This is a typical morning landscape scene in Tuscany. The rolling hills, the mist clinging to the bottom of the valleys and someone somewhere burning some dead greenery. Don't you just love it?
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12/21/12  Tuscany1378
E-M5 Focal Length: 100 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/2000 sec ISO: 400 • Tuscany • landscapes
12/16/12  Tuscany LandscapesAgain another typical Tuscan scene. The Poplar trees along the driveway and the vineyards off to the left of the image. In the background you can see the rolling hills of the Tuscan region. Really delightful to just drive around and stop to take a photo whenever the fancy takes you.
As you can see from the exif my trusted mZD 14-150 was mounted during most of my drive around Tuscany. The range of the 10.7x zoom was just so practical.
1661
E-M5 Focal Length: 60 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/320 sec ISO: 200 • Tuscany • Italy • Landscapes
12/15/12  Tuscany LandscapesThe town in the background is called San Gimignano and is a very popular tourist attraction. If you can manage it, go there during the week and not on a weekend. It's very crouded. I think it's one of the most interesting towns I've ever been to, very pleasant to walk throught he small alleys and streets with some very nice shops (and not only touristic shops).
It's got an interesting story to it regarding the towers you can see. The towers used to be the homes of the rich a couple of centuries ago. What normally happened and did in most other villages in the area is when the towns and inhabitants got richer, the towers were demolished and normal houses were built. That's why these towers can only be really seen in San Gimignano. It was too poor at the time to demolish the towers and so they've stayed there until the present day. Now of course, they're a huge touristic attraction and all of the other towns in the area wished they had them too. That's life I suppose. 1442
E-M5 Focal Length: 20 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/320 sec ISO: 200 • Tuscany • Italy • Landscapes
12/14/12  Tuscany LandscapesHaving seen many landscape images of Tuscany I've been wanting to visit the area ever since. Well, in September I had the chance but the weather was not ideal. We had a lot of rain and mist which really put a stop to the sort of images I wanted to make. However, there were a couple of days that showed some promise so I was on the road from morning till the sun set. You have to make the most of what is offered.
This is the sort of scene I had imagined and I had a couple of chances to get some nice images like the one above. It was a little hazy though but that didn't stop me at all. This was the only chance I was going to get for some time to come. Even id the images are not "exhibition quality", they are mine and I like them enough to hang on to them.
As a sidenote to a post I made a couple of days ago about abandoned farmhouses. The farmhouse at the top of the image is still in use, but the one further down on the left in the image, is not. Again it's been abandoned for some reason. There was still a "for sale" sign on it which gave the impression it had been there for quite some time. 1273
E-M5 Focal Length: 52 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/400 sec ISO: 200 • Tuscany • Italy • Landscapes
12/12/12  AbandonedAfter having travelled a large part of northern Italy in September I was surprised at the amount of abandoned farmhouses there were on route. Even in the hart of Tuscany farmhouses such as here in the image seemed to be just left to fall apart. Reminds me of Ireland after they joined the EU and cash flow was immense. That's when a huge amount of the Irish built new houses adjacent to their old abode, which was then just left to fall apart. Here however, I didn't see any new houses at all.
It would really interes me to find out if it's just the economic climate in the area is what drives the people away. One thing is certain, Tuscany offers some rich pickings for the landscape photographer. 1561
E-M5 Focal Length: 63 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/100 sec ISO: 200 12/09/12  Landscapes IIWhen we were up at 3000m and looking across at these massive peakes across the valley, we were speechless. We just looked for ages. At first I left my camera where it was and just sat taking in the scenery. All around us, whichever way you looked this is the sort of view we had.
I think sometimes it does some good to stop photographing the land and sit and enjoy what's in front of you. It took me some time to realise that. 2163
E-M5 Focal Length: 25 mm Aperture: f/11.0 Exposure Time: 1/250 sec ISO: 200 • Olympus • OM-D • mZD 14-150 • Dolomites • Italy • South Tirol • landscape • mountains
12/08/12  LandscapesMy true love is photographing landscapes much like the image above. I'm not saying I'm any good at it but that's the sort of photography I love doing. This was taken in the Dolomite region of Italy and for those who have never been there, you should go. Amazing lanscapes to be photographed and scenes that you will never forget. Unfortunately this was quite a hazy day but when your up that mountain at 3000m you really don't care. Some people never get to see these scenes from this height and it really saddens me because I believe everyone should get the chance to see things from a different perspective. When you're up there and just look around, you realise just how small we really are. 3189
E-M5 Focal Length: 25 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/640 sec ISO: 200 11/28/12  Fun PhotographyThis is the last from this combination now but I'm sure that I will be using these tools for a long time to come. I really like the old equipment, especially the first generation Pentax cameras with their 6MP sensors. Note to self: Dust them off and get those Pentax primes back out. Might even get myself that newly announced K5IIs which doesn't have a AA filter. Really a big deal if you're a raw shooter like myself. The images should be sharper and with those Pentax primes it'll be a nice setup to have. 1856
DMC-L1 Focal Length: 19 mm Aperture: f/16.0 Exposure Time: 1/2 sec ISO: 400 11/27/12  Fun PhotographyAgain converted with SFXII. One of the many stills during the 3 hour session. Aginn taken with the L1 and the PL 14-150. This is probably my favourite camera of all time. I've had some really great images out of it and although it's only a 7.5MP camera I don't need it for huge prints. I have 3 of these because I would be really lost if one died on me and I didn't have a backup. You don't hear much about them today because they're really old by todays standards. If you haven't tried one out, get one. They're really cheap on ebay these days. The 14-50 kit lens it came with can also be has for a few hundred these days. A really great kit lens in my opinion. 2857
DMC-L1 Focal Length: 150 mm Aperture: f/5.6 Exposure Time: 1/13 sec ISO: 400 11/26/12  Fun PhotographyI took the L1 and the PL 14-150 with me deliberately to get some movement into the images. The L1 isn't the fastest of cameras to focus so I pre-focused and stopped the lens down. The reason for the lens is that my copy is sharp at all focal lengths and at all apertures. Really a great lens to have on the L1. As they danced in front I just held the shutter down and let the camera do it's thing. The camera was of course mounted on a tripod for all this. I think you can tell that because something in all the images is sharp.
This was converted in Nik SFXII which is still the best out there for converting to B&W. 2031
DMC-L1 Focal Length: 47 mm Aperture: f/4.8 Exposure Time: 1/8 sec ISO: 100 | |
