Uploads from blurredfoto, tagged filter

Waiting Thy Return

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 07:07:52 -0700

It's been quite some time since I've ventured to the coast for a seascape capture. This is my typical HDR from three exposures (-2, 0, and 2), blended in Photomatix and tweaked a bit in Photoshop.

Captured at Magħtab, on the east coast of Malta.

Explore #28 and Explore Front Page. Thank you for your comments. I've hardly had any image explored since I ventured into portraiture but, I guess, it does make sense. Who wants to admire beautiful models when the sea is so awe inspiring? :)

Spun sugar sky

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:12:12 -0800

blurredfoto posted a photo:

Here's an old shot, with polarizer.

Cotton candy was introduced in 1904 by William Morrison and John C. Wharton, at the St. Louis World's Fair as "Candy Floss" with great success, selling 68,655 boxes at the then-high $0.25, half the cost of admission to the fair - Wikipedia.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/16
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 100

[Explore #39 on 14 Jan 2009]

Throw me a rope

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:00:20 -0800

blurredfoto posted a photo:

Three long exposures with ND8 and polarizing filters, tonemapped in Photomatix.

[Explore #12 and FP on 1 Jan 2008]

The blues are back

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 05:08:38 -0800

blurredfoto posted a photo:

An HDR from 3 exposures captured in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, Malta.

ISO50, f/20 using ND8 and polarizing filters.

Finally, back to doing what I like doing best. :) Have a great day my flickr friends!

View Large

[Explore #26 on 14 Dec 2008 - and Front Page, my first with the new camera]

5D Mark II (test landscape)

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 03:29:41 -0800

blurredfoto posted a photo:

Quick snapping and quick processing for now. After the long wait, I can't find the time for some new-camera TLC. I'm still terribly enjoying the camera and the stunning quality of its images. Captured today Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq (Malta) on the way back home with some fresh Sicilian cannoli.

Gear: Canon 5D Mark II, Hoya polarizer and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM, fresh out of the box.

View large On Black - much better

[Explore #134 on 13 Dec 2008]

Waiting

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:13:08 -0800

blurredfoto posted a photo:

This is an HDR image of Ġnejna Bay processed from 8 exposures at 1 stop intervals.

Wish you a great weekend. I'll be enjoying it in the company of a stuffy drippy nose and the other lovely stuff Winter brings :)

[Explored #11 and Front Page on 6 Dec 2008]

Let me reach, let me beach far beyond the blue sea

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:11:18 -0800

blurredfoto posted a photo:

From the deep sea of clouds to the island of the moon,
Carry me on the waves to the lands I’ve never been,

[♫♫ Orinoco Flow ♫♫ ~ Enya]

The Azure Window at Dwejra (Gozo, Malta) is one of the most photographed sites in the Maltese islands and understandably so. The beauty of the site never ceases to amaze me. Now that I caught the photography bug I just had to put in my own HDR interpretation of this great classic.

[Explored #18 and Front Page on 3 Nov 2008]

The rocks, beckoning me

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:29:23 -0800

blurredfoto posted a photo:

I see the ghosts of navigators but they are lost
As they sail into the sunset they’ll count the cost
As their skeletons accusing emerge from the sea
The sirens of the rocks, they beckon me

[Ghost of The Navigator ~ Iron Maiden]

We're back home after a couple of days spent on Malta's sister island, Għawdex, a name which the Brits could not pronounce and converted to Gozo. It was great fun and Matti and I got to wear our Halloween wizard's hat too! I captured this at Xwejni Bay just before driving towards the ferry back to Malta. It's an HDR from 3 long exposures and it is also somewhat more saturated than I meant it to be

I really appreciate the well-wishing comments on the last image posted on my birthday. You are such great flickr friends!

[Explore #6 and Front Page on 2 Nov 2008]

Other waves will follow

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:33:40 -0700

blurredfoto posted a photo:

... like a
Wave on a beach, that thinks it's had this
Tremendous idea, coming to crash on the beach
Like that, and it's true, it has, yet
Others have gone before, and still others will
Follow.

[John Ashbery (b. 1927), U.S. poet, critic. "Litany."]

This was captured at the same location of the previous shot, just a day later as the very different clouds will reveal. Captured at Fomm ir-Riħ beach (Malta) with a Sigma 10-20mm using ND8 and polarizing filters.

As much as I've enjoyed producing this series, I now need a short break. Well, at least until the rain clouds come back. Today we just had sunny, cloudless and flat skies over Malta. Bother that sun!

[Explored #48 on 28 Oct 2008]

A line that's hard to see

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:09:40 -0700

blurredfoto posted a photo:

There's a line between love and fascination that's hard to see on an evening such as this.

[Ned Washington (1901-1976), U.S. songwriter. ♫♫ My Foolish Heart ♫♫, Santly-Joy, Inc. (1949)]

Convinced my dad to join me on a trek to the (almost) inaccessible beach of Fomm ir-Riħ (Malta) where I managed to take this long exposure composite HDR using ND8 and polarizing filters.

Love to read your comments... then click on the music link, come back to the image and relax! Wishing you all a happy Sunday!

[Explored #78 on 26 Oct 2008]

As darkness falls

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:12:25 -0700

blurredfoto posted a photo:

Around us fear, descending
Darkness of fear above
And in my heart how deep unending
Ache of love!

[James Joyce (1882-1941), Irish writer. On the Beach at Fontana (l. 9-12) ... Oxford Book of Modern Verse, The, 1892-1935]

Shot directly at the sun with an ND8 and polarizing filters. The sun survived the shot.
Composite HDR (-2, 0, 2) captured from Qrejten point towards the entrance to Magħtab.

View On Black

[Explore #116 on 23 Oct 2008]

The Sun now rose upon the right

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:58:05 -0700

blurredfoto posted a photo:

The Sun now rose upon the right:
Out of the sea came he,
Still hid in mist, and on the left
Went down into the sea.

And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow,
Nor any day for food or play
Came to the mariners' hollo!

[Excerpt from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge]

The sun rising from the right as we sail out of the Malta Grand Harbour. Two breakwaters protect the harbour's waters. On the left of the image is St. Elmo's light; on the right the Ricasoli breakwater light, both used as an aid to navigation. Shot into the sun with an ultra-wide fitted with a polarizing filter.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner quoted above is considered one of the most significant and famous poems in the English language. It also reminds me of bus rides during my school years, armed with a cassette walkman playing Iron Maiden's amazing adaptation of the poem in their Powerslave album.

Please, please, please view this Large On Black!

Peach Orchard in Bloom

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 10:40:35 -0700

blurredfoto posted a photo:

Posted via email from It has just come to light ...

It’s spring and there is inspiration all around. Wandering along the Sicilian country roads to the East of the awe-inspiring Etna Volcano I could not help invading this little bit of nature masterpiece for a few shots.

Three-exposure HDR processing. Polarizing filter installed.

Distorted Martina

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:33:45 -0700

blurredfoto posted a photo:

Martina Franca is a town and comune in the province of Taranto, Puglia, Italy. It is the second most populated city of the province after Taranto. Since 1975, the town hosted the annual summer opera festival, the Festival della Valle d'Itria.

The town has a particularly beautiful "old city" surrounded by stone walls with prominent Baroque gates leading to piazzas and winding, tiny streets. The Piazza di Roma is the largest open space in the old city, with a greenspace in the center of a largely triangular place. [wiki]

The battering

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 00:07:07 -0800

blurredfoto posted a photo:

A three-exposure composite capture using the 17-40mm. The exposures were taken at Mtaħleb on the Western coast of Malta in very challenging weather conditions. I placed the tripod almost at the cliffs' edge but I was being hit by strong wind and rain. The rain kept streaking the filter and, of course, obtaining three successive clean shots was a particularly daunting task.

[Explore #4 on 20 Dec 2008]

Earth and Water

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:05:41 -0800

blurredfoto posted a photo:

I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.

[Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), British poet. The Cloud (l. 73-76) ... The Complete Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary Shelley, ed. (1994)]

[Explore #6 on 25 Nov 2008 and reportedly on FP]

Where I shall meet my fate

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:36:18 -0700

blurredfoto posted a photo:

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My county is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

[An Irish Airman Forsees His Death ~ William Butler Yeats]

The airman in this poem is an associate of Yeats who died on the 23rd of January, 1918 in Italy at the age of 37 when an Italian pilot mistakenly shot him down.

This is an HDR image of Manoel Island in Malta's Marsamxett Harbour. Malta was one of the most intensively-bombed areas during WWII – a total of 3,000 raids occurred during the two years of the siege. During the siege, 1,493 civilians died and 3,674 were wounded.

View On Black

Valletta monochrome

nobody@flickr.com (blurredfoto) — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:03:06 -0700

blurredfoto posted a photo:

Red filter adds some drama