Emotions for fireworks

When I think to fireworks I imagine them like this one: explosions, sparkling colors, the black sky, and nothing more than your emotions.

I shot this firework at Riva del Garda during this summer; it's a wonderful location for spending holidays :-)

This have been the best fireworks show I've ever seen: 40 minutes of fireworks on the Garda lake. I took 665 photos, what a night! :-)

The arch and the door

A door in a tiny town, near the Garda Lake, Italy.

Sparkling white frost on autumnal leaf

Yesterday morning the sky was clear, it was very cold, and wen I got out of home I saw the fence totally covered by hoarfrost.

I toke about 140 shot, the morning sun shining over hoarfrost is always a nice spectacle :-)

The Tree, and the colors of autumn on the hills

Three years ago I was hanging around with my reflex, hunting for some interesting subject.
Near Salsomaggiore there's a nice road on the hillside, and if you are lucky enough to go to there at the right time, you'll be able to see some very beautiful landscapes with the sun going down between the hills.
 

That day I was in the process of testing my Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC Macro lens, just returned from customer service. This was a perfect situation to see how it can cope with hard lighting situation.
I love this shot, in the full resolution image you can count the leaves of the tree :-)
This shot was one of my first RAW image, and shooting in RAW definitely payed back: it wouldn't has been possible to craft an image like that from a JPG photo.

Threatening clouds approaching the lake

It was a hazy day on the Iseo lake, and dark clouds were approaching the lakeshore.
Sometimes it seems that the haze has the will to embrace everything...

I find these kind of photos easy to take, but hard to "develop". They tend to have few colors, and a lot of grays and shades. Usually my first intent is to try to render the hazy atmosphere of the day, but it doesn't always works... so in this shot I tried a more dramatic interpretation, trying to put emphasis on the line of the hills, the waves, and the approaching clouds.

To do this required a bit of work: balancing the lights and the shadows isn't easy so the final result is achieved thanks to some local filtering: a bit of brightness on the water, a lot of contrast on the sky, a "hard" tone curve, a local emphasis on the right "curling" cloud, some grain and a bit of vignetting to make the central part of the photo stand out.

Critical comments are welcome :-)

Red leaf on yellow fall

I still remember the day I took this shot, it was a rainy day of the 2004 autumn. I was walking with my girlfriend near a park, over a carpet of yellow leaf. Then my eyes caught something different, something red.

I took a step back, I took out my loyal camera, and I grabbed this shot.
I still remember the voice of my girlfriend asking why I was loosing time photographing wet leaves... (but she appreciated the photo afterward :-)

Street light reflection

I was walking on the seashore, and then I saw a light and it's reflection.

So I set up my camera on a rock and shoot a 4 sec photo, here's the result.

I was on holiday in Rovinj, Croatia. It was the 2004, a long time ago :-)

I was using my first digital camera, an Olympus Camedia C-4000.

In more than 4 year of service the C-4000 gave me a lot of beautiful photos :-)

Drapery stalactite like a lamp

A drapery stalactite in the Baredine Cave, Croatia.

In the 2009 summer I visited the Baredine Cave. It's a nice cave,  the deepest pit is 130m depth and there's a high level of humidity.
Due to the low light I was using the continuous shooting mode trying to grab some decent shots, and with a DSLR camera I was a somewhat noisy tourist... During the visit it's been funny hear the guide tell "And now I'm going to shed light on this particular rock for the Paparazzi moment" :-)

(PS: The stalactite of the photo is always-on, the rock he was talking about is another one :-)

Message for the Time!

This paper message is hanging from a tree in the wonderful Heller Garden, Gardone, Italy.
In the higher part of the garden there is a tree full of hanging messages left by visitors.
Of course I left mine too :-)

Cableway to colors!

A rusty cableway in the Waterfall Varone Cave Park near Riva del Garda, Italy.

I was visiting the park Waterfall Varone photographing flowers / plants / caves and, of course, waterfalls... when I saw this beautiful rusty cable.

Taking pictures at F5.6 gave me the right depth of field for the cable, and the background turned into a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors :-)

In the past, this cable is probably served to transport baskets, but today there is a lot of vegetation growing around, and the rust starts to show...

Glowing flower in the dark

I've shot this flower in the wonderful Heller Garden, Gardone, Italy.

The glowing effect is attained thank to an external flash ttl-cable connected to my camera, pointed directly to the flower. I've shot at F22 to have enough DOF.

It was daylight, but the flower was in shadow, and using 1/200s, F22 ad ISO 100, the flash has become the main light source for this shot.

Night fountain reflection

Two fountains of the Mazzini park, in front of the "Terme Zoja" (spa), Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy

Birth of a new galaxy

It's only a fireworks, but remind me the kind of image used to represent the birth of a new galaxy :-)

I've taken this shot during a 10 minutes firework show near Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy.
I've used fixed manual focus and continuous shotting at  F 6.3, 2 seconds exposure, 200 iso.
(in about 10 minutes I've recorded 228 shots :-)

Sunflower field at sunset

This evening, on the way home, I passed close to a beautiful field of sunflowers, so I decided to park my car to make some photos... it has been funny to discover that there were already two other photographers who were doing the same :)

This photo has an HDR look, but it's not. It's a single shot with the needed brightness/contrast/fill_light tweak needed to compress the dynamic range and brighten the shadows without burning the highlight.
Naturally I did different photos to find the sweet spot to capture the maximum detail both in highlight and shadows.

Sunflower at sunset

This evening,  on the way home, I passed close to a beautiful field of sunflowers, so I decided to park my car to make some photos... it has been funny to discover that there were already two other photographers who were doing the same:)

The aisle's columns stone

The aisle's columns of the St.George church, near the Vigoleno Castle, Italy.

Enchanted pathway...

Maybe due to the castle's walls and the gorgeous vegetation...
or due to the smell of the flower, and the peacefulness of the place...
...but this pathway has something magical.

This nice pathway will take you around the walls of Vigoleno Castle, Italy

Mille Miglia!

Here you can see one of the competitor for the 2010 edition of Mille Miglia race.