http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/tags/europe/ Mon, 18 Feb 2013 06:23:53 -0800 Mon, 18 Feb 2013 06:23:53 -0800 http://www.flickr.com/ http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5446/buddyicons/55910595@N05.jpg?1369125482#55910595@N05 http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/tags/europe/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/8485997346/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/8485997346/" title="La Bella Vita || Atrani, Amalfi Coast"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8368/8485997346_38ebc1ac91_m.jpg" width="240" height="156" alt="La Bella Vita || Atrani, Amalfi Coast" /></a></p> <p>One of my very favorite destinations of 2012 was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrani" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Atrani</a>, a small town on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi_Coast" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Amalfi Coast</a> in Southern <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/photography/travel/italy" rel="nofollow">Italy</a>. We spent 10 days exploring and photographing La Costiera Amalfitana while using the beautiful town of Atrani as our home base. It really is a little slice of paradise.<br /> <br /> Early one morning, while I was walking to the town of Amalfi to catch the first bus to Positano, I glanced over my shoulder and witnessed this lovely scene unfolding. It was one of the most beautiful mornings of the trip and thankfully, I had just enough time to grab the shot without missing the bus. It also helps that I’ve become quite accustomed to sprinting with my camera gear. ;)<br /> <br /> <b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b><br /> <br /> <strong>Camera</strong>: Nikon D800<br /> <strong>Lens</strong>: 14-24 f/2.8 (Shot at 15 mm)<br /> <strong>Tripod</strong>: RRS TVC-24 / BH-40 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate<br /> <strong>ISO</strong>: 100 at f/8<br /> 5 Exposure Brackets ( -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 )<br /> <br /> <strong>Hardware</strong>: 15” 2011 Macbook Pro, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet<br /> <br /> <strong>Software</strong>: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK HDR Efex Pro<br /> <br /> <strong>Technique and Details</strong>: Digital Blending combined with NIK HDR Efex Pro<br /> <br /> First, using NIK HDR Efex Pro, I combined the 5 exposure brackets into an HDR image. Then using Photoshop and hand painted masks, I blended in parts of the original exposures to soften the HDR effect and bring back some of the natural tones.<br /> <br /> <strong>Espresso</strong>: Lavazza Oro (aka: Rocket Fuel)</p> Mon, 18 Feb 2013 06:23:53 -0800 2013-02-18T09:19:12-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/8485997346 La Bella Vita || Atrani, Amalfi Coast <p>One of my very favorite destinations of 2012 was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrani" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Atrani</a>, a small town on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi_Coast" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Amalfi Coast</a> in Southern <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/photography/travel/italy" rel="nofollow">Italy</a>. We spent 10 days exploring and photographing La Costiera Amalfitana while using the beautiful town of Atrani as our home base. It really is a little slice of paradise.<br /> <br /> Early one morning, while I was walking to the town of Amalfi to catch the first bus to Positano, I glanced over my shoulder and witnessed this lovely scene unfolding. It was one of the most beautiful mornings of the trip and thankfully, I had just enough time to grab the shot without missing the bus. It also helps that I’ve become quite accustomed to sprinting with my camera gear. ;)<br /> <br /> <b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b><br /> <br /> <strong>Camera</strong>: Nikon D800<br /> <strong>Lens</strong>: 14-24 f/2.8 (Shot at 15 mm)<br /> <strong>Tripod</strong>: RRS TVC-24 / BH-40 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate<br /> <strong>ISO</strong>: 100 at f/8<br /> 5 Exposure Brackets ( -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 )<br /> <br /> <strong>Hardware</strong>: 15” 2011 Macbook Pro, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet<br /> <br /> <strong>Software</strong>: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK HDR Efex Pro<br /> <br /> <strong>Technique and Details</strong>: Digital Blending combined with NIK HDR Efex Pro<br /> <br /> First, using NIK HDR Efex Pro, I combined the 5 exposure brackets into an HDR image. Then using Photoshop and hand painted masks, I blended in parts of the original exposures to soften the HDR effect and bring back some of the natural tones.<br /> <br /> <strong>Espresso</strong>: Lavazza Oro (aka: Rocket Fuel)</p> blame_the_monkey italy beach sunrise coast italian europe italia coastline amalfi atrani costieraamalfitana southernitaly http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/8187355115/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/8187355115/" title="Castel Sant Angelo - (Rome, Italy)"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8339/8187355115_e48a185a9b_m.jpg" width="240" height="158" alt="Castel Sant Angelo - (Rome, Italy)" /></a></p> <p>Out of all of my travels, <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/italy/rome" rel="nofollow">Rome</a> continues to not only be one of my favorite cities but also one of my favorite photographic destinations. With each visit, I try to concentrate a few days on certain key areas, in an attempt to catch the best lighting as well as cool cloud formations.<br /> <br /> On this trip in August, I spent quite a bit of time concentrating on the bridges surrounding <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/a-new-year-hangover-under-ponte-sant-angelo-rome" rel="nofollow">Ponte Sant'Angelo</a>. Rome was experiencing very high temperatures and very little rain so the skies were crystal clear blue for most of my visit. Sometimes blue skies can be brilliant in photography but other times they can add too much negative space to the scene. Thankfully on my last night in Rome, the weather gods smiled down on me and provided some much needed sky drama. Well, either that or they liked my naked rain dance. I guess we'll never know.<br /> <br /> Technical Mumbo Jumbo<br /> <br /> <strong>Camera</strong>: Nikon D800<br /> <strong>Lens</strong>: 24-70 f/2.8 (Shot at 28 mm)<br /> <strong>Tripod</strong>: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate<br /> <strong>ISO</strong>: 100<br /> 3 Exposures at f/8: 2, 4, and 8 seconds.<br /> <br /> <strong>Technique and Details</strong>: Digital Blending and Luminance Masking using 3 bracketed exposures -1, 0, and +1. I was able to get nearly everything I needed from the single 0 exposure and only used -1 and +1 to correct minor exposure issues. -1 was used to soften the lighting on Castel Sant'Angelo and +1 was used to increase the light ion the trees and plants.<br /> <br /> <strong>Software</strong>: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK Software<br /> <br /> <strong>Espresso</strong>: Illy Medium that I had left over from Italy. I'm in Cambodia so I made sure to pack a bunch of espresso.</p> Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:30:55 -0800 2012-11-15T09:27:53-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/8187355115 Castel Sant Angelo - (Rome, Italy) <p>Out of all of my travels, <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/italy/rome" rel="nofollow">Rome</a> continues to not only be one of my favorite cities but also one of my favorite photographic destinations. With each visit, I try to concentrate a few days on certain key areas, in an attempt to catch the best lighting as well as cool cloud formations.<br /> <br /> On this trip in August, I spent quite a bit of time concentrating on the bridges surrounding <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/a-new-year-hangover-under-ponte-sant-angelo-rome" rel="nofollow">Ponte Sant'Angelo</a>. Rome was experiencing very high temperatures and very little rain so the skies were crystal clear blue for most of my visit. Sometimes blue skies can be brilliant in photography but other times they can add too much negative space to the scene. Thankfully on my last night in Rome, the weather gods smiled down on me and provided some much needed sky drama. Well, either that or they liked my naked rain dance. I guess we'll never know.<br /> <br /> Technical Mumbo Jumbo<br /> <br /> <strong>Camera</strong>: Nikon D800<br /> <strong>Lens</strong>: 24-70 f/2.8 (Shot at 28 mm)<br /> <strong>Tripod</strong>: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate<br /> <strong>ISO</strong>: 100<br /> 3 Exposures at f/8: 2, 4, and 8 seconds.<br /> <br /> <strong>Technique and Details</strong>: Digital Blending and Luminance Masking using 3 bracketed exposures -1, 0, and +1. I was able to get nearly everything I needed from the single 0 exposure and only used -1 and +1 to correct minor exposure issues. -1 was used to soften the lighting on Castel Sant'Angelo and +1 was used to increase the light ion the trees and plants.<br /> <br /> <strong>Software</strong>: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK Software<br /> <br /> <strong>Espresso</strong>: Illy Medium that I had left over from Italy. I'm in Cambodia so I made sure to pack a bunch of espresso.</p> blame_the_monkey longexposure travel italy rome roma night europe italia bluehour angelo sant castel santangelo digitalblending http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/8019557634/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/8019557634/" title="Last Breath - (Kerry Peninsula, Ireland)"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8304/8019557634_858a0720ae_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Last Breath - (Kerry Peninsula, Ireland)" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> A simple fact of life is that sometimes when you break the rules, good things will happen. Now, If you’re a photographer, and these rules happen to be about trespassing, you’ll find that crossing the line will usually lead to a much better view. Well, either that or some disgruntled farmer will chase you off his property with a baseball bat. So yea, there’s that…<br /> <br /> Thankfully in this particular case, there was no angry farmer waiting for me. There was just this amazing view of the Kerry Coastline and a few dozen cows with confused looks on their faces.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/last-breath-kerry-peninsula-ireland-cliffs" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b></a></p> Mon, 24 Sep 2012 06:24:04 -0700 2012-09-24T09:21:06-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/8019557634 Last Breath - (Kerry Peninsula, Ireland) <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> A simple fact of life is that sometimes when you break the rules, good things will happen. Now, If you’re a photographer, and these rules happen to be about trespassing, you’ll find that crossing the line will usually lead to a much better view. Well, either that or some disgruntled farmer will chase you off his property with a baseball bat. So yea, there’s that…<br /> <br /> Thankfully in this particular case, there was no angry farmer waiting for me. There was just this amazing view of the Kerry Coastline and a few dozen cows with confused looks on their faces.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/last-breath-kerry-peninsula-ireland-cliffs" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b></a></p> blame_the_monkey ireland sunset clouds europe kerry cliffs coastline peninsula digitalblending luminancemasking http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7999712184/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7999712184/" title="Bohemian Blues - (Prague, Czech Republic)"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8174/7999712184_4c3fcd6ac7_m.jpg" width="240" height="155" alt="Bohemian Blues - (Prague, Czech Republic)" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/prague-by-night-old-town-square-tyn-church-view" rel="nofollow">Prague</a>, the jewel of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Bohemia</a>, is easily one of my all time favorite <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/photography-portfolio" rel="nofollow">photography</a> destinations. Everything is in easy walking distance, the streets are mostly safe at night, and no matter where you look, there’s something beautiful to capture your attention, especially <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;ved=0CGwQFjAA&amp;url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bridge&amp;ei=kZ8zUNS3K6rS4QTm_4CACg&amp;usg=AFQjCNHR1m_oqstTYbGUpY7EbCj4Y4HjTg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Charles Bridge</a>.<br /> <br /> But If you’ve seen a photo from Prague, you probably know most of that already. Let’s move onto something more interesting about capturing this moment. Rats... Did you know that they swim? I had no idea...<br /> <br /> Now, I’m not afraid of rats in the slightest. In fact, I think they’re kinda cute, you know, in a hug me I have rabies sort of way. I’m more than willing to coexist with all forms of insects and animals as long as they don’t cross the line. In this case, swimming all over and around my long exposure as the light is rapidly fading is definitely crossing the line.<br /> <br /> *disclaimer: no animals were harmed in the making of this photo. I promise. ;)<br /> <br /> <b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b><br /> <br /> Camera: Nikon D800<br /> Lens: 24-70 f/2.8<br /> ISO(s): 100 / 50<br /> Exposure(s): variable<br /> <br /> Technique: Digital Blending using 3 exposures. 2 For the main scene and one long exposure for the soft water.<br /> <br /> Software: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK<br /> <br /> Espresso: Lavazza Crema e Gusto</p> Tue, 18 Sep 2012 06:42:21 -0700 2012-09-18T09:39:25-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/7999712184 Bohemian Blues - (Prague, Czech Republic) <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/prague-by-night-old-town-square-tyn-church-view" rel="nofollow">Prague</a>, the jewel of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Bohemia</a>, is easily one of my all time favorite <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/photography-portfolio" rel="nofollow">photography</a> destinations. Everything is in easy walking distance, the streets are mostly safe at night, and no matter where you look, there’s something beautiful to capture your attention, especially <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;ved=0CGwQFjAA&amp;url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bridge&amp;ei=kZ8zUNS3K6rS4QTm_4CACg&amp;usg=AFQjCNHR1m_oqstTYbGUpY7EbCj4Y4HjTg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Charles Bridge</a>.<br /> <br /> But If you’ve seen a photo from Prague, you probably know most of that already. Let’s move onto something more interesting about capturing this moment. Rats... Did you know that they swim? I had no idea...<br /> <br /> Now, I’m not afraid of rats in the slightest. In fact, I think they’re kinda cute, you know, in a hug me I have rabies sort of way. I’m more than willing to coexist with all forms of insects and animals as long as they don’t cross the line. In this case, swimming all over and around my long exposure as the light is rapidly fading is definitely crossing the line.<br /> <br /> *disclaimer: no animals were harmed in the making of this photo. I promise. ;)<br /> <br /> <b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b><br /> <br /> Camera: Nikon D800<br /> Lens: 24-70 f/2.8<br /> ISO(s): 100 / 50<br /> Exposure(s): variable<br /> <br /> Technique: Digital Blending using 3 exposures. 2 For the main scene and one long exposure for the soft water.<br /> <br /> Software: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK<br /> <br /> Espresso: Lavazza Crema e Gusto</p> blame_the_monkey longexposure bridge night europe republic czech prague charles praha le digitalblending http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7936941660/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7936941660/" title="Prague By Night - (Old Town Square, Czech Republic)"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8454/7936941660_dedc7d8c13_m.jpg" width="240" height="163" alt="Prague By Night - (Old Town Square, Czech Republic)" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <br /> I knew that <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/czech-republic/prague" rel="nofollow">Prague</a> was a beautiful city to begin with but after seeing it in person, I can honestly say that it exceeded my expectations. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Square_(Prague)" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Old Town Square</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_in_front_of_T%c3%bdn" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Týn Church</a> are stunning sights whether you’re up above it all in the clock tower, or negotiating the crowded streets below.<br /> <br /> I visit a lot of popular destinations and each one has it’s share of good vantage points for photography. After a few days in Prague however, I’m impressed with the incredible amount of these great views; all very easy to access and without any tripod restrictions. Even the main towers have no problem with tripods. The only things you have to watch out for are the people. If you take up too much space with your setup, you will get bumped into for sure. The towers only have narrow walkways to support the heavy foot traffic so I recommend being cautious and courteous with your setup. Take a small tripod and keep it as out of the way as possible. Without the legs extended, my RRS 4 Section TVC-24 Tripod fit fairly well on the railing, freeing up the floor for all the excited tourist traffic. For some of the shooting, I also used a <a href="http://joby.com/gorillapod/focus/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Joby Gorillapod Focus</a> and BallheadX combo, which secured perfectly to the metal hand railings that line the perimeter windows.<br /> <br /> <em>There's also a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3988818330588&amp;set=a.3145671492444.143634.1584741730&amp;type=1&amp;theater" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Behind The Scenes</a> photo available. </em><br /> <br /> <b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b><br /> Camera: Nikon D800<br /> Lens: 14-24 f/2.8<br /> ISO: 100 (and) 500<br /> Exposures at f/8 ISO 100: 0.6, 1.3, 2.5, 5, 10<br /> Exposure at f/2.8 ISO 500: 1/20<br /> <br /> I spent a couple hours up in the clock tower capturing the light as it changed from a brilliant Gold Hour and Sunset to a vivid Blue Hour. As the light faded and my exposures started to become longer, the people below turned into troublesome streaks. Since there was a cool little jazz concert going on down there, I wanted to preserve the scene as much a possible.<br /> <br /> So in addition to shooting 5 bracketed exposures at f/8 and ISO 100, I also shot a single (faster) exposure at f/2.8 ISO 500 to account for the motion. In Photoshop, I manually blended the bracketed exposures -1,0, and +1 together first. Then, using a painted mask, I added in the high ISO frame to fix the people streaks. Since my camera was stationary, and after some color correction and noise reduction, the frames blended seamlessly.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Wed, 05 Sep 2012 06:56:45 -0700 2012-09-05T09:54:20-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/7936941660 Prague By Night - (Old Town Square, Czech Republic) <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <br /> I knew that <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/czech-republic/prague" rel="nofollow">Prague</a> was a beautiful city to begin with but after seeing it in person, I can honestly say that it exceeded my expectations. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Square_(Prague)" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Old Town Square</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_in_front_of_T%c3%bdn" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Týn Church</a> are stunning sights whether you’re up above it all in the clock tower, or negotiating the crowded streets below.<br /> <br /> I visit a lot of popular destinations and each one has it’s share of good vantage points for photography. After a few days in Prague however, I’m impressed with the incredible amount of these great views; all very easy to access and without any tripod restrictions. Even the main towers have no problem with tripods. The only things you have to watch out for are the people. If you take up too much space with your setup, you will get bumped into for sure. The towers only have narrow walkways to support the heavy foot traffic so I recommend being cautious and courteous with your setup. Take a small tripod and keep it as out of the way as possible. Without the legs extended, my RRS 4 Section TVC-24 Tripod fit fairly well on the railing, freeing up the floor for all the excited tourist traffic. For some of the shooting, I also used a <a href="http://joby.com/gorillapod/focus/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Joby Gorillapod Focus</a> and BallheadX combo, which secured perfectly to the metal hand railings that line the perimeter windows.<br /> <br /> <em>There's also a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3988818330588&amp;set=a.3145671492444.143634.1584741730&amp;type=1&amp;theater" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Behind The Scenes</a> photo available. </em><br /> <br /> <b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b><br /> Camera: Nikon D800<br /> Lens: 14-24 f/2.8<br /> ISO: 100 (and) 500<br /> Exposures at f/8 ISO 100: 0.6, 1.3, 2.5, 5, 10<br /> Exposure at f/2.8 ISO 500: 1/20<br /> <br /> I spent a couple hours up in the clock tower capturing the light as it changed from a brilliant Gold Hour and Sunset to a vivid Blue Hour. As the light faded and my exposures started to become longer, the people below turned into troublesome streaks. Since there was a cool little jazz concert going on down there, I wanted to preserve the scene as much a possible.<br /> <br /> So in addition to shooting 5 bracketed exposures at f/8 and ISO 100, I also shot a single (faster) exposure at f/2.8 ISO 500 to account for the motion. In Photoshop, I manually blended the bracketed exposures -1,0, and +1 together first. Then, using a painted mask, I added in the high ISO frame to fix the people streaks. Since my camera was stationary, and after some color correction and noise reduction, the frames blended seamlessly.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey old city castle ancient europe czech prague cathedral gothic praha czechrepublic bohemia oldtownsquare tynchurch bohemian http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7880202636/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7880202636/" title="Song Of The Sea - (Dubrovnik, Croatia)"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8424/7880202636_894e05fdc0_m.jpg" width="240" height="143" alt="Song Of The Sea - (Dubrovnik, Croatia)" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> The beautiful and timeless fortress city of <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/croatia/dubrovnik" rel="nofollow">Dubrovnik</a>; the pearl of the <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/dubrovnik-croatia-photography-pearl-of-the-adriatic" rel="nofollow">Adriatic</a> Sea.<br /> <br /> One of the main attractions of Dubrovnik are the walls themselves. For a small fee, you can walk all the way around the old city, seeing amazing views along the way. Every time I was up there, I saw people filming in various locations around the city. I figured that it was just some small student film or something similar. A few months later I found out that HBO was filming season 2 of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdGwqEW8cCo" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">The Game of Thrones</a> inside the city. I guess that explains why so many people were walking around in medieval costumes. ;)<br /> <br /> <b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b><br /> <br /> Camera: Nikon D700<br /> Lens: 24-70 f/2.8<br /> ISO: 100<br /> Exposure: 1/350 at f/4.8<br /> <br /> First off, this photo was processed from a <strong>single RAW file</strong>. It’s also important to note that while I typically shoot 3-5 exposure brackets, I don’t always use them. ;)<br /> <br /> After distortion correction and chromatic aberration removal in Lightroom 4, I did some color and contrast correction in Photoshop. Since I shot during Golden Hour, the light already had a natural warmth to it and the sky had a nice natural orange. I just enhanced the saturation where necessary.<br /> <br /> The moon —since it was distorted by the wide angle— was shot separately and added back in 80% larger. It was placed exactly over top.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:45:30 -0700 2012-08-28T09:42:26-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/7880202636 Song Of The Sea - (Dubrovnik, Croatia) <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> The beautiful and timeless fortress city of <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/croatia/dubrovnik" rel="nofollow">Dubrovnik</a>; the pearl of the <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/dubrovnik-croatia-photography-pearl-of-the-adriatic" rel="nofollow">Adriatic</a> Sea.<br /> <br /> One of the main attractions of Dubrovnik are the walls themselves. For a small fee, you can walk all the way around the old city, seeing amazing views along the way. Every time I was up there, I saw people filming in various locations around the city. I figured that it was just some small student film or something similar. A few months later I found out that HBO was filming season 2 of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdGwqEW8cCo" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">The Game of Thrones</a> inside the city. I guess that explains why so many people were walking around in medieval costumes. ;)<br /> <br /> <b>Technical Mumbo Jumbo</b><br /> <br /> Camera: Nikon D700<br /> Lens: 24-70 f/2.8<br /> ISO: 100<br /> Exposure: 1/350 at f/4.8<br /> <br /> First off, this photo was processed from a <strong>single RAW file</strong>. It’s also important to note that while I typically shoot 3-5 exposure brackets, I don’t always use them. ;)<br /> <br /> After distortion correction and chromatic aberration removal in Lightroom 4, I did some color and contrast correction in Photoshop. Since I shot during Golden Hour, the light already had a natural warmth to it and the sky had a nice natural orange. I just enhanced the saturation where necessary.<br /> <br /> The moon —since it was distorted by the wide angle— was shot separately and added back in 80% larger. It was placed exactly over top.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey city sunset moon castle coast europe croatia moonrise fortress dubrovnik adriatic http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7691210806/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7691210806/" title="I Amsterdam - (Netherlands)"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8146/7691210806_3f3fdc5c30_m.jpg" width="240" height="166" alt="I Amsterdam - (Netherlands)" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> I Amsterdam || Rijksmuseum Blue<br /> <br /> While I was in Amsterdam, I really wanted to make a cool shot of The Rijksmuseum during Blue Hour. The thing was, I had no idea how the building would light up, or even if it would light up at all. I find that this happens to me often in European Cities. I’ll get set up and wait for the magic to happen but then… no magic. It baffles me that people go through all of this trouble to design these magnificent structures with no thought to exterior lighting. I know that some of these buildings predate conventional lighting but still, come on Europe. One yellow flood light just doesn’t cut it. ;p<br /> <br /> Since I’ve been burned this way so many times, I always make sure to get to my locations extra early. That way I can capture a Golden Hour / Sunset shot in addition to a Blue Hour / Night Shot. Then later on I can decide which version better represents the feeling of the location. Sometimes as a bonus, I end up with two beautiful versions to use.<br /> <br /> For this shot I arrived a good 2 hours before what you see here. Once I picked a nice composition and tweaked all my camera settings, I kicked back, opened a bottle of wine, and waited for the magic to happen. I was confident that the dramatic weather would produce some awesome sky drama. All I had to do was be patient and vigilant.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Wed, 01 Aug 2012 07:02:32 -0700 2012-08-01T10:01:07-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/7691210806 I Amsterdam - (Netherlands) <p><a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Blame The Monkey</b></a> || <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a> || <a href="http://500px.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>500px</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> I Amsterdam || Rijksmuseum Blue<br /> <br /> While I was in Amsterdam, I really wanted to make a cool shot of The Rijksmuseum during Blue Hour. The thing was, I had no idea how the building would light up, or even if it would light up at all. I find that this happens to me often in European Cities. I’ll get set up and wait for the magic to happen but then… no magic. It baffles me that people go through all of this trouble to design these magnificent structures with no thought to exterior lighting. I know that some of these buildings predate conventional lighting but still, come on Europe. One yellow flood light just doesn’t cut it. ;p<br /> <br /> Since I’ve been burned this way so many times, I always make sure to get to my locations extra early. That way I can capture a Golden Hour / Sunset shot in addition to a Blue Hour / Night Shot. Then later on I can decide which version better represents the feeling of the location. Sometimes as a bonus, I end up with two beautiful versions to use.<br /> <br /> For this shot I arrived a good 2 hours before what you see here. Once I picked a nice composition and tweaked all my camera settings, I kicked back, opened a bottle of wine, and waited for the magic to happen. I was confident that the dramatic weather would produce some awesome sky drama. All I had to do was be patient and vigilant.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey travel sunset holland netherlands amsterdam europe bluehour rijksmuseum digitalblending http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7650036758/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7650036758/" title="Amsterdam Colors - (Netherlands)"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8432/7650036758_fe00e77a93_m.jpg" width="240" height="161" alt="Amsterdam Colors - (Netherlands)" /></a></p> <p>During my short stay, I found Amsterdam to be a wonderful, colorful, vibrant, interesting, friendly, and extremely stimulating City. And just to clarify, that was while I was completely sober. ;)<br /> <br /> Of course Amsterdam is well known for its coffee shops where you can buy weed or hash by the gram as well as the Red Light District where you can buy, well, other forms of entertainment... However, it’s also a cultural melting pot of activity. I’ve visited many international cities and it’s rare to find a place that holds so many people from every nationality and social standing, all out together enjoying the city. When it’s warm and sunny outside, the canals are filled with groups of people barbecuing on party boats while thousands of bicycles traverse the beautiful bridges. <br /> <br /> It’s also worth noting that with all this extra “fun” going on, it’s much more important to watch out for speeding bicycles than cars. Amsterdam is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. With nearly 1,000,000 bicycles in the city, 38% of journeys in the city are made by bicycle, 100,000 of them are stolen, and 25,000 end up in the canals. Yes lol, in the canals. I cropped a small portion of this photo so you can see that statistic in action. <a href="http://goo.gl/76QPJ" rel="nofollow">goo.gl/76QPJ</a></p> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 06:56:19 -0700 2012-07-26T09:53:18-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/7650036758 Amsterdam Colors - (Netherlands) <p>During my short stay, I found Amsterdam to be a wonderful, colorful, vibrant, interesting, friendly, and extremely stimulating City. And just to clarify, that was while I was completely sober. ;)<br /> <br /> Of course Amsterdam is well known for its coffee shops where you can buy weed or hash by the gram as well as the Red Light District where you can buy, well, other forms of entertainment... However, it’s also a cultural melting pot of activity. I’ve visited many international cities and it’s rare to find a place that holds so many people from every nationality and social standing, all out together enjoying the city. When it’s warm and sunny outside, the canals are filled with groups of people barbecuing on party boats while thousands of bicycles traverse the beautiful bridges. <br /> <br /> It’s also worth noting that with all this extra “fun” going on, it’s much more important to watch out for speeding bicycles than cars. Amsterdam is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. With nearly 1,000,000 bicycles in the city, 38% of journeys in the city are made by bicycle, 100,000 of them are stolen, and 25,000 end up in the canals. Yes lol, in the canals. I cropped a small portion of this photo so you can see that statistic in action. <a href="http://goo.gl/76QPJ" rel="nofollow">goo.gl/76QPJ</a></p> blame_the_monkey summer holland netherlands amsterdam europe bridges canals bicycles http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7348275356/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7348275356/" title="Athína twilight - (Athens, Greece)"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/7348275356_22d5c8a199_m.jpg" width="240" height="152" alt="Athína twilight - (Athens, Greece)" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Athína Twilight || Photographic Tall Tales</b><br /> <br /> As a photographer, I’m thankful that I get to experience these amazing locations at their most beautiful moments. So how exactly did I find this particular view of the Acropolis in Greece?<br /> <br /> Well, while I could be all melodramatic (like most photographers are) and tell you that I auditioned hundreds of rooftops, or that I hiked many miles and climbed millions of stairs, or that I captured this slightly before a dozen Greek Gypsies crowned me their supreme ruler and carried me away to Mt. Olympus in a golden palanquin with an escort of flying unicorns , I’ll just tell you the truth… <b>There weren’t any unicorns…</b><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Thu, 07 Jun 2012 06:57:09 -0700 2012-06-07T09:57:09-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/7348275356 Athína twilight - (Athens, Greece) <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Athína Twilight || Photographic Tall Tales</b><br /> <br /> As a photographer, I’m thankful that I get to experience these amazing locations at their most beautiful moments. So how exactly did I find this particular view of the Acropolis in Greece?<br /> <br /> Well, while I could be all melodramatic (like most photographers are) and tell you that I auditioned hundreds of rooftops, or that I hiked many miles and climbed millions of stairs, or that I captured this slightly before a dozen Greek Gypsies crowned me their supreme ruler and carried me away to Mt. Olympus in a golden palanquin with an escort of flying unicorns , I’ll just tell you the truth… <b>There weren’t any unicorns…</b><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey sunset moon night lights twilight europe athens greece moonrise acropoli bluehour acropolis athína http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7158100282/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7158100282/" title="Dreams In Color - (Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy)"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7219/7158100282_b025d6cbe2_m.jpg" width="240" height="154" alt="Dreams In Color - (Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy)" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Dreams In Color</b><br /> <br /> Manarola, Cinque Terre is simply stunning any time of day but when the sky turns shades of pink, it’s out of this world. It’s at those times that the color sings. (Or maybe that was the wine talking)<br /> <br /> I know that I’ve been releasing a lot of photos from Italy lately but I just can’t help it. I’ve said this before but Cinque Terre is my photographic happy place. Since I’ve been a little down with a virus over the last week (some really strange Chinese cough thing) , I’ve been using some of these italian photos to lift my spirits.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Tue, 08 May 2012 06:51:39 -0700 2011-05-15T20:37:01-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/7158100282 Dreams In Color - (Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy) <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Dreams In Color</b><br /> <br /> Manarola, Cinque Terre is simply stunning any time of day but when the sky turns shades of pink, it’s out of this world. It’s at those times that the color sings. (Or maybe that was the wine talking)<br /> <br /> I know that I’ve been releasing a lot of photos from Italy lately but I just can’t help it. I’ve said this before but Cinque Terre is my photographic happy place. Since I’ve been a little down with a virus over the last week (some really strange Chinese cough thing) , I’ve been using some of these italian photos to lift my spirits.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey travel sunset italy mountains water architecture landscape coast europe italia liguria cinqueterre portfolio manarola 5lands http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7096158821/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/7096158821/" title="Summer's Heart - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy)"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7081/7096158821_9dac81b718_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Summer's Heart - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy)" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Summer’s Heart || Italy Is Calling Me</b><br /> <br /> Check out the Post-processing before and after comparison: <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/summers-heart-italy-vernazza-cinque-terre-calling-me" rel="nofollow">HERE</a><br /> <br /> I’m not sure why but I’ve been missing <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/italy/cinque-terre" rel="nofollow">Italy</a> like crazy lately. I just can’t seem to get it out of my mind. I’ve been feeling an intense pull, almost like someone has been calling my name. From the food, to the scenery, to the warm summer sun, Italy has been in my thoughts almost every day.<br /> <br /> Since I’m not visiting again until this August, the only thing I could think to do about it was edit another photo from <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/italy/cinque-terre" rel="nofollow">Le Cinque Terre</a>, my photographic happy place. And this shot of Vernazza has been sitting in my “to process” gallery for almost a year now. As soon as I opened this file in Photoshop, my heart swam with warm emotion as I remembered being in this beautiful place. Then when I zoomed in, I noticed something very strange that made the hairs on the back on my neck tingle a bit...<br /> <br /> Check out what’s written on the third boat to the right. It’s my name, Elia. Now that’s one hell of a coincidence, right? Maybe Italy really was calling out my name. I may need to visit earlier now... I don’t know if a message can get any clearer than that. See it <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/summers-heart-italy-vernazza-cinque-terre-calling-me" rel="nofollow">HERE</a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:44:49 -0700 2011-05-17T14:08:07-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/7096158821 Summer's Heart - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy) <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Summer’s Heart || Italy Is Calling Me</b><br /> <br /> Check out the Post-processing before and after comparison: <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/summers-heart-italy-vernazza-cinque-terre-calling-me" rel="nofollow">HERE</a><br /> <br /> I’m not sure why but I’ve been missing <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/italy/cinque-terre" rel="nofollow">Italy</a> like crazy lately. I just can’t seem to get it out of my mind. I’ve been feeling an intense pull, almost like someone has been calling my name. From the food, to the scenery, to the warm summer sun, Italy has been in my thoughts almost every day.<br /> <br /> Since I’m not visiting again until this August, the only thing I could think to do about it was edit another photo from <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/italy/cinque-terre" rel="nofollow">Le Cinque Terre</a>, my photographic happy place. And this shot of Vernazza has been sitting in my “to process” gallery for almost a year now. As soon as I opened this file in Photoshop, my heart swam with warm emotion as I remembered being in this beautiful place. Then when I zoomed in, I noticed something very strange that made the hairs on the back on my neck tingle a bit...<br /> <br /> Check out what’s written on the third boat to the right. It’s my name, Elia. Now that’s one hell of a coincidence, right? Maybe Italy really was calling out my name. I may need to visit earlier now... I don’t know if a message can get any clearer than that. See it <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/summers-heart-italy-vernazza-cinque-terre-calling-me" rel="nofollow">HERE</a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey travel summer italy water architecture reflections boats europe cinqueterre portfolio vernazza http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6838498936/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6838498936/" title="Falling Tide - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy)"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6838498936_b6841f3f13_m.jpg" width="240" height="166" alt="Falling Tide - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy)" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> Apologies for the lack of posts over the last week but things have been absolutely nuts. With less than 2 days left before I begin my permanent traveling &amp; location independent adventure, I have at least 10 days worth of work left to do! It’s a good thing I bought extra espresso yesterday. I’ve almost gone through an entire brick since then and I’m just getting started. Zooooom! <br /> <br /> To prevent myself from continuing to bore you with the details of my current predicament, here’s another shot from the stellar Cinque Terre (aka, my happy place).<br /> <br /> <b>Post-Processing Before and After here:</b><br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/falling-tide-manarola-cinque-terre-post-processing-before-and-after" rel="nofollow">www.blamethemonkey.com/falling-tide-manarola-cinque-terre...</a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:48:27 -0700 2011-05-15T19:04:44-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/6838498936 Falling Tide - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy) <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> Apologies for the lack of posts over the last week but things have been absolutely nuts. With less than 2 days left before I begin my permanent traveling &amp; location independent adventure, I have at least 10 days worth of work left to do! It’s a good thing I bought extra espresso yesterday. I’ve almost gone through an entire brick since then and I’m just getting started. Zooooom! <br /> <br /> To prevent myself from continuing to bore you with the details of my current predicament, here’s another shot from the stellar Cinque Terre (aka, my happy place).<br /> <br /> <b>Post-Processing Before and After here:</b><br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.blamethemonkey.com/falling-tide-manarola-cinque-terre-post-processing-before-and-after" rel="nofollow">www.blamethemonkey.com/falling-tide-manarola-cinque-terre...</a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey travel italy mountains water architecture italian europe italia liguria wideangle coastline cinqueterre manarola 5terre digitalblending dynamicblending http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6920658211/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6920658211/" title="Golden Embrace - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy)"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6920658211_c55a6a3ba1_m.jpg" width="240" height="157" alt="Golden Embrace - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy)" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”</b><br /> <br /> ~ Henry Miller<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:33:36 -0800 2011-05-18T19:57:22-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/6920658211 Golden Embrace - (Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy) <p><a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> || <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> || <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”</b><br /> <br /> ~ Henry Miller<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey travel sunset italy seascape water architecture italian ancient colorful europe italia liguria cinqueterre dynamicrange vernazza dri magichour digitalblending dynamicblending goldhour http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6806866635/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6806866635/" title="The Beauty Of Surrender - (Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy)"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7158/6806866635_a39fa695f2_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="The Beauty Of Surrender - (Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy)" /></a></p> <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> or find me on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a></b><br /> <br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>The Beauty Of Surrender || Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre</b><br /> <br /> Back in 2010 when I just started getting into travel photography, my wife and I visited our good friends near Florence, Italy. There, sitting in the living room was this amazing picture of colorful Italian buildings built into a seaside mountain. For me It had every visual element of a great photograph. At the time I had no idea that The Cinque Terre region even existed, let alone that it contained such unique and special beauty. I remember writing down in my notebook the word: Riomaggiore. <br /> <br /> Flash forward to now and my wife and I travel full time, exploring and photographing unique places all over the world. Out of everywhere I've been, hands down, Cinque Terre is the most beautiful. The vista points blew our minds and we instantly fell in love. I've had a long love affair with the sea and for me, Cinque Terre embodied the perfect synergistic balance between civilization and the ocean. I instantly felt comfortable, at peace, and at home. To this day, my photos from Cinque Terre continue to be some of my greatest inspiration.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:45:35 -0800 2011-05-17T19:32:13-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/6806866635 The Beauty Of Surrender - (Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy) <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> or find me on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a></b><br /> <br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>The Beauty Of Surrender || Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre</b><br /> <br /> Back in 2010 when I just started getting into travel photography, my wife and I visited our good friends near Florence, Italy. There, sitting in the living room was this amazing picture of colorful Italian buildings built into a seaside mountain. For me It had every visual element of a great photograph. At the time I had no idea that The Cinque Terre region even existed, let alone that it contained such unique and special beauty. I remember writing down in my notebook the word: Riomaggiore. <br /> <br /> Flash forward to now and my wife and I travel full time, exploring and photographing unique places all over the world. Out of everywhere I've been, hands down, Cinque Terre is the most beautiful. The vista points blew our minds and we instantly fell in love. I've had a long love affair with the sea and for me, Cinque Terre embodied the perfect synergistic balance between civilization and the ocean. I instantly felt comfortable, at peace, and at home. To this day, my photos from Cinque Terre continue to be some of my greatest inspiration.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey travel sunset italy mountains water architecture reflections landscape europe cinqueterre portfolio hdr riomaggiore http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6714350157/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6714350157/" title="The Gentle Harbor - (Dubrovnik, Croatia)"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6714350157_0154391917_m.jpg" width="240" height="155" alt="The Gentle Harbor - (Dubrovnik, Croatia)" /></a></p> <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>The Soft Melody Of The Sea</b><br /> <br /> Music strongly influences my photography and while editing this photo I was listening to the beautiful melody of “Oceans,” off the new <i>Puscifer Album.</i><br /> <br /> “Weary traveler, calloused and sore<br /> Time and gravity followed you here<br /> Rest, my brother, and tell me all about the ocean<br /> <br /> I’ve never seen the ocean<br /> Not like this one”<br /> <br /> This is one of my favorite spots in the world. Dubrovnik will always have a special place in my heart.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:54:03 -0800 2011-10-10T18:41:57-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/6714350157 The Gentle Harbor - (Dubrovnik, Croatia) <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>The Soft Melody Of The Sea</b><br /> <br /> Music strongly influences my photography and while editing this photo I was listening to the beautiful melody of “Oceans,” off the new <i>Puscifer Album.</i><br /> <br /> “Weary traveler, calloused and sore<br /> Time and gravity followed you here<br /> Rest, my brother, and tell me all about the ocean<br /> <br /> I’ve never seen the ocean<br /> Not like this one”<br /> <br /> This is one of my favorite spots in the world. Dubrovnik will always have a special place in my heart.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey ocean travel sea moon castle water architecture night reflections boats lights harbor europe fort dusk croatia moonlight bluehour portfolio dubrovnik adriatic http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6678901977/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6678901977/" title="Under Ponte Sant'Angelo - (Rome, Italy)"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6678901977_0e5df796ee_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Under Ponte Sant'Angelo - (Rome, Italy)" /></a></p> <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Here’s where I spent my New Year’s Hangover!</b><br /> <br /> No, not really. I’m totally lying...<br /> <br /> I wasn’t actually standing in the Tiber River under Sant Angelo Bridge in Rome.<br /> <br /> But...<br /> <br /> While I was editing this photo yesterday, I imagined that I was standing there, just like I was last June. So I kinda did spend my New Year’s Day there, all be it, in a strange disoriented and severely hung over state of mind.<br /> <br /> Oh, Margaritas... So wonderful yet so very deadly.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:32:00 -0800 2011-05-31T21:19:18-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/6678901977 Under Ponte Sant'Angelo - (Rome, Italy) <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Here’s where I spent my New Year’s Hangover!</b><br /> <br /> No, not really. I’m totally lying...<br /> <br /> I wasn’t actually standing in the Tiber River under Sant Angelo Bridge in Rome.<br /> <br /> But...<br /> <br /> While I was editing this photo yesterday, I imagined that I was standing there, just like I was last June. So I kinda did spend my New Year’s Day there, all be it, in a strange disoriented and severely hung over state of mind.<br /> <br /> Oh, Margaritas... So wonderful yet so very deadly.<br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey travel bridge italy rome water architecture night river europe tiber bluehour hadrian hdr pontesantangelo saintangelo hadrainscastle http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6430957417/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6430957417/" title="Ancient Stone And Sea - (Dubrovnik, Croatia)"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6430957417_0d0f92ee14_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Ancient Stone And Sea - (Dubrovnik, Croatia)" /></a></p> <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> I did quite a bit of research on the ancient city of Dubrovnik, Croatia before I visited, so I knew it was a beautiful place. After seeing it in person though it completely exceeded my expectations.<br /> <br /> Here’s another view from the ancient wall that surrounds the city. It’s shot during my favorite time of day between sunset and blue hour. This soft transition of time always has a calming effect on me. It’s almost like mother nature herself takes a long, deep, and comforting sigh as another successful day comes to an end.<br /> <br /> <i>* From the Blame The Monkey blog: <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/travel-photo-ancient-stone-and-sea-dubrovnik-croatia" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>here</b></a></i><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:47:45 -0800 2011-10-05T18:41:08-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/6430957417 Ancient Stone And Sea - (Dubrovnik, Croatia) <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> I did quite a bit of research on the ancient city of Dubrovnik, Croatia before I visited, so I knew it was a beautiful place. After seeing it in person though it completely exceeded my expectations.<br /> <br /> Here’s another view from the ancient wall that surrounds the city. It’s shot during my favorite time of day between sunset and blue hour. This soft transition of time always has a calming effect on me. It’s almost like mother nature herself takes a long, deep, and comforting sigh as another successful day comes to an end.<br /> <br /> <i>* From the Blame The Monkey blog: <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/travel-photo-ancient-stone-and-sea-dubrovnik-croatia" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>here</b></a></i><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey travel sunset moon seascape history water architecture ancient europe croatia historic bluehour portfolio dubrovnik http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6418887223/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6418887223/" title="Path Of Angels - (Rome, Italy)"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6226/6418887223_c8bb27c552_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Path Of Angels - (Rome, Italy)" /></a></p> <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> Ponte Sant’Angelo is a popular walking destination for both locals and tourists so finding it empty can be tricky. Obviously, there are always less people out first thing in the morning but that causes a nasty side effect… It’s f#$king early… So, if you cant stomach getting up early (I don’t blame you), prepare to paint some stuff out.<br /> <br /> For this scene, I waited about 20 minutes and shot it 5 different times. By waiting, I was able to isolate people as far away from camera as possible. Far away objects are much easier to remove because they cover much less detail.<br /> <br /> With cloning in general, you never have to make it perfect. You only have to convince the viewer that nothing is wrong with what they’re looking at. — It sounds simple but it’s true. — As long as nothing stands out, eyes will breeze right over it, especially if it’s background detail.<br /> <br /> It can also be strangely therapeutic. With a simple brush stroke, you can paint someone out of existence… Man… If only I had photoshop in High School.<br /> <br /> <i>* From the Blame The Monkey blog: <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/path-of-angels-ponte-sant-angelo-rome-italy" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>here</b></a></i><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:23:02 -0800 2011-05-31T20:57:35-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/6418887223 Path Of Angels - (Rome, Italy) <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> Ponte Sant’Angelo is a popular walking destination for both locals and tourists so finding it empty can be tricky. Obviously, there are always less people out first thing in the morning but that causes a nasty side effect… It’s f#$king early… So, if you cant stomach getting up early (I don’t blame you), prepare to paint some stuff out.<br /> <br /> For this scene, I waited about 20 minutes and shot it 5 different times. By waiting, I was able to isolate people as far away from camera as possible. Far away objects are much easier to remove because they cover much less detail.<br /> <br /> With cloning in general, you never have to make it perfect. You only have to convince the viewer that nothing is wrong with what they’re looking at. — It sounds simple but it’s true. — As long as nothing stands out, eyes will breeze right over it, especially if it’s background detail.<br /> <br /> It can also be strangely therapeutic. With a simple brush stroke, you can paint someone out of existence… Man… If only I had photoshop in High School.<br /> <br /> <i>* From the Blame The Monkey blog: <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/path-of-angels-ponte-sant-angelo-rome-italy" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>here</b></a></i><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey city travel bridge italy rome roma saint architecture night europe italia angels bluehour portfolio hdr santangelo http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6306762059/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6306762059/" title="Fort Lovrijenac - Dubrovnik's Gibraltar (Dubrovnik, Croatia)"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6040/6306762059_4685cdbd30_m.jpg" width="240" height="156" alt="Fort Lovrijenac - Dubrovnik's Gibraltar (Dubrovnik, Croatia)" /></a></p> <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> Fort Lovrijenac (also known as St. Lawrence Fortress and yes, I can actually pronounce it), was built early in the 11th century. The Venetians attempted to build a fort on the same spot where Fort Lovrijenac currently stands and if they had succeeded, they would have kept Dubrovnik under their power. Fortunately the people of the city got the job done first and beat them to it. Nicely done.<br /> <br /> This shot is taken from the stone wall that lines the entire parameter of Ancient Dubrovnik. The timing was tricky because the wall closes before city lights turn on. After getting kicked off for a few days, I figured out exactly where to stow away and avoid detection.<br /> <br /> It sounds like super covert spy shit but it’s actually really simple. It turns out they herd everyone over to a specific exit in one corner, all the while locking down the cleared areas. Eventually everyone gets funnelled to the last open area and forced to exit. If you figure out the funnel direction, you can easily stay ahead of the guards and set up for blue hour shots. If you get caught, just play dumb and Blame The Monkey. ;)<br /> <br /> <i>* From the Blame The Monkey blog: <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/fort-lovrijenac-dubrovnik-croatia-hdr" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>here</b></a></i><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:24:21 -0700 2011-10-06T18:39:26-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/6306762059 Fort Lovrijenac - Dubrovnik's Gibraltar (Dubrovnik, Croatia) <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> Fort Lovrijenac (also known as St. Lawrence Fortress and yes, I can actually pronounce it), was built early in the 11th century. The Venetians attempted to build a fort on the same spot where Fort Lovrijenac currently stands and if they had succeeded, they would have kept Dubrovnik under their power. Fortunately the people of the city got the job done first and beat them to it. Nicely done.<br /> <br /> This shot is taken from the stone wall that lines the entire parameter of Ancient Dubrovnik. The timing was tricky because the wall closes before city lights turn on. After getting kicked off for a few days, I figured out exactly where to stow away and avoid detection.<br /> <br /> It sounds like super covert spy shit but it’s actually really simple. It turns out they herd everyone over to a specific exit in one corner, all the while locking down the cleared areas. Eventually everyone gets funnelled to the last open area and forced to exit. If you figure out the funnel direction, you can easily stay ahead of the guards and set up for blue hour shots. If you get caught, just play dumb and Blame The Monkey. ;)<br /> <br /> <i>* From the Blame The Monkey blog: <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/fort-lovrijenac-dubrovnik-croatia-hdr" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>here</b></a></i><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey city travel sunset castle architecture ancient europe fort croatia stlawrence bluehour portfolio dubrovnik hdr adriatic lovrijenac http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6346800383/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/blamethemonkey/">blame_the_monkey</a> posted a photo:</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/6346800383/" title="Green With Envy - (Stockholm, Sweden)"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6019/6346800383_347934e7ec_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Green With Envy - (Stockholm, Sweden)" /></a></p> <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Stockholm’s Nackrosen T Bana Station</b><br /> <br /> Here’s another one from deep underground <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/sweden/stockholm" rel="nofollow">Stockholm</a> Sweden, in the amazing Tunnelbana System.<br /> <br /> This is part of an ongoing series that I’m working on. I’ll be releasing more shots of the T Bana, as well as other amazing underground stations very soon.<br /> <br /> <i>* From the Blame The Monkey blog: <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/nackrosen-t-bana-stockholm-green-with-envy" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>here</b></a></i><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:31:02 -0800 2011-07-25T20:17:40-08:00 nobody@flickr.com (blame_the_monkey) tag:flickr.com,2004:/photo/6346800383 Green With Envy - (Stockholm, Sweden) <p><b>Circle me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/112957708071337353347/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Google+</b></a> and join the most active community of photographers on the interweb</b><br /> <br /> You can also find me on other social media sites like: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/EliaLocardi" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>Twitter</b></a><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <b>Stockholm’s Nackrosen T Bana Station</b><br /> <br /> Here’s another one from deep underground <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/category/travel/sweden/stockholm" rel="nofollow">Stockholm</a> Sweden, in the amazing Tunnelbana System.<br /> <br /> This is part of an ongoing series that I’m working on. I’ll be releasing more shots of the T Bana, as well as other amazing underground stations very soon.<br /> <br /> <i>* From the Blame The Monkey blog: <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com/nackrosen-t-bana-stockholm-green-with-envy" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>here</b></a></i><br /> <br /> ---<br /> <br /> <i>* All comments are welcome &amp; Monkey Business is strongly encouraged. If you have questions, I would love to hear them. Check me out at <a href="http://blamethemonkey.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><b>BlameTheMonkey.com</b></a>Thanks for viewing! </i></p> blame_the_monkey travel station architecture underground subway europe metro sweden stockholm portfolio tunnelbana tbana blamethemonkey elialocardi nakrosen