French countryside in Haute Savoie - Another view

French countryside in Haute Savoie

Another one in the serie about The Rural Landscapes Around My Home.

Like my Chéran Canyon image, this one was also done by stitching 3 photos with PTGui.

This morning, i went really soon the the Valserine valley and found a very interesting place with a nice view along the river. I hope you will see the first images here before the end of the week.

Weekly commented photo #24 - Cheran canyon through Massif des Bauges forest

Cheran canyon through Massif des Bauges forest

For my second morning at the Chéran river i wanted this overview of the canyon from the Abîme bridge but arrived on the place it was not really easy to realize :

The bridge is really narrow and the sidewalks too tights for the 3 legs of my tripod. I had to fold completely one of this legs and just put it on a diagonal metallic beam. It was not the most stable setup i ever had but it worked.

The bridge is hanged by many big red wires and i couldn't use a lens wider than 28 mm without including one of them in the frame. I could take some photos of the river but not this general view i wanted.
I was about to renounce to this image and go directly to the river when i had an idea :

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may know that i'm a long time user of PTGui.
Ten years ago i was using it very often to stitch images for classic panoramic landscapes but also to get more resolution that the old digital cameras could give.
Today any DSLR give enough pixels for most of my needs and i still make stitched images but only from time to time.

So before packing all my gear to go to the river, i took 4 horizontal photos with my 28 mm lens, panning the camera vertically between each.
Once back at the office, stitching these 4 images with PTGui was easy and it gave me a 20 megapixels file.

Weekly commented photo #8 - A high resolution view of Collobrieres village in Provence

Collobrieres village in Provence

So, this a view of Collobrières village in Provence. I lived there during 15 years.
The photo was done in march 2004 and is about 7 years old.

In 2004 i was mainly using a Nikon D100 for my landscape work but i've always loved smaller cameras for family images or holidays, etc. During the film era, i was really often using an Olypus XA2 with Velvia or Provia slide film. When time cames to digital i tried many compact cameras but was never really happy with their image quality. My favourites non DSLR cameras were the Dimage 7i and A1 from Minolta.

This view of Collobrières was done with the Dimage A1. It was a 5mpx bridge with a 28-200 f2.8 zoom. The sensor was smaller than the one of my DSLRs but really larger the the ones in compact cameras. The lens was a high quality one done by Minolta and i've to say that in many circumstances this camera gave me some amazing raw files.
Of course it was not the camera for low light images but for most common images it was a very good one. It was also compatible with the very good Minolta flash system and i often used it with a 5600 HSD flash with a real pleasure.

So, let come back to the photo :
I was at home and saw the beautiful light of this end of afternoon. My Nikon gears were at my office about 30km far. I grabed the A1 and a tripod, climbed the hill above the village, made a few single shots and as the light became better and better, i decided to make a stitched high resolution image.
It was something i often did in these old years because DSLRs cameras didn't had all the pixels they now have.

So, i took 11 images with the Dimage A1 and the zoom at its longer focal length.
I gave me 11 raw files that i processed with SilkyPix and stitched with PTGuiPro.
The resulting image weights about 20 mega pixels and when i look at the full resolution file i can't distinguish it from a file done with a HD DSLR.

Weekly commented photo #6 - Winter light in Provence

Winter light on the Lac des Escarcets

This image was done in february 2008 so she's now 3 years old.
While i was living in Provence, this place was one of my favourite winter spot for photography. In summer it's really less interesting because the lake is dry or almost and, another important point, winter light is very better here.

This lake is a protected natural area managed by the Conservatoire du Littoral et des Rivages Lacustres. Many and many birds are living in the vegetation all around and it would probably be a very interesting place for a wildlife photographer.

Since the day i've discovered this place, i've loved the colours of it's red ground. Under some special lights these coulours can be truly amazing and make me think to some american or australian deserts.

My first image of the lake was done about one year before this one (and you can see it here)
After this first one done just before dusk, the winter ended without letting me coming back in really good conditions but at least i could explore many places around the lake.

In 2008 by a sunny winter afternoon i decided to make a new try on this very little but colorful beach i had noticed one year before.
I was a little disapointed when arriving because some huge white clouds were standing above the lake making the light really dull. I decided to go for a little more scouting and about 2 hours later i remarked that a small wind was clearing the sky.
I ran back to the beach and arrived when the afternoon was about to end, just for this clear and beautiful view.
In these days (and i still do it), i was often stitching two or more photos to make some 5x4 images without loosing too much pixels.
As i was using a panoramic head my setup was a little long but i had the time to be ready before the light turns too dark.

Technical details :
Two vertical images were used to make this photo.
They were taken with a Nikon D200 and a 17 mmlens.
I also used a tripod, a Nodal Ninja panoramic head and a remote shutter release.
Raw files were processed with SilkyPix and stitching was done with PTGui.

Chaumont village and the Fornant river running under the woods

Chaumont village
Here are 2 recent shots from our new place : the village near which we live and the Fornant river just before the nice Barbennaz waterfall.

Note 1 : The panoramic view was done by stitching 20 images taken with a long lens. The job was done as usual with PTGui.

Note 2 : I'm still busy with building my new office and working in the house so you will have to wait a little more for the return of regular posting here.

The Fornant river running under the wood

Evening light on Collobrières village

Evening light on Collobrières village - Provence

This image perfectly illustrates the adventure life of a landscape photograper.
About one week ago, i was washing my hands in the bathroom when i saw the light.
I opened the window, installed my tripod, took my camera and made this one :)

Corsica, another panoramic view of Corte

Corte, the citadel and the city

Another very high definition image done by stitching 6 vertical images with PTGui.

Corsica - Corte HDR panorama in the morning clouds

Corsica - Corte in the morning clouds

Some words about the making of :

This is an HDR panorama made from 6 frames with three exposures for each frames so 18 images done with a long lens where used to produce this one. The result is an about 24 megapixels file.

As most often when shooting for HDR with a long lens i used a remotre controler plus mirror lockup instead of the intervalometer function of my camera, it avoids vibrations.

The nef files where first converted to 48 bits tif files with Silkypix. The only adjustments done here where just white balance and sharpening. For color and tones i prefer to work on the entire image.

The tif files where then stitched into a real HDR file with PTGui pro.

The HDR file was tonemapped in Photomatix, i find it easier than tonemapping in PTGui.

The tonemapped resulting tif file was lastely processed with SilkyPix for tones and colors adjustments.

Note : my general tips for HDR landscapes are here.

Salagon - A panoramic view

Same place and same day than the one in the previous post but early in the morning with a really more classical light.
Done by stitching 15 images taken with a long lens to obtain a very detailed result.
The image under is a detail of the walls. If you're interested, you can click to see this detail at 100%.

Dont fall in love, you may be changed to stone

Pénitents des Mées - Alpes de Haute Provence

This is a famous place in the north of Provence.
It was on my way while i was driving back from the Alps. I stopped the van, walked a little in the country and took a dizain of views which i just stitched with PTGui. (Click on the thumbnail for large view).

A legend say that these rocks are monks changed to stone by Saint Donat because they felt in love with some slaves captured during a crusade.

The hills around my village

Mountain road through the Provence hills

When i spend long times in the office i often need a little outdoor at the end of day.

This place is 7 km far from my village and really higher. The village is in the valley you can devine through the darkest hills in the background.
The little trick is that no car is allowed to take this road for many years. So last wednesday in the end of afternoon i thought that a little walk to these hills would be a nice way to change my mind after a full day of file processing and of administrative tasks.

A very narrow footpath climbs the hills through a deep forest. I took me a little more than one hour to get there and i've to say that once on the place i spent more time looking a the wild nature than making photos :)

I decided to go back at dusk and of course arrived in the forest by a dark night. The last kilometers in the narrow and slopy path covered by roots and stones were a little tiring. Arrived at home, i realized that i had a head lamp in my backpack :)

This panoramic landscape was stitched with PTGui Pro from 4 images taken with a soft ND filter. I tell that here because i've read that many people have problems while stitching images done with some ND grads. I really think that the problems don't come from the filters because i do that for many years and never noticed any trouble.

Another Alpilles landscape

Cliffs around Eyguières - Alpilles Massif

Another view of the Alpilles Massif, also done with my old Nikon D100, the Tamron 17-50 and PTGui.

12 frames were stitched to produce a high definition file which has been cropped to fit the 4x3 aspect ratio. I'm always amazed to see how PTGui can perfectly stitch images with such a complicated vegetation.

You can visit the original file whith Zoomify here. Not exactly the original file because the 16 bits TIF file has been converted to a 8 bits jpeg before uploading but it can give you an idea.

Alpilles, another part of Provence

Cliffs and hills around Aureille - Alpilles Massif

Provence is a large and i think not really defined place and one could beleive that every town or village in south of France claims to be in Provence :)
We can probably say that Provence center is around Aix en Provence and its famous Sainte Victoire mountain which landscapes has been painted by Paul Cézanne.

The place where i live is in the south-east of Aix en Provence. It's still wild and natural and became famous because of a small village named Saint-Tropez. It looks to be very similar to Corsica.

The north part of Provence goes high in the Alps and was beautifully featured by a french writer : Jean Giono.

On the close west of Aix en Provence comes the Alpilles Massif which is the country of an other writer (and actor) : Marcel Pagnol. It's a country of beautiful hills covered by olive tree fields and sometimes it makes me think to Tuscany.

I had a hard working week and needed a little break. So on Friday i left my office and we took our van to the Alpilles for a 3 days week-end that we spent playing with our daughter and climbing these beautiful white cliffs. I was really not there for photography so this one was done 2 hours before the best light and with my familly week end gear : An old Nikon D100 fitted with a Tamron 17-50 zoom lens and PTGui to stitch 2 frames. At least it could make a typical postcard of the place :)

PS : I think i start a little addiction to google translator :)

Another chestnut tree and an old story

A chestnut tree in Provence forest

In the film era, i used many cameras from different brands but for 35 mm minolta was my real fav. I loved how they were innovatives and how beautiful were their viewfinders ...
Switching to digital i had to leave Minolta and switched to Nikon but i couldn't resist to buy a dimage 7i in 2002 and a dimage A1 in 2003. They were not real working tools but mostly the cameras you always have with you. I have to say that i had a great fun with them. I sold the 7i when i bought the A1 and the A1 died (sony sensor problem) two years ago.

It's not impossible that the photo posted above is the biggest portrait ever done with a dimage A1. It's a stitched mosaic of 12 images and weights more than 22 million pixels. I own a print measuring a little more than 1 meter large and i love it. Nobody could tell it was done with a 5 mpx camera.
I've spent hours and hours looking at the original file and at the print, i've never seen any stiching problem.

I don't really know why i did that. This tree is in the forest around my home, i love him and have many shots of him. One day i had this idea that's all :)

A few more parasol pines under the blue sky

Parasol pines panorama in La Plaine des Maures

A mediterranean panorama

Giens and Porquerolles

Another view from my little trip on the Presqu'île de Giens.
I'm waiting for good weather to return there. This morning we had sun but now it's cloudy again ...

2 images stitched with PTGui after being processed with SilkyPix.

Waterfall after the rain

Waterfall in the Vallon de Durand - Provence

After many days of strong rain the sun came back yesterday. This afternoon i spent a few hours in the Vallon de Durand taking some photos of this waterfall and running stream.

This image was done from two horizontal photos stitched together with PTGui 8.02.
As i'm a lazy guy i still don't have downloaded the new beta version of PTGui which includes raw processing from dcraw routines. So my D200 nef were processed with SilkyPix before beeing stitched.
In fact i really love the SilkyPix results and in the future i'm not sure i'll use the raw processing embeded in PTGui but that's a nice thing that this wonderful software always offers more and more possibilities to its users.

Threat around the Barrage de la Verne

Barrage de la Verne - Provence

This dam is in the hills around my home. It's a kind of tank of drinking water for the Saint-Tropez area. I made this shot by a beautiful morning in 2006 springtime and since it's on my french website.
Today looking at my server's logs i've noticed that a big bunch of people where looking for images of this dam. Checking the news i understood it was because they were afraid about a risk due to the incredible rain we have for this week end.

Tech note : this photo was done from 3 Nikon D100 shots stitched with PTGui.

On the road

Panoramic landscape in Provence mountains

That's another old shot just published for not being too boring with my most recent seascapes.
I remember this day. It was during 2006 springtime. After several days of rains a strong Mistral was blowing on the mountains around my village. I walked the 7 kilometers from my house because cars are not allowed to use this road.
I arrived on the place in the late afternoon just with this beautiful light and could shoot this pano and a few other frames before darkness.

For the tech addict readers, the pano was done from 6 nef files from my Nikon D100 converted with SilkyPix and stitched with PTGui.

Large view here.

Roquebrune panorama

Rocher de Roquebrune sur Argens

This one was done from 16 NEF files, processed in SilkyPix and the stitched with PTGui.

I love this place for a long time. This image was done in April 2007 but i still remember the feeling of this end of afternoon alone in this little bush, waiting for the light with my tripod and camera.