A Girl with Roses

This photo I took with three studio lamps (two for the background and one key light with a softbox). I wanted to create a soft and eye pleasing portrait of this pretty lady with roses in the foreground. The photo was converted to black and white in Lightroom and the clarity slider was pulled quite a bit to the left to smoothen the skin. The details in the eyelashes and her mouth where brought back with a selective sharpening tool and by increasing slightly the contrast. Camera spec: Canon 5D mark ii with Canon 24-105 4L at 105mm, F11 @ 1/125, ISO 100.

Foggy Stuttgart

Talking about landscape photos, whenever browsing through my pictures, this particular scene always pops out somehow. I took it in 2005 in Stuttgart near the university campus on a foggy evening during a nice sunset. The cool color toning contrasts nicely with the orange sky and gives it a moody atmosphere. A longer lens at 70mm (or rather 112mm on 20D body with 1.6 crop factor) allowed me to pick up the interesting part of the scene without any disturbing elements. I wish I had with me a tripod that time but still the result looked very fine in my eyes. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 70-200 F4 USM at 70mm, F4 @ 1/800, ISO 800.

Taj Mahal at Sunrise

Well, here is another photo of Taj Mahal in India, one of the side buildings, taken during the sunrise. I like the colors and the simplicity of the photo. Camera spec: Canon 20D with 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 80mm, F7.1 @ 1/1600, ISO 200.

Blue Sky of Macao

This is a nice photo of Macao taken a few weeks ago right after the sunset. I like the blue sky contrasting to the warm tones of the city light and the subtle reflections of the blue color on the roofs of some of the houses. The camera was placed on my Manfrotto mini-tripod, my best friend on all my travels. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 45mm, F8 @ 8s, ISO 100.

Highkey Wedding Photo

Let's take a look at how easy it is to take high-key photos with no extra equipment. Just wait for a cloudy day, position the subjects against the sky and dial up the exposition by something like +2EV or use the manual setting. No flash was used for this picture. I also think that sepia toning on this wedding photo works particularly well. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 65mm, F5.6 @ 1/125, ISO 400.

Balcony Life

Visiting Macao provides the tourist with two different views. Rich casinos and five star hotels in one part of the city and blocks of flats for ordinary Macao citizens in the other part. I definitely preferred to walk through the other, less known, part of the city and here is an example of a beautiful balcony I saw the other day. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 105mm, F5,6 @ 1/250, ISO 100.

Macao Catering

I loved walking at night through the narrow streets of Macao and observe the life of the local people. My camera was set at high ISO so that I can capture the atmosphere of the street life without any flash that would destroy the moody feeling. This was one of my favorites photos taken at a small restaurant near the harbor. I think it speaks best at sepia toning as it eliminates the otherwise busy surrounding. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 3,5-4,5 USM at 28mm, F5,6 @ 1/200, ISO 1600.

Macao Street Life

Here is one more photo of a street life, this time in Macao that I recently visited. I was walking through the narrow streets of the old city when I saw this old man sleeping with quite some interesting foreground which includes some dancing shoes. The colors were little bit manipulated in Lightroom in order to achieve a more dramatic look. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 83mm, F5.6 @ 1/100, ISO 800.

Hong Kong Rickshaw

Hong Kong is a city with many surprises, amazing places to visit and last but not least many interesting people to photograph. I quite like this photo of a riskshaw waiting for the next customer. Partly because of this awaiting expression in his face and partly because of the contrasting red and green colors filling in the negative space to his left. Camera spec: Canon 20D with Canon 28-105 3,5-4,5 USM at 105mm, F5,6 @ 1/320, ISO 400.