We have spent a beautiful Sunday with my Prague’s “workshopers”. Starting at 4am, trying to capture sunrise, tram’s motion, talking to strangers, jumping in front of graffiti wall, seeking for reflections.. and many many more! And then finishing at about 10pm – where else if not pointing at always photogenic landscape of Prague’s castle over Charle’s bridge? Touristic boat with a big PRAGUE name was just a cherry on the top of the already sweet cake. Gorgeous cloudy sky and of course – thanks to using FLW filter – beautiful enhanced overall colors and structure of the image. Thanks again for an amazing day!!
Author Archive: Patrik Banas
Seoul, South Korea (around the world; revisited)
I have spent fair share of my time travelling, literally around the world. Many of those trips happened before this yummy and fresh blog has been established. In the past I have shared some of them with closer friends (and of course with Monika, she BTW inspired me to start revisiting older albums). Some of those pictures taken around the world are part of my web albums, however many of them were never properly introduced, edited and shared as they would deserve. And frankly, I like them. Yeah, I am quite proud of them. So as of today I am opening a new, unscheduled serie, called very creatively “Around the world” and I will bring back some of my trips to more or less exotic places. Today I am returning back to Seoul, South Korea. Did you know, that 99% of cars in Seoul are either black, white or gray/silver? No kidding. To spot even a blue car is very unusual, overall any colorful car is either orange taxi, or Red Bull promotional vehicle. As I didn’t have a lot of time to go roaming and shooting, I have just visited a monk’s monastery park near my hotel. Without any specific purpose, just to observe… And apart being positively surprised by seeing colors again I also had a very peaceful time in the middle of the super busy city (second biggest city in the world, did you know that?) I was also lucky enough to get few nice shots, which will always remind me how in June of 2010 I have changed my attitude to South Korea from not a real fan to very likey… Truth to be told, food and very nice people had a lot to do with that.PS: I miss kim-chi and bibimpa!!
Pridajte sa! Zážitkový foto workshop, Praha – 30.6.2013
Radi fotografujete, ale zvyčajne na to nemáte dosť času a príležitostí? Túžite po jednom dni, kedy sa fotografovaniu môžete venovať naplno? Chcete sa naučiť aj niečo nové, stretnúť sa s podobne naladenými ľuďmi alebo proste len tak fotiť? Vyjdite z rutiny, užite si jeden intenzívny fotodeň ďaleko za hranicami všednosti! CEZ OBJEKTÍV – zážitkový fotografický workshop, Praha 30.6. 2013! Celý deň od východu do západu slnka na viacerých lokalitách – obrysy starej Prahy za úsvitu, makro fotografia rannej rosy, kreatívne techniky ako zooming, panning, rotating s fotoaparátom, tradičné aj netradičné použitie externých bleskov, fotenie ľudí, interakcia s neznámymi ľuďmi, street photography, použitie širokouhlého objektívu pri rozprávaní príbehov alebo fotografovaní zblízka. Použitie filtrov – od polarizačného po prechodové filtre neutrálnej hustoty. Získajte len pre seba celý deň s fotoaparátom, vyčistite si hlavu, nájdite inšpiráciu a kreatívne videnie, užite si radosť z fotografovania. Nezáleží na tom, aký je váš stupeň znalostí a skúseností vo fotografovaní – tento workshop je práve pre vás! Počet účastníkov je limitovaný a pre každého je zabezpečený individuálny prístup a dostatočný priestor na splnenie jeho potrieb a predstáv. Miesto a dátum:Praha, nedeľa 30. júna/června 2013Inštruktor: Patrik Banas Počet účastníkov: max. 6(počet je limitovaný tak, aby bol pre každého zabezpečený individuálny prístup, dostatočný priestor a dobrá atmosféra v skupine) Základná výbava:Digitálna zrkadlovka s plne manuálnym expozičným módom, statív a 1-2 objektívy zahrňujúce rozsah medzi 24-200mm (napríklad „street zoom“ 24-70mm a teleobjektív 70-200mm, alebo 18-55mm a 55-200mm).Odporúčaná, ale vôbec nie nutná výbava:Všetko, čo máte vo svojej fotovýbave k dispozícii a zmestí sa do fotobatohu.(Objektívy, medzikrúžky, filtre s neutrálnou hustotou, polarizačný filter, blesk, bezdrôtové jednotky na ovládanie blesku ako napr. Pocket Wizzard atď) – nič z toho nie je podmienka. Program:(priebeh dňa je flexibilný a uvedené časy sú orientačné) sobota 29.6. pred workshopom19:00 | ZoznámenieDohodneme si program na ďalší deň, miesto […]
stolen clown
Well, they say, that your pictures are good, when people will start to steal them…Apparently my Prague’s clown picture (see this blog entry) has to be a good one, as I have found it on a strange website. Without any credit (obviously). But what is even worse – with a horrible and tasteless alteration. Look and decide on your own! This terrible clowns are located here.I know, even worse things can happen with your work, but anyway. PS: I have contacted already the website owner and requested to remove the picture. So let’s see… PPS: Update; two days later…Website owner reacted very quickly, apologizing for unintentional usage (apparently she got a picture from somebody else) and “double clown” is now gone.
eiffel, part 6 – the last one (and the most postcard-ish one)
Enough teasing. Here it comes. The most classical Eiffel tower view, the most classical postcard shot. Something you HAVE to shot on your own, otherwise it doesn’t count and you were NOT in Paris 🙂 Well, mademoiselle Eiffel is very photogenic, no doubt about that. And her illuminated, curvy shape against a dusky, cloudy and colorful sky has no competition in Paris. So here I was. After playing enough with a carousel and flashes shots, I have finally arrived to Trocadero and I am fighting elbow to elbow with all other photographers and thousands (literally!) tourists to get the best available position. Keeping en eye (other one, which wasn’t glued to the viewfinder) on roaming individuals who had a tendency to kick to my tripod (yeeah, and this is not something you want at the end of your 20 sec exposure! 🙂 Obviously – when is the best time to shoot a vertical picture? Right after the horizontal one!And once you are there, milk the situation and try to get “close ups” and details. I’ve really enjoyed this evening and getting the maximum out of few minutes of the magic light, accompanied by the master of the sunset sky – the FLW filter itself.Howgh! End of the Paris Eiffel series 😉
eiffel, part 5 (flash always available)
Back to my Eiffel series. This post is the second to last and then I will give you a break for a while. Picture has been taken just a 5 minutes after the one with carousel, about 200m away. On the way to the top of Trocadero stairs I have noticed this unusual angle and situation, where the tower would appear like growing from the bushes. Obviously, bushes were pretty dark on the picture, just a silhouette of it (see the shot at the end). So my flash came handy and during a 20 sec exposure I have fired a simple burst to lighten the foreground in front of me and achieve a sense of the tower nested in the green. Nikon D800, 24-70mm at 42mm, f/22 @ 20 sec, ISO100. Manual, off the camera flash at 1/4 of power, with a distance about 1 meter. Same as above, but no flash
windy (delicate dandelion)
We had so much fun with Monika last Sunday, when she came with this idea. She briefed me: “I want to take a picture of dandelion seeds in the air on the black background”. And I had to come up with a solution. Fortunately my flash came handy and with an easy set up. Using flash I was able to create a pitch black background in the middle of our living room – WITHOUT any black background itself! Key is to underexpose your picture 3 or 4 steps and then just manually set you flash power based on the given aperture. In our case aperture was f/11 and Nikon SB-900 calculate to set flash distance about 50cm. Shutter speed to underexpose the picture was calculated at 1/160 sec @ ISO 100.Strong direct blow to dandelion and firing the camera at the same time – and voilá! Shot is the straight output from the camera. Pretty cool, huh?Couple of “behind the shots”, just to confirm there is no black background, really.
eiffel very colorful (part 4 )
Ok, now we are getting to a more “postcard” version of the Eiffel tour. As you can see, it was a very cloudy day, and about an hour prior the dusk I was blessed with a 5 minutes of gold sunshine rays. Both of this has been captured in this HDR composite – heavy clouds above the city and a slight moment of the sun greetings, just above the horizon.But trust me, this is still not THE postcard one Eiffel, that one will come later 😉 Stay tuned.
eiffel, part 3 (black and white angles)
Climbing up – and exploring a different angles. Still the same tower, but look how many opportunities you might find!
eiffel, part 2
Getting closer to the tower. Morning of the “visit to the top”. Unfortunately, majority of the tourists in Paris has the same clever idea like us, to come early morning for the opening (9.30am) and our line looks like neverending. While moving quickly at the beginnig, the closer we got to the cashier and entrance, the slower it went. At the end we spent 3 hours (!) just in queue. Total time from the beginning of the line to the top and back five hours! All other activities for that day were cancelled… 😉 Well, we did it … and kids were soooo happy. This shot has been taken in the middle of waiting line. Expect more to come