roarbinson

Just before my Scotland trip I got a Nikon D800. Since I didn't then get a wide angle lens with it I didn't take it on the trip. But I have a macro lens (Sigma 105mm f2.8) which I started using more. It works much better on the D800 than it did on my D5100 - that being because the D5100 does not have an internal autofocus motor and can solely use the lens's. This makes focusing this lens on the D5100 way slower and more inaccurate. It even went so far that I'd switch to manual focusing and even the smallest movement of myself, the camera, or the subject would put everything out of focus.

The D800's internal autofocus motor works like a charm and focusing this lens (automatically) is almost always very easy and fast. I'm excited to get more out of it, maybe even doing focus stacking or using my Nikon flash for greater depth of field with my macro lens.

These are the pictures I have gotten so far. They are from visiting Vienna's Wüstenhaus (desert house) and Palmenhaus (palm tree house) in Schönbrunn as well as Vienna's botanical garden. Should you ever come to Vienna, all of these locations are worth visiting - the first two especially on bad weather days since they are indoors.


Some kind of water lily at the botanical garden.


The Pricks of a cactus at the botanical garden. This one was harder to get the camera to focus where I wanted it to because of all the pricks and them being in so many plains of focus.


Another cactus - this one was in Schönbrunn's Wüstenhaus.


The flower on the cactus with pink pricks (botanical garden).


A kind of palm tree called Chamaedorea elegans ... besides of it looking like a small slender palm tree it has orange branches with a kind of blue berry on them.


A caterpillar stretching out from a cactus. I was pretty disappointed that its head was out of focus (or that my depth of field was not bog enough). By the time I had corrected my aperture the caterpillar had decided not to stretch out anymore.


Ferns from below. The black dots are seeds (if that is the correct term for ferns).

More to come. Hope you like.

Yeah, it's been a long time since my last follow-up. Also, I haven't been too active with my camera lately but that might change.

For all of you who actually read these entries, if you haven't noticed, I've been to Scotland. Went there on a road trip with a friend in mid September and man, were we in for a treat. The weather wasn't too typically Scottish. It was overcast and cloudy a lot of the time but it didn't rain too much - which was good for my not-so-weather-proof D5100. Enough said. Here are some photos.


One of my all-time favourites and a lucky find so I won't be too precise as to where this spot can be found. Won't say more than this was near Roshven. The yellowish orange green stuff at the end of the jetty was moss and/or seaweed, algae something like that. This part is submerged during high tide.


Sunset at Neist Point on Isle of Skye. Actually a pain in the ass to get there without a sat-nav. An even bigger pain to get back after dark to wherever it is you came from. But a very beautiful place to visit.

 
Kilt Rock near Staffin on Isle of Skye. This is a 20 sec exposure using a B+W circular polarizer and an ND filter stacked. Silky smooth sea surface and waterfall flow. Kilt Rock is the Rock in the background and was named for its structure that reminds of a kilt.


The island with the trees is what I believe to be the filming location for Dumbledore's White Tomb in the Harry Potter movie series. I might be mistaken because there are a couple other islands in Loch Eilt. I loved visiting this place.

The Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye. My favourite place I have ever visited. It would totally do to pitch a tent on a clear night and just stargaze. Nice hike up to this spot, too. Very, very impressive!


Glenfinnan Viaduct. The Viaduct the Hogwarts Express travels across in the movies. This is a very cool place to visit.


Eilean Donan Castle. One of the many castles in Scotland that were built on small islands in Lochs. This one was a filming location in Highlander.


Clyde Arc in Glasgow spanning over Clyde River. I took this just before sunset and a bus was driving through the frame.


Glasgow. Bell's Bridge going across Clyde River to the Armadillo.

Hope you like.

More to come.

All around the world the Autoshows for 2015 are coming up or have already kicked off. Although Vienna's Autoshow is way smaller than e.g. Detroit's, there are still some nice cars to have a look at. There was no Ford GT 2016 but I got to see the new Lamborghini Huracan and many other powerful cars.

Here's what I came up with. I hope you like them.

'Silent Vienna' is going to be my new photography series project that I've thought about for a while now. It will consist of architectural landmarks and (usually always) populated places and squares in Vienna but - here it comes - empty. Without people. Or at least only with traces of people like ghostly figures. I'm calling the series 'silent' because in my opinion these pictures void of people produce a feeling of silence. I will also provide the information on where the pictures were taken and what the architectural subjects are called (so far as they have names) since they're supposed to be famous and well-known places.

I don't yet know for how long I'll do this series. I'll treat it as an open end project and I'll definitely take other pictures in between too. My first technique will be to use a tripod, neutral density filters, and long exposures. The second technique will be tripod only and to take multiple exposures of the same composition and creating smart objects in photoshop in order to get rid of people in the scenes.

Whether or not I'll be doing shots for the series in winter, I don't know yet. Usually I strongly prefer spring to autumn as I feel that bare trees are less nice and the natural lighting in winter isn't as pretty. It'll also depend on how harsh the winter will be since I'm a summer person and consider anything below 20 Celsius cold.

This is the first picture of 'Silent Vienna' that I took in spring 2014 and decided to use to open the project:

Click on the image to be taken to the deviation including its description and a little of its history.

I hope that the ones of you that are interested in Vienna will learn a little about our architecture and history and about the sights that may be worth a visit if you ever decided to take a trip to Vienna. I also hope you'll enjoy the series photography-wise.