Flight over Tonle Sap lake and Angkor Temples

Taking aerial photography over the temples of Angkor was one major item on the plan to our recent travel photography project to Cambodia. 

We arrived in Siem Reap, the city close to the area of all major Angkor temple ruins, in the morning from December 9th. The plan was to take two flights. One in the evening and one in the morning. 

A a first flight was planned to explore the landscape of the area, rice fields, landmarks, the wetlands along the Tonle Sap lake, floating villages and some remote temples.

The second flight brought us along the famous temples such as Angkor Wat in the morning sun.

One of my most exciting experiences as a photographer. 

Creative Photography Techniques - Bottled Finnish Landscapes

Bottled Finnish Landscapes by Christoffer Relander: interesting and surrealistic pieces of art captured on film.

Read the article at thisiscolossal.com for detailed explanations and further examples. link

This effect is achieved by using double exposure technique.
The first shot is an exposure of the glass in front of an illuminated white background. Light is set up in a way that the glass area turns out underexposed or almost perfectly black while the illuminated background area is completely overexposed or burnt out.
In order to give the glass some plasticity and three dimensional look there need to be some reflections on the glass and shadows on the base ground.

The second exposure is in nature capturing a beautiful landscape and exposing the non or underexposed area of the glass. This second step implants the landscape into the glass.

The effect is gorgeous.

I am wondering if this can be done on digital too.
Technically there should be no issue. So, let's go out and try it.









Watch the documentary on how it is done:

Scenic Places - Kamchatka

Yelizovo #2 - Kirill Vedeev (500px)

Recently a photography friend of mine shared his 2017 photography adventure project with me. - Volcanos of Kamchatka!

Hmm, ... Kamchatka..., where is that?

Not admitting that I had no idea I asked google. And here is the answer. Kamchatka is the peninsula at the eastern edge of Russia. It is rough wilderness and a landscape with many volcanos.

The volcanos of Kamchatka are registered as an UNESCO world heritage.

With 270'000 square kilometres the Kamchatka peninsula is slightly bigger than the United Kingdom (242'500 sq. km). Population is extremely small. Kamchatka is home to 170'000 people.

Not only spectacular by nature it must also be spectacular to get there at first for travel photographers. - A am waiting for my friend's experience and recommendations to be shared.

In terms of climate the Kamchatka peninsula is heavily influenced by cold winds from Siberia and cold ocean currents from the Oyashio sea. In consequence the landscape is covered by snow from October to late May.

Brown bear eating salmon - Eyal Cohen (500px)

Kamchatka is home to the Kamchatka brown bear. But also other predators are present such as the arctic fox, the tundra wolf, or the east siberian lynx.

After this little research, I think this place could truly be an interesting target for nature photography.

There are several photography tour operators with interesting offerings, such as:

Unusual Expedition: http://unusualexpedition.com/singapore/index.php/portfolio-items/russia-kamchatka/

For an impression of Kamchatka's nature and wildlife, have a look at the Nat Geo Wild documentary "Wild Russia":

Expert Talk - Landscape Travel Photography by Thomas Heaton

Film Photography - The Local Landscape

Film photography is one of my passions. Taking pictures and not knowing the result immediately.

A recent series shows grain fields in the local area. Images have been taken using a Hasselblad 500 cm camera with 80mm f2.8 T* Planar lens on Ilford HP5 film.

The two images shown below feature the texture and pattern of local agriculture. A scenery which especially comes out in black and white. The grain of HP5 film gives another texture to these images.

Theme: The Lighted Tent

Arctic Dream - Paul Zizka (500px)

A common theme in landscape photography at night is the lighted tent.

This motif gives interesting images. The lighted, and most of the examples warmly coloured, tent in contrast to the cold colours of the nightly landscape.

These pictures are perfect examples of transporting the scenery experienced with all human senses into a static image.

The cosy warmth of the protective tent combined with:

- the cold of the night

- the ambient light landscape

- the starry sky

- the milky way

- northern light phenomena

- or just the dark blue sky of a longtime exposure

Sahale Arm Milky Way - Jason Groepper (500px)

Some of these shots need a little bit of planning. Planning in terms of the right framing of the landscape, the right light conditions, the right weather conditions.

For a milky way scenery some more techniques are needed.
Find a tutorial to learn about the right exposure at: link



But not only milky way sceneries are interesting night shots. Some star trails can make a nice background for the lighted tent too.

Fragment 8 - Gabi Matei (500px)

Scenic Places in Black and White - Yosemite National Park

Sun on Half Dome - Jeff Philipps (flickr)

The Yosemite National park in California, USA offers some of the most impressive landscapes to capture.
With special mountain formations and geological phenomena this is a unique place.

Not only world known landscape photographer Ansel Adams took advantage of that interesting landscape, but also nowadays thousands of tourists are shooting pictures in this scenery every year.

Ansel Adams - Yosemite National Park

While today the images found on sharing platforms are shot mainly in digital Ansel Adams used a large format camera. Quite a lot of heavy gear to bring to these places.

The park is well known for its granite cliff formations, waterfalls, and giant sequoia tree groves.
Especially the cliffs and waterfalls offer plenty of opportunities for interesting black and white photography. There are very interesting conditions especially under certain light the contrast and texture which can be achieved is amazing.

Stair Case Falls - Michael Evans (flickr)

Landscape Photographer Ben Horne

Landscape photographer Ben Horne talking about how he took some of his most impressive landscape photographs. Ben Horne is mastering large format photography.

Shooting in Death Valley

Seeking Perfection in Landscape Photography

Have you ever been frustrated by the fled of almost perfect landscape images on the internet?

How come that all those people are on location under perfect conditions at the perfect time?

Jay Patel shared a blog post on visualwilderness.com highlighting three ways of thinking which will successfully take away you passion for landscape photography.
Read through here: link

The three reasons why not to pursue landscape photography are:
- trying to capture the awesome photo you see on the internet an in magazines
- searching for likes, tweets, and +1s
- capturing photos under perfect conditions only

As a conclusion, here the recommendation from Jay:
"The next time you go on a landscape photography adventure… make it less about popularity or trying to get the next best shot and more about having an adventure and exploring your creativity. You may find that you’ve fallen even more deeply in love with landscape photography."

Alpenglühen

L'Alpe qui saigne... - Vincent Favre (500px)

Is there something more beautiful than landscape images at sun set? The more special and unique, the more attractive they become.

It needs patience, time, and the right anticipation of weather phenomena in order to get that one special shot. The shot of a - maybe well known - landscape photographed hundreds of times before but never in that unique setting.

Light, contrast, color - texture and shape. Many landscape images under special light conditions are unique.

The Last Stand - Enrosadira (500px)

In the central European Alps a well known situation is called "Alpenglühen". This means literally "the glowing alps". Or in french "L'Alpe qui saigne" which is translated to "bleeding alps".

Alpenlicht - Martin (500px)

For the scientists: this is the moment of the sun set where mountain peeks are hit only by the remaining red wavelength components of the sunlight. A moment which appears for just a couple of seconds and only under weather conditions in favour of corresponding light refraction.

Mistry Peak - Philipp Franceschini (500px)

Chocolate Hills Landscape

Recently on a underwater photography trip to the Philippines we visited the chocolate hills in the center of Bohol Island.

The chocolate hills are an impressive landmark. The hills are geologically composed of coral stone. A reef that has been lifted out of the sea long time ago.

By geological nature the hills are only covered by grass and little bushes. During dry season they turn brownish leading to the name chocolate hills.

Film for Color Landscape Photography

What is your choice of film for color landscape photography?

Ben Horne talks about his experience using Fuji Velvia 50, Kodak Ektar 100, and Kodak Portra 160 film shooting landscape.

Scott Rinckenberger - Outdoor Photography Slideshow

Scott Rinckenberger 2016 Pro Photo Showdown Slideshow from Scott Rinckenberger on Vimeo.

Viral Nature Photo Challenge

I've been nominated by Joseph John Pucadyil to participate in a 7 day nature photo challenge. I need to post one photo a day for 7 days and nominate one person each day to pass this along so we can flood FB with great photos of nature.

If you want to click you through the hyperlinked paths of this viral game, and if you want to know how far it did go, find here the link to my very first post: Day 1: Cherry Blossom

I decided to share a series of pictures taken using my old Hasselblad 500 c/m camera on film.

Here is the stream of photographs I've been sharing during subsequent days.

Landscape and Adventure Photographer Chris Burkard

"Don't forget to stop and just take the wold in ..." - Chris Burkard (500px)

California base nature, adventure, and landscape photographer Chris Burkard: http://www.chrisburkard.com

Excellent photography from different adventurous nature places around the world.

Chris Burkard has an impressive style. Landscape photographs not only on that one sunny day but capturing the power and uniqueness of harsh weather conditions which adds character and dynamics to his images.

Besides pictures from well known landmarks Chris' portfolio exhibits some nice detail captures showing the texture and patterns of details in interesting landscapes.

These are amazing artistic images showing the beauty of nature in details set into the right frame.
Imagine having this artwork decorating the wall in your house. Chris does offer prints for sale on his website.

Eye of the earth - Chris Burkard (500px)

Skogafoss Waterfall - Chris Burkard (500px)

If you want to learn more on how Chris prepares for his trips to capture this amazing landscape and adventure pictures watch the following video:

Special moments in landscape photography

Through the cairn - Hilde Sordal (500px)

Landscape photography is one of the oldest disciplines of photography. It has an artistic but also a documentary touch. On one hand landscape photography is about capturing the moment of a wide landscape combining uniqueness of landscape and topography with light and weather conditions, and capturing this unique moment at the right exposure.

Uniqueness can be added by searching for special perspective, special elements, or special landmarks in order to add another dimension to the landscape image.

An example is the image on the left by Hilde Sordal. The stone sculpture in the foreground adds some living, man built, element to the landscape scenery. This still being a static situation, captured at the right moment under sunset conditions is nothing special yet. But getting the last rays of the sun for that particular day shining directly through an almost invisible pinhole across that stone sculpture adds some dynamics and uniqueness of that very moment to the image.

To capture such an exceptional landscape image it not only needs the eye for the landscape, but also the understanding for the uniqueness of a very short moment which will not happen again for quite some time if not captured in this very fraction of a second.

Icy landscapes

Golden Winter - Pawel Uchorczak (500px)

Ice Crystal - DarkElf Photography (500px)

Backlight in the forest - Alberto Perer (500px)

Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland - Sam Dobson (500px)

Surreal - Robin Groenevelt (500px)

Photography of Switzerland

Given by the diverse topography of the Swiss landscape, Switzerland offers endless possibilities for landscape photographers. All in close distance there are possibilities of shooting mountain landscapes, agricultural flat plains, cities, lakes, rivers, ...

A few examples can be found in the blog post by Martin Bisaz at downgrade.com.

Perfect reflected landscapes by Jaewoon U

South Korea base photographer Jaewoon U (check out his 500px profile) published a series of nearly perfect reflected landscapes.

Reflection of landscapes in lakes is a common subject in landscape photography. However, Jaewoon U's pictures are special.
Water surfaces are perfectly flat, and light conditions between reflection and true landscape are balanced in a way that the surface of the lake becomes an almost perfect mirror.

For more details read through the 500px blog showcasing Jaewoon U and his reflected landscapes.