Cityscape

5 Best Unknown Spots in Berlin

5 Best Unknown Spots in Berlin

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0

.

*Se quiser ler este Post em Português, clique aqui.

.

Berlin is such a big and amazing city that I kept discovering places which aren’t so well known but definitely deserve to be seen. Normally before I visit a city, I study it a lot on the Internet to find the most amazing spots. The five spots that I will show you, I’ve found on the Internet before I went to Berlin but it required me some time to find them. I hope I can save you some time and give you ideas of nice places to photograph, which aren’t normally on everyone’s list.

Berlin Unknown Spot 1 – Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm University Library

Coordinates: 52.520499, 13.390804

This is definitely my favorite of this list. If you have been following my work, you know that I love Libraries, check here. This Library is very modern and it looks like you are inside of vault. It belongs to the Humboldt University of Berlin and is the house of around 2,5 million books 🙂

If you want to photograph it empty, be sure to be there on opening time at 8AM.

Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm University Library

Berlin Unknown Spot 2 – Marie Elisabeth Lüders House

Coordinates: 52.520463, 13.376104

This spot was already on my list for a long time. This place is so photogenic and you can take so many photos from different perspectives at different times of the day.

Unfortunately, like so many times, I went there and they were doing some renovation works and some scaffolds blocked the scene. Still, I really like this photo, but next time I will use a Polarizer filter to eliminate the reflections on the glass.

The Marie Elisabeth Lüders House and the Paul Löbe House are two amazing modern buildings that belong to the new parliament complex.

Berlin Unknown Spot 3 – Oberbaum Bridge (Oberbaumbrücke)

Coordinates: 52.502173, 13.446030

The Oberbaum bridge is right near the East Side Gallery (rests of the Berlin Wall) and has become a symbol of Berlin’s unity, after the fall of the wall. Before that, it was the connection between two areas of Berlin which were separated by the wall. A yellow tram passes by this bridge, but unfortunately I didn’t have much time to wait for it and catch it on this photo.

Berlin Unknown Spot 4 – City Courthouse Littenstrasse

Coordinates: 52.518632, 13.413452

From the outside you really have no idea what is hidden inside the City Courthouse building on the Littenstrasse, as it’s not the most beautiful architecture out there. But when you walk inside, “wow”.. There’s a security there so you can’t use a tripod. The building is really near the Alexanderplatz, one of the main attractions of the city.

Berlin Unknown Spot 5 – Sophie Charlotte Platz Subway Station

Coordinates: 52.510635, 13.295069

Last but not least, the Sophie Charlotte Platz subway station is a very simple but cute place. It has some nice paintings there and we stopped on purpose at this station, just to look at it. I made Andreia sit on one of the banks from the other side of the rails. She had to run very fast to come to the side of the station where I was at, to catch the train 🙂

Well, I hope you liked my list. Let me know what you think about it on the comments and if they are really hidden spots or if you already knew about them.

If you are in Berlin or going there, don’t forget to also shoot this places and not only the Landmarks!

Happy shooting,

Luís Pina

Back in action.. Summary of the last 7 months

Back in action.. Summary of the last 7 months

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0

.

*Se quiser ler este Post em Português, clique aqui.

.

When I wrote my last Post, I really had no idea that it would take so long until I wrote again. In fact much has happened in the last few months and my life had a 180° turn. Has I described on the end of my Post “Travel in 2017 – Office Thoughts..“, I wrote that there would be great travel news for 2018.

As some of you know, I was an emigrant working in Germany as a Mechanical Engineer, more specifically in the area of Industrial Refrigeration. On the Summer of 2016, on the middle of a hike on the Heiterwanger Lake in the Austrian Alps, I was talking with Andreia and I had the idea of leaving our comfortable life (but not completely happy) in Germany and do what we enjoy the most, travel!

For some of you it can look a little bit crazy and I totally understand if you think that way, but I was never a person of waiting around and complain about what my life is or what could be. If I’m not completely satisfied with something, I need to find a solution for it, even if I have to start it all over again. Fortunately both of us are crazy so I don’t need to do this alone. 😀

In 2012, when I left alone Portugal, my family and my friends, it was in search of a better life on another country. Not even for a moment I regret of this decision, because I loved to live there. But at a certain time, my mentality and goals changed. Although I had a successful career, for some time I stopped having joy at my work and I knew that not even a change of company would change anything.

Being alone with Andreia in Germany was sometimes difficult, because on a such a different land than our homeland, with different cultures and climate, sometimes we felt alone and wishing for another type of life for us. Where we felt totally happy was when we were traveling, getting to know new places and new cultures. It was because of travel that I discovered my passion for Photography and I know that that is my present and future.

To reach that goal, we made a plan: saving as much money until December 2017, when we were expecting to return. No one knew about our plans until the Summer of 2017, when we told our families and friends about it. For some the news were shocking for others pure joy. It was a year and a half that seem to last ten years, but here we are in February of 2018, already in Portugal.

Saying goodbye to Germany and our friends was quite difficult and complicated. Packing all our stuff and receiving them in Portugal was quite stressful and we reached a point where we didn’t know if we would ever see our packages again. Fortunately after many moments of panic, all went well.

And now?

I noticed now that I still haven’t wrote anything about the project..ups..

On the next years, we want to travel to as many wonderful places as we can. We will start on our homeland, that we barely now. After that we will travel to Europe and if all is going well, to the rest of the world, where Patagonia and New Zealand are on the top of the list. During those trips, I will expand my Portfolio and sharing our journey with you guys.

Those trips are not only for fun, because much work is waiting for us. We will work every day to create a business which is sustainable, based on travel photos and videos of landscapes and cityscapes.

We called our project Travel Inspire which is already online, as well as on the social networks. Our journey will be documented later on Youtube, which is starting very soon 🙂

Plans for the trip

“You must have won the lottery!” is what many persons say to us. Those persons are really wrong about the real costs of traveling. More than ever is easier to travel than on any part of our existence. What will define the cost of the trip is the way you travel. For us, the idea of backpacking was on our minds, but we had to exclude it due to the difficult of working at the same time we travel.

We decided to buy a second hand van which will be converted on a camping van by us. It is by far the best value to travel and working. On that van we’ll have a kitchen, bathroom and a working area which turns to a bed. Our higher costs will be diesel and food.

And is on that point that we are now. The van is already bought and is on this moment being restored, because it had some scratches and things to fix. Unfortunately not all is going as smooth as we wanted and we found that here in Portugal there’s a very difficult bureaucracy in regards to camping van conversions.

To convert the van on a camping van in Portugal, it is necessary to present a project to the Portuguese transport authorities, with drawings and a specification, as well as other documents such as technical characteristics and a statement of responsibility. Although there are companies that can do this project for us, I feel that I’m paying for something that I can do by myself without losing the ideas that I have for the van. We want to do it by ourselves, so that we can have a van that is different from the standard ones, made by this companies. This step cost us a month, but finally I finished the project. After this step, it will take until two months for the project to be approved. I hope it takes less than that..

After the approval, it will be the fun the part, the conversion! This process will be the start of our Youtube channel. After the conversion, that I hope it takes less than two months, the van has to pass on the inspection.

Finally after all is done, we intend to start our trip in Portugal in May and end it in December. Then in 2019 we will start to travel in Europe. Still after this unexpected delays, we are confident that our project will start very soon.

With all of this stuff going on, my photography and video work was left a little bit on the side. I didn’t stop completely, as I’ve been slowly refreshing my Portfolio, but I have been busy with earning some money from it. I’ve been dedicating much of my time on that, because it will be one of the basis of our business. I have much to show you, so stay aware!

I hope you follow our journey, which will be shown on our website Travel Inspire, Facebook, Instagram and later on Youtube.

 

See you soon and happy shooting!

Luís Pina

Travel on Rothenburg, Bamberg and Würzburg

Travel on Rothenburg, Bamberg and Würzburg

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0

.

*Para ler este Post em Português, clique aqui.

.

Our first trip in 2017 was a visit to not only one, or two but three cities here in Germany: Würzburg, Bamberg and Rothenburg, in January.

These three cities are relatively small, specially the “mini-city” Rothenburg. As they are not so distant from each other, we took that weekend to explore them all.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg was the first city that we visited, only for a couple of hours, on our way to Bamberg. A very little city with lots of charm, even more when covered in snow. At the time we visited there was still some snow, as you can see on the top of the roofs on the next photo.

Rothenburg represents exactly what a typical German city represents, with their little houses resembling those fairy tales. It’s a city which is a little bit far from any big city, but there’s still some tourism there. Curiously all of the shops have their products on two languages, German an Chinese 😮

We couldn’t visit the complete city because it was already getting too late and we needed to do the check-in on the apartment in Bamberg, but still I could take a nice shot of this beautiful spot.

Bamberg

Bamberg was our favorite city of the three. We had a full day of blue skies, although 0°C was the hottest temperature.. It’s a city with many historical buildings that although it was bombed on the Second World War, as almost all of the German cities, it maintains much of the original architecture.

The location of the apartment couldn’t be better, right on the city center and 2 minutes by foot from the spot where I wanted to take photos. It would not be possible to find a better place if it wasn’t for Airbnb 🙂

I really like this photo not only due how beautiful the building is (old City Hall) but because of taking on total an hour to take this photo, with a temperature of -14°C. If I wouldn’t like this photo, I would be a “little” upset..

Würzburg

Würzburg is the largest city of the three, but maybe the less traditional. The city was brutally bombed during World War II by the English, destroying 90% of the city in only 17 minutes.. The city was reconstructed like it was before.

It has a huge fortress on the top and it’s without a doubt the highlight of the city. When we visited it, the Main river that goes through the city, was partially frozen!

Würzburg has other historic buildings like the Cathedral and the Würzburg Residence, which is below.

In short, it was a very interesting weekend, on which in only two days, we visited three cities. These three cities are not on every tourist guide but they deserve to be visited.

Sony World Photography Awards

Sony World Photography Awards

, , , , , , , , , , 0

.

*Para lerem este Post em Português, clicar aqui.

.

People that have been following my social media pages on Instagram and Facebook, know for sure that two of my photos have been awarded on the Sony World Photography Awards.

The Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA) are one of the, if not, the biggest open competitions to both professionals, as well as amateurs. All of the awarded photos on the different categories, will be exposed on the Somerset House in London, between April 21 and May 7. There are really awesome photos from many very talented photographers. So, if you are in London on those dates, go check the exposition!

Fortunately I will be there, because Andreia offered us a weekend trip to London, on my birthday:)

When I started to photograph, I’ve never really thought that one day I would be awarded on one competition like this, and moreover, two times. It’s incredible to see my journey until now, that only started for 4 years, being only since 2016 professionally.

Reconcile my Engineering profession with Photography has not been easy at all. It has been with lots of sacrifice, dedication and hard work that I maintain these two activities. No one knows more that the person which is at my side, Andreia and my family, from which I’m separated by a lot of Kilometers physically but always present mentally. These awards are dedicated to all of them, without whom I could not be on this position.

Thank you to all of you for your sacrifice and unconditional support.

Awarded Photos on Sony World Photography Awards

Stopping with all of this whining, it’s an incredible honor to have a photography on the 50 best in the Architecture Category, with the photo below.

But it’s an even bigger honor, to being elected the 2nd Best Portuguese Photographer on the same competition, with the following photo 🙂

Both of these photos were taken on the same day, on the incredible and modern Stuttgart Library. I had bought my new camera only some hours before and those photos were only meant to be a test. I had no idea at the time that they would be awarded 🙂

People that know me well know that I love to read. I love being near books, in Libraries or in Book Shops, and also the smell of them (I think people that also love books understand this). It was also with the help of books and a lot of practice, that my photography changed from recreational to a passion. So if I would be that one of my photos would be awarded, it would be from this modern “book’s temple”.

Lots of people already asked me if this Library is really like that. My answer is always: “It’s even better!”.

It’s with a lot of joy that I see my photo being published on newspapers all around the world, such as the Daily Mail and Telegraph (England), Der Spiegel (Germany) and Diário de Notícias, Sábado and Público (in Portugal), just to name a few.

Congratulations also to Luis Godinho (good first name!) for the 1st Place on the Portuguese category, with his photo “Janela” (Window). This photo is of a small girl from Senegal, on the farewell from the humanitarian mission from AMI.

As for me, I will keep working hard to make better photos and continue my success, doing what I most love.

Don’t give up on your dreams. Mine is only beginning 🙂

Porto City View

Porto City View

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0

.

*Para ler este Post em Português, clicar aqui.

Porto

Porto is the second largest city in Portugal and it’s defined as the “North Capital” of Portugal. The historic center is an Unesco World Heritage Site and home to the internationally known, Port Wine.

Last summer on our vacations, we decided to stay in Porto for two days before going to Lisbon. The flights are cheaper to Porto, near our home and we were very curious to visit this city.

We were absolutely amazing about the city. It has a very unique culture and you can see that by the city architecture. I love that the city near the river is not flat, it makes the houses looking like steps. The buildings are not as well preserved as in Lisbon but I think that gives a very charming feeling to the city. People are really friendly and you are always welcome wherever you go. There are so many beautiful places to visit and I will definitely go back there.

“Sweet Dreams”, Porto – Behind the Scenes

This shot was taken, on what is on my opinion, the best spot in Porto. Serra do Pilar Church (Igreja da Serra do Pilar) is located on the other city of the Douro river and it’s actually in Vila Nova de Gaia and not Porto. From here, specially at sunset, you have an awesome cityscape view and you can see the historic center, the Dom Luis I Bridge and the Clérigos Church Tower, just to name a few.

.

For this shot, I merged five photos, before, during and after sunset.

This first shot, was still before the sun set down and it was used because of the sun light on the buildings. If you see the next photos, the city is pretty dark. You can see that the sky is really bright, because of the light differences between the sky and city.

A little bit later, the sun was lower on the horizon and I used this shot for the sky. With some masking and a lot of work, I merged this sky with the photo above.

On this shot, I used some of the lights , that are not so bright on this shot as on the next ones.

Here on this shot, I merged the water from the river and some other lights of the city.

On this shot, I merged the beautiful car light trails that you see on the bridge, below.

The photo after all of the merging in Photoshop, looked like this.

After some color and contrast corrections, sharpening and noise correction, the final shot is this.

I hope I did justice to the beautiful city of Porto 🙂

To see this photo and many others, click here.

This shot was a little bit tricky to process. The city was really dark, after the sun set low, because the sun sets behind the buildings. As you can see the historic center is really low near the river and it’s going up. This is really beautiful, as creates some layers on the cityscape but the buildings that are higher, block the sunlight to the lower buildings.

Did you already visited Porto? Did you went to this spot? Let me know on the comments section below!

.

Happy shooting,

Luis Pina

Photography Tips – Waking Up Early

Photography Tips – Waking Up Early

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0

.

*Se quiserem ler este Post em Português, cliquem aqui.

.

What the heck is waking up early related with Photography Tips, you may ask.. Well I’m now finally finishing the retouching of my photos of Rome from last October and I’m noticing that my photos at sunrise were actually way better than at sunset.

It’s a fact that the best natural light that you can have for your photos is at sunrise and at sunset. But for me, every time I woke up early, the weather gods would not help me at all.

That totally changed in Rome. Sunsets were far away from amazing and half of the days it was raining. At morning though, the skies were clear and with enough clouds to make the sky really interesting. I’m really happy that waking up at 5:30a.m everyday was worth it 🙂

I wrote a Post of the best Photography Tips to how to take better photos without spending money. One of the Photography Tips was light quality. Take a look at it if you haven’t read it already 😉

10 Best Photography Tips to take better Photos

Photography Tips – Waking Up Early in Rome

Wandering in a city early in the morning is for me one of the best experiences of visiting a city. You have the place almost only for yourself and you can see the sun coming out. Think about it, you have the place exclusively for yourself. Other people may be on the same spot as you are but they are normally photo junkies like myself 🙂 hehe..I have actually talked with some interesting people this way.

If you try to visit the Trevi Fountain after 10a.m you can’t even see the water.. I’m really not joking.. There are crowds of people the whole day. Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of it..

On the photo below, I only needed to remove two people from the shot, which wouldn’t be possible on an afternoon shot, at least not so easily..

The same applies to the Coliseum..at this time of the day, only the Street Sweeper is there..

Which after removing him and doing some corrections, looked like this:

The thing that I find a little bit difficult in the morning, is to have the right composition for the photo, because it’s dark. So it’s really important to do some scouting on the day before, to know what and how you are going to photograph.

Sometimes we can also have bad luck.. When I was in Bamberg, here in Germany, I woke up early to be at the right spot when the sun would come out, only to find that the lights of the building that I wanted to photograph, were turned off.. I was the day before there, but only at night and the lights were turned on. I had to return to the same place later that day at sunset, to photograph how I wanted :p

Are you an early riser photographer? You never thought about waking up early to take photos? Let me know in the comments below!

.

Happy shooting,

Luis Pina

Travel in 2017 – Office Thoughts..

Travel in 2017 – Office Thoughts..

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0

.

*Se quiserem ler este Post em Português, cliquem aqui.

.

I felt the need to write this Post, sitting here on my office at lunch time (though I’m only posting on a Sunday) and really wishing to be somewhere else, travel dreaming, anywhere it’s sunny and warm. I know most of you must feel the same way, so you can understand this feeling of just leaving where you are now and go somewhere else.

In Germany, Winter is very different than in my homeland Portugal, not only because of much colder weather but because of the smaller amount of sunshine hours. There are weeks where I can’t even see the sun and I start working before sunrise and go out of work after sunset.

During this times, I think about all the travel that I’ve made and the ones I will make this year. My holidays dates are now confirmed, so I can finally start scheduling my trips 🙂

Last year 2016 Best Travel

Last year, Andreia and me, visited some amazing places and this was by far my best year in photography. My favorite photos were taken last year and my favorite trips were Cinque Terre and London.

  • Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre has to be one of the most amazing places in the world. It’s really the perfect merge between a village and a natural landscape. With 5 villages to visit (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore), this place doesn’t disappoint no one who visits it, whether you only want to visit the villages or go to the beach and swim on the amazing clear water.

  • London

London is the most awesome city where I’ve been. We were really lucky do have such great sunsets in April, when normally rains like hell..(does it really rain in hell?..Thought of the Day..).

London is the place which changed my photography the most and it was after this visit that I felt confident to start my website and share my Portfolio online. Though London is one of the most populous cities in the world, I’ve never had that feeling of too much people on the same place. London is so big, with so many places to visit and the transport system both subway as well as bus are the best I’ve seen until now. Another big plus and the most obvious thing, is that everyone speaks English. I also spoke with more strangers than I’ve ever did, because it was not only easy to speak in English (instead of German) but the people were very curious to see my photos. I’ve met other talented photographers and spoke with really a lot of Portuguese people there =)

Talking about feeling at home, on a different place.. You can read my Post of the 10 Best Spots in London to Photograph.

2017 Travel Plan

So this year the plan stays the same, being 3 weeks in Portugal to visit Family and Friends and 3 weeks traveling. From these 3 weeks, one week is to stay on a big City, one week on a more natural and relaxed place and the last week to stay on a smaller city with a mixture of landscape, with sunny weather.

  • April

In April, on my birthday, we are going to Berlin and Hamburg by train. It’s a much longer trip on the high speed train (around 9 hours) but we found a great price for this, comparing with an airplane. We want to stay around 4 days there and then catch a train to Hamburg where we will stay for 3 more days. I’m very excited both Berlin and Hamburg which are the biggest cities in Germany by population. There are lots of opportunities to take some great Cityscape photos so I hope that the weather gods help us! (Rain dance..anyone? =D)

  • July

In July we have 3 weeks of vacation and 2 of them will be in Lisbon, to visit family and friends. It’s actually quite difficult to find time to take photos, although I have so many spots which I’m looking forward to add to my Portfolio.

On the other week of July the plan is to go to the amazing Dolomites, which are a very well known area in the Italian Alps. We have to drive 4 to 5 hours from our home. I’m finding some difficulties knowing where to sleep, to be able to have easy access to the spots I want to visit. Not sure if we stay at an apartment rented on Airbnb or on a camping site. If anyone has any tips, let me know on the comments below!

  • October

Then on the anniversary of Andreia, we have one week but it’s still an open point. There are many places which I want to visit. I’m thinking about a merge between nature and city. At this time, my ideas are: Meteora, Greece; Santorini, Greece; Dubrovnik, Croatia and Malta.

All of them are on the south of Europe, because at this time we really want to go somewhere sunny. Well, at least more sunny than here.. It’s still an open point, but I hope to find a nice price for any of this places.

  • December

Finally in December, this year unfortunately I can’t spend Christmas in Lisbon..but still we’ll be there a week before =)

What’s Next?

Throughout this year I will test some new equipment that I acquired. I’m beyond excited for what’s coming and the places I will show to you!

We are also very excited for 2018, when we will have some great new projects and plans to do a lot more travel. But more on that later this year =)

Do you have any travel planned for this year? Let me know where you will go or what you would love to visit this year!

.

Happy shooting!

Luis Pina

10 Best Free Tips to take better Photos

10 Best Free Tips to take better Photos

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0

*Para ler este Post em Português, clica aqui.

.

On this Post I will give, in my opinion, the 10 best tips to take better photos without spending any money. These 10 tips will save you a lot of time on your learning curve but you will need a lot of time to improve them.

1. Focus on one area

Photography is a big world and its impossible for only one person to be excellent in all types of photography. Choosing only one or two areas to focus, will get you better and quicker results. I don’t want to say with this that a person that likes to do portraits can’t do landscape photos, you can do it and you will probably be excellent at it. But the time invested on many areas instead of one, will prevent you to be the best possible on any of them. Concentrate only on one area and you’ll also see better results later when you try another type of photography.

2. Don’t take photos in Auto Mode

The automatic mode despite good, it can’t always predict what the photograph wants. To be able to control all the functions from the camera, Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed is essential to take better photos. You can use the three following camera modes:

– Aperture Mode (A)

You choose the aperture (f/ number) and the camera chooses automatically the shutter speed.

– Shutter Mode (S)

You choose a shutter speed and the camera automatically chooses the aperture.

– Manual Mode (M)

You choose both aperture and shutter speed parameters.

For example, on the next photo I was able to get the the light trails on the bridge, because I used a shutter speed of 10 seconds. The camera in Auto Mode would never know that I wanted such a long exposure.

I prefer to shoot on Manual Mode, as I have a greater control on all parameters, but on certain cases the Aperture and Shutter speed Modes are enough and easier to use 🙂

3. Light Quality

One of the things that sets apart a good photo from a bad one, is to know how to use the light, natural or artificial.

Using natural light, the best hours to take photos is at sunrise and sunset, mainly for Cityscape and Landscape photos. The light is diffuse, soft and with different tonalities. There is the golden hour, which comes first at sunset and last on sunrise, on which the light has different colors, such as yellow, orange, red and pink.

And then there’s the blue hour which comes after the golden hour at sunset and before it at sunrise, on which the sky has a blue and sometimes purple tonalities.

4. Compose the image

On the beginning is very difficult to decide what to frame on the photo. Sometimes we want to frame so many things, that we loose the meaning and subject of the photo. Sometimes the more simple the better. For photographers of Architecture, Landscape and Street photography (as well as many others), it’s really important to leave out the unnecessary. With some practice you will learn how to avoid what’s not important and it will not be later necessary to crop the photos on post-processing.

You must think that you only have a photographic roll with a limited number of photos to take. Due to being so easy to photograph with the digital cameras, many times we forget how to think on the right composition. This exercise will help you think how to think on the composition and what message you want to transmit.

5. Rule of the thirds

The rule of the thirds helps on the last point and I use it very often, as it almost always gives good results. The principle of it is to frame the points of interest on the photo with the crossing points of the lines.

On landscape photos, for example when you have the bottom part with a city , you will compose a better photo by using 2/3 of the photo on the city and another 1/3 on the sky.

It’s not a rule to always follow, as a different composition will sometimes give a better and unexpected result, but it’s nice to keep it always on your mind.

6. Thinking on a Background and Foreground

Another important point on the composition of a photo is thinking about a background and if possible, a foreground. If you take a portrait of someone and below is something that distracts the viewer, the photo will not be interesting. Try to find another framing or change your position and search for a better background. In the case of Landscape photography, sometimes we need to wait for an amazing sky to bring the photo to life.

The foreground is not always possible/necessary, as for example in Portraits. On Landscape photography, it gives another dimension to the photo, though sometimes it’s not possible to find one.

7. Waiting for the right moment

It’s really important to be patient in photography, as you have to wait for the right moment to take the photo. Probably the first photo that you take on a place will not be excellent. Sometimes we have to change from place to place to search for the correct composition, wait that the clouds stop blocking the sun, wait for the ideal light or wait that a subject is on the right position.

Sometimes I wait some hours to take the best photo and if I don’t like what I see, when possible, I come back to the same place again to take a better shot.

8. Take your photos always in RAW

I always recommend to do at least some editing on your photos (correct distortion if there’s any, color aberration, etc..), only then you can find all the hidden information on the RAW file. If you export the JPEG straight out of the camera, the JPEG will come corrected by the camera’s algorithm, but not necessarily good. With the RAW file you will have to spend more time correcting the photo but the results will be much better. It’s not necessary to invest money on software (Lightroom, Photoshop or Capture One), as there are good free alternatives, like GIMP.

9. Practice, Study, Practice

You can read and see videos on the Youtube, but if you don’t apply what you learned, you will not get better. If your photos are not what you are expecting, study and then apply it.

There’s a popular phrase from Henri Cartier-Bresson: “Your first 10000 photographs are your worst.”

10. Be Humble

Never stop being humble, as you will always have something to learn. Inspire on the work of others and always critize your own work. We always find something that we need to correct or that we can do better.

This are my basic tips to achieve better results with your photography, without spending any money. Even if you are on a more advanced technical level, these are tips that you can’t forget and that you need to apply.

Hope you guys liked this Post. Write a comment, on what you agree and disagree or if you have any other tips!

If you want to see more of my work, you can subscribe my Newsletter or follow me on Facebook and Instagram.

Happy shooting!
Luis Pina

Azenhas do Mar – Behind the Scenes

Azenhas do Mar – Behind the Scenes

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 4

*Para ler este Post em Português, clica aqui.

.

Azenhas do Mar is a small village on the coastline in Sintra and it’s a small paradise which resembles a little Cinque Terre, in Italy. I’ve lived many years a few kilometers from there and it was necessary to emigrate to finally go there 😀

To take this photo, I had to go to this place two times, because on the first try, I was already too late. On my second attempt, I had some spare time before the sunset to scout the location for the best spot. It was a little windy so I had to fix well the tripod so that it will not move during the shooting. If the tripod moves with the wind, the photo will appear blurry. It will also make the merging of several photos taken at different times very difficult to join on Photoshop, because of perspective changes.

Initial Photos

The final photo is composed by 5 initial photos, on which I joined elements from each one.

The first photo is the base of the final photo, the scene is well exposed, during the golden hour.

The second photo that I joined was the sky and I used also the lights of the street lamps.

On the third photo, I liked how the sea looked like, but I had to remove the red tones near the beach, due to the lights on the beach.

On this photo, I used only the rocks with the smooth water on them, near the oceanic pool. Here I had to remove the blue tone on the water foam, which should be completely white.

On this last photo, I used only the waves near the oceanic pool. Here I had also to remove the blue tone on the water foam.

Joining all of this photos and applying the Color Effex Pro, I’ve brought some life to the photo, with better colors and contrast.

On the final photo I corrected the perspective distortion of the wide angle lens. Some color failures were also corrected, like the red and blue tones on the water and the blue tone on the houses.

Before and After

And here is a basic step by step of how I post processed this photo. I hope you liked it.

I think this place is still relatively unknown to many people, which is good to who wants to visit Azenhas do Mar without the big crowds that are on places like Cinque Terre.

This is maybe one of my favourite photos, not only because of the final result, but because it’s near my House, in Portugal.

Have you already been in Azenhas do Mar? Leave a comment below with your opinion about this Post!:)

Happy shooting!

Luís

10 Best Spots in London to Photograph

10 Best Spots in London to Photograph

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0

Se quiseres ver este Post em Português, clica aqui

.

London is the capital and most populous city in England and the United Kingdom and one of the biggest cities the world. If you have a Bucket List for cities to visit, London should be on your Top 5.

On the last few years, London has seen a rise in modern Architecture, with some of the most amazing skyscrappers and buildings. You can see cranes everywhere in the city and each new year, the city is expanding more and more.

I will give you here what in my opinion are the 10 Best Spots in London to Photograph, by no particular order.

The Shard and surroundings

The Shard is the tallest building in London, the 4th in Europe but only the 105th in the world. It was inaugurated in 2012 and resembles a sci-fi movie which generated a little bit of controversy for the inhabitants. Now it’s seen as a Landmark of the city, where you can have an amazing but expensive view of the city, at the top of the building on the observation deck.

I love this spot, specially at sunset, when the lights of the office buildings come out. At morning or weekends, I think the shot will not be as good because not so many people are working as in the sunset hours.

I found this spot on the amazing website Location Scout, where you can find the best spots from all over the world. Be sure to check it out here.

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge, which many people including myself, confuse with London Bridge, is one of the best known bridges in the world and one of the highlights of the city.

You can photograph Tower Bridge from many different spots, but I found this one to be the most interesting one. I intentionally blocked The Shard with one of the Bridge Towers, because I wanted to highlight the Bridge. At sunset is the best time from this spot, as the sun sets behind the Bridge.

Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster also known as House of Parliament, is the symbol of London, with the most known monument being the Elizabeth Tower or Big Ben.

The best spot to photograph this monument, is in my opinion, from the other side of the River Thames. Unfortunately at this time, maintenance works are being made on the monument and that was the reason for me to not include more of the Palace in the photo below.

I wrote a Post of the Behind the Scenes from this photo. Click here to take a look!

Big Ben

The Elizabeth Tower or Big Ben and one of the most known monuments in the world. In early 2017, maintenance works are going to start, so be very quick to take a photo now!

My favourite spot to include only the Big Ben, is behind an entrance, which serves as a frame for the shot. The photo below with the bride was actually completely unexpected. If you want to know the story behind it, click here.

And here a photo at night.

St. Paul’s Cathedral and Millenium Bridge

St. Paul’s Cathedral, with its famous dome, is the most famous church in London and it was until 1967 the highest building in the city.

The Millenium Bridge was initially opened in 2000 but was later closed on the opening day due to a swaying motion. Modifications were made and it was reopened two years after. The bridge was built in such a way that doesn’t block the view of the Cathedral.

I really like two spots to take photos of this church. One is on the end of the Millenium Bridge. I love the lights that turn on at night on the bridge serving as a nice foreground for the photo.

The other spot is below the bridge and I like the vertical composition, which is not so usual on my Portfolio.

Greenwich and Canary Wharf

The Greenwich Royal Observatory is known as the location of the prime meridian. From this view point, Canary Wharf can be seen, which is a business district with some of the tallest buildings in Europe.

The view from the top of the Observatory is really amazing. You can see the Queen’s House below in the photo and the Canary Wharf district behind it. Take notice that the park has opening and closing time so if you want to take a photo at sunrise or sunset take special time at which time of the year you can do this.

Natural History Museum

The National History Museum in London, is one of the most important museums in the world and its free to visit! The entrance to the Geological exhibition is this amazing “stairs that pass through the center of the world”. On this museum you can also find the world famous Dinosaur exhibition.

It’s really difficult to take this shot without any people so be one of the first to enter the building or expect to wait some time 🙂

Leadenhall Market

The Leadenhall Market is not by any means a famous place but I really like its Architecture details. It is one of the oldest markets in London and is located in the historic center of the City of London financial district.

Like many other spots, be sure to be there early if you don’t want anyone on the shot.

Convent Garden

Convent Garden is a district in London and it is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square. Now it’s a popular shopping and tourist site which is also known as Convent Garden. It’s a really nice place, specially at Christmas time, when it’s full of lights. My girlfriend Andreia, which also as a Blog, made a video of London, on which you can see those lights. To see it, click here.

You can also see a lot of spectacular street performers there.

Kings Cross Railway Station

Kings Cross railway station is a major London railway terminus and where you can catch the train to Hogwarts, on the famous platform 9¾ 🙂

Some restoration works were done on this station and a steel structure was built to serve as a ceiling.

And that’s it. Always very difficult to choose only 10 spots. If you liked this list, you can also check my Top 10 of Barcelona, clicking here.

Comment below if you agree or disagree with this Top 10. If not, let me know your favourite places to photograph in London!

 

Happy shooting,

Luis Pina

Load More