Blue hour photography

Regiswindiskirche / Regiswindis church in the old town of Lauffen, December 2015

Wikipedia: "The blue hour is the period of twighlight each morning and evening when the sun is a significant distance below the horizon and the residual, indirect sunlight takes on a predominantly blue hue. This effect is caused by the relative diffusibility of short blue wavelengths of light versus the longer red wavelengths. During the blue "hour" (typically the period is about 40 minutes in length), red light passes straight into space while blue light is scattered in the atmosphere and therefore reaches the earth's surface. Because of the quality of the light, this period is treasured by artists."

Although the wikipedia article is talking about a 40 minutes period of the "blue hour", in my opinion it's just a 10 minutes "tunnel" to hit the best ratio of background and foreground contrast.

In my second photo of the Regiswindis church the light was still much too bright - therefore the contrasts are much to "hard".

So: when is the perfect moment for the best blue hour shot???

You have to try out! Start early enough with your first photo (of course you MUST use a tripod!), later you'll realize that it's already much to dark to continue.  

Somewhen in the intervening time is the perfect moment for the best shot(s).

Lauffen town hall - parts of it used to be an old castle out of the 11th century - with illuminated Christmas tree in the evening hours.

 

 The old historic fountain in front of the Lauffen town hall - and the reflections of Christmas lights in the water surface of the well.

That's not longer a blue hour photograph...
...the sky is much too dark already.

A pleasant and peaceful 2nd Advent to all of you!

Partial eclipse of the sun in Germany

Did you see the partitial solar eclipse today over Europe???

Here are some of my impressions I took in the morning with my camera.

I put a neutral grey filter in front of the lens of my DSLR with a factor of 1000 that reduced the sun light dramatically.

In the second photograph you even can see the sunspot in the upper third of the solar disc.

The max. covering of 71% of the sun disc we had at 10:37 a.m. this moring; one hour later the whole haunting was over again.

Magnolia heyday at Lauffen 2014

Lauffen vineyard near the town center beneath Katharinenstrasse,

a blessed place and residential area

and one of my favourite spots in early spring to take the first magnolia blossoms.

Currently the magnolias there are in full bloom.

I captures the scenes last Friday morning, right before I started into my work day.

Regiswindis church at Lauffen, Germany,
predecessor buildings of this church are from the 8th century.
Today's church was rebuilt in 1564 after a fire.

Sometimes it's really difficult to focus the right part of that "sea of blossoms",
you really have to find a suitable structure worth capturing within this huddle.

Or: you just take the whole scene...

At the foot of the vineyard...

...the sloe / blackthorn bushes are full-blown as well.

End of the year 2013

You look tired, dear friend.

So I am.

At the end of the year 2013 I wanna slow down as far as possible, 

this year was equally challenging and exhausting, gratifying and staggering.

It's time to take a break.

I wanna say THANX to all of you who've accompanied me continuously or just occasionally throughout the year here on this blog.

Maybe we meet again in 2014...!?

The photos of my this year's final post I took at the river bank of the river Neckar in the town of Lauffen, in the southwest of Germany. It's the town where the company I work for is located.

Lauffen's old castle from the 11th century on the other side of the river is nowadays the local municipal administration and townhall. There the mayor has set up a huge, but modest Christmas tree.

 A Christmas tree is (?) / should be (!) a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as spruce, pine or fir, traditionally associated with the celebration of Christmas.

The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts or other foods. In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles, which with electrification could also be replaced by Christmas lights. Today, there are a wide variety of traditional ornaments, such as garland, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star may be placed at the top of the tree to represent the angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity.

If you see two Christmas trees on the photo above, it would be time for you to take a break as well, dear friend... ;-)

...to all of you!

Uwe.

Lauffen hillside vineyards in April

Friday's day work finished.
Sunshine ordered.

Camera taken.

Vineyard climbed.

Snail shells of escargot (Helix pomatia / Weinbergschnecke), purple rock cress (Aubrieta deltoidea / Blaukissen) and "Basket of Gold" (Aurinia saxatilis / goldgelbes Steinkraut).

The buds of the grapevine have already sprouted and the first new shots and leaves stretch themselves towards the sunlight.

The air temperature outside the hillside vineyards was approx. 21°C that afternoon.

But as soon as I went into the vineyard and started to climb the steep steps, I felt like I was in a totally different climate zone. With the sun shining on the walls of the rock garden and on my neck the felt temperature was somehow near 35°C...

Have a great and sunny weekend!

Sea of blossoms - magnolia heyday

The blossoming of the magnolia trees.
My object of desire during my lunch break the recent week.

Within the last years I've found some of the most impressing magnolia trees at the town where I work.
Standing directly in front of one of these wonderful trees during the blooming time you solely see a sea of blossoms. It's really difficult to focus one single flush.

Seen from a differnet angle of vision you get a much better view on the location where the magnolia trees grow. Definitely it's a privileged habitat for the thermophilic and frost-sensitive magnolias in the matter of sunshine and temperature - directly on top of a vineyard close to the town centre.

  

With an open aperture and a little help of Photoshop I was able to separate a flowering branch with my telephoto lens. Unfortunately I did not had my macro with me...

...maybe next week! ;-)