teraz stále sú často fotené čierno-bielo. Tak som sa vyhecoval a rozhodol sa nafotiť záber z ulice plný farieb. A tento výklad z predajne kozmetiky MAC bol presne to, čo som hľadal! Za silného dažďa som premokol za pár minút, ale za tú chvíľu som nafotil zopár celkom vydarených momentiek, z ktorých farby priam sršali! A verte alebo nie, ten farebný (a dolámaný) dáždnik, ktorý je na druhom zábere tam fakt len tak ležal na ulici a čakal na mňa! 😉 Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70 @ 38mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec, ISO 2000

circles – project 52 | week 16

Artificial circles with almost “human” element! I was so much hoping to get somebody walking through the frame and add the real human element, but there was nobody around… And as the last call for passengers was announced, I had to pack and be satisfied with the fire extinguisher and the reflection only! Well, c’est la vie… And to make it even more complicated, I got another interesting circles, found a few hours earlier and my decision and temptation was really huge! Which one to pick?! Well, let me share both and let me know in comments, which one is your favorite…PS: Do you know what is it? Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70 @ 48mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO 320 Kruhy, do ktorých som takmer pridal “ľudský” element! Tak som dúfal, že mi niekto prejde pred foťák do záberu aby som tam mal ozajstný ľudský element, ale nikto nebol nablízku… A keďže už vyhlasovali poslednú výzvu na môj let, musel som sa zbaliť a uspokojiť sa len s hasiacim prístrojom! C’est la vie… A aby som to mal ešte komplikovanejšie, tak som v ten istý deň nafotil ešte ďalšie kruhy a mal som naozaj ťažké rozhodovanie, ktoré kruhy vybrať! Nuž, podelím sa o oba… A dajte mi v komentároch vedieť, ktorý sa páči vám… PS: Viete, čo to je? 😉 Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70 @ 44mm, f/14, 1sec, ISO 400 Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70 @ 66mm, f/3.5, 1/1000 sec, ISO 320

twilight – timing and quality of light

I got back from shooting almost frozen. It was cold and really windy! But those shots are really worth it! You all probably heard already, that timing is everything. And in photography this is valid even more. Quality of light on your pictures is very dependent on the proper timing. And this was my case last Saturday evening. I was about to take a picture for my project 52 and the theme of the week was Twilight, or “Magic blue” if you want. And I got that picture, as you can see below. So what is this Magic cobalt blue? It is a moment of the day, apx. 30-60 minutes after the sunset, when sun is not shining directly anymore, but there is enough light reflected from behind the horizon and the sky is still not pitch black. Especially city landscapes and car trails looks amazing against this fantastic blue sky! And that’s what I waited for. Sunset at 8.20pm and the picture below was taken at 9.00pm. Three minutes exposure to get those wonderful car light trails and the city lights below me. And as always, when shooting during twilight I’ve called for help my FLW filter, to enhance overall colors and structure. – [slovenská verzia textu nižšie] Since I got a couple of shot before the final one, when I was setting up my position, I wanted to share those with you as well, to demonstrate how fundamentally light can change literally within a few minutes and what does it make with the final picture (click to enlarge it). And as always, what Bryan Peterson thought me well: when is a good time for vertical shot? Right after the horizontal! 😉 All those picture above were shot facing east as the car trails were much stronger and more vibrant, […]

egg – project 52 | week 14

RECIPE:a) one white eggb) few pieces of kitchen warec) white paper boardd) late afternoon sun with a loooong shadows… no extra lights or flashes necessarye) a lot of fun just playing in the kitchenRESULTS: RECEPT: a) jedno biele vajíčko b) zopár kusov kuchynského náradia c) biela papierová doska d) popoludňajšie slnko s dlhokáaanskymi tieňmi… žiadne ďalšie svetlá alebo blesky e) kopec zábavy pri hraní sa v kuchyni VÝSLEDKY: PS: Only one small accident! 😉 Iba jedna malá nehoda!

panning – project 52 | week 13

Shooting panning indoor has some limitations. But those limitations will push you further to come up for a specific solutions. Small object? Use your macro lens! Not enough colorful background? Build one! (thanks lego) Missing something “wobbly” and unreal? Stick a smiley candle to the antenna!Big thanks to all my three assistants! (remote driver, catcher and focus coordinator 😉 And of course – behind the scenes shot below. Nikon D800, Nikkor Macro 105mm, f/3 @ 1/50sec with ISO 1000 Fotenie panningu vo vnútri má svoje obmedzenia. Ale práve tieto obmedzenia napomôžu tomu, aby sa fotograf vypol k maximálnemu nasadeniu a poradil si! Je fotený objekt príliš malý? Použi makro objektív! Je pozadie málo farebné? Postav si ho! (díky lego). Chýba niečo “trasúce sa” a nereálne? Napichni na anténu smajlíkovú sviečku!Veľká vďaka ide mojím trom asistentom (šoférovi diaľkového ovládania, chytačovi a koordinátorovi zaostrovania 😉 No sa samozrejme, obligátna fotka spoza scény je nižšie.

he and she – project 52 | week 12

He and She…. There are a lot of ways how to express those two. Funny enough, even though they are complementing each other, photography shortcut is to express them through the opposites…And that was the same case here. We are complementing each other with Monika. She came with the artistic idea, I have recreated it.Her lovely shoes, in which all of them she looks so sexy (ok, fluffy crocs might be the exception) and his two pairs which will cover majority of the situation… Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-70 @ 42mm, f/9 @ 1 sec, ISO 100 On a Ona… Existuje veľa spôsobov ako vyjadriť týchto dvoch. Ale napriek tomu, že sa navzájom dopĺňajú, tak fotografické klišé je vyjadriť ich pomocou protikladov.A presne tak to bolo aj s touto fotografiou. Navzájom sa s Monikou dopĺňame. Ona prišla s kreatívnym nápadom a ja som ho previedol do výsledného záberu.Jej nádherné topánky, v ktorých vyzerá tak sexy (ok, tie chlpaté crocsy budú asi budú výnimkou) a jeho dva páry topánok, ktoré pokryjú väčšinu potrieb…

symmetry – project 52 | week 11

Hmmm, I thought this would be the easy one, but inspiration got stuck somewhere in the traffic jam or what. Last moment trip to the old castle and walking to the highest room in the tower saved the day… There it was – symmetry waiting for me! Hmmm, myslel som si, že toto bude ľahké téma, ale inšpirácia sa asi zasekla niekde v zápche… Na poslednú chvíľu to zachránil výlet na starý zámok a výstup do najvyššej izby vo veži. A tam bola – symetria, ktorá na mňa čakala!