Night comes on Annecy lake

Night comes on Annecy lake

 

A recent image of the beach of Imperial Palace at night in Annecy.

Night illumination on Annecy lake

Night illumination on Annecy lake

One more from this winter evening at Annecy lake.

Weekly commented photo #5 - Visitation basilica by night in Annecy

Visitation basilica by night in Annecy

I've to say the truth : i've never liked this monument. But when i arrived back in Annecy in july i saw it by night and thought it could make a beautiful photo.

I love night images but that's not what i'm doing most. I usually prefer the special lights of dawn or dusk. So that's only in january that i decided to try this image.
One afternoon i went to the lake for some dusk shots on the Imperial beach and took a long lens with me for the basilica.
When the night started to fall, i left the beach and walked along the lake until i found a nice point of view.
After one first test, exposing the shot for the highlights on the bell tower, i was sure that HDR would give a relly better image.
Keeping in one single exposure all the details in the highlights would give dark shadows on all the left part of the church. So i did 5 shots at f11 from 4 to more than 80 seconds.
As the evening was a little windy, i weighted my tripod with my bag and as usual i used mirror lockup plus a remote shutter release for each exposure. Getting sharp images with long exposures while using a long lens in the wind can be a little tricky but this night, i was lucky.
After this 5 shots, i walked deeper in the city to make images of some other monuments and also to warm me up.

I processed the raw files 2 or 3 days after with silkypix and Photomatix, trying to keep the tonemapping at a soft level.

Annecy town hall at night

Annecy town hall at night

Just another one to give you a night view of Annecy.

Yesterday, i spent the afternoon hiking in the mountains above Annecy lake.
The weather was really cloudy with a dull light.
I just did a few images in a dark forest during the afternoon and waited for late dusk to make two mountain landscapes. You'll probably see them one day.

Annecy - Palais de l'Isle at night

Annecy - Palais de l'Isle at night

An image from this night.
I went to Annecy in the end of afternoon to make some images of the lake at dusk and when it was too late i moved to the heart of the city for a few night shots.

I you want to know more about this place and see how this place looks in day light, you can have a look here.

And for people who like this kind of information, this is an HDR work done with Photomatix from 5 exposures.

Saint Jean chapel illuminated at night

Saint Jean chapel illuminated at night

I stopped last night in front of this little chapel. The sky seemed to be black but as usual, i was surprised to see the light a one minute long exposure could reveal.

Of course if one minute was perfect for the sky, it was also really too long for the snow ...
So i did a bunch of exposures from 2 to 60 seconds. Once in the "darkroom" i choose 4 and processed them with Photomatix.

Note : There is a road just near and the people driving there last night seemed surprised to see a crazy man with a tripod and a camera standing out in the cold :)

Night on Seyssel bridge and the Rhône river

Night on Seyssel bridge and the Rhône river

Seyssel is a little city along the Rhône river. It's crossed by the river and the part on the left coast is in the Haute Savoie department and the one on the right coast is in the Ain department.
The image was taken on the left coast and looking at the right one. The old bridge was built in 1838. An other point is that it's the lowest place in Haute Savoie.

I went ther yesterday morning for the first time from many and many years. I took this picture just after my arrival and it was still really soon. Then i crossed the bridge and walked along the river to find interesting points of view and finally failed to come back to my initial location when the light was at it's best ...

Saint Isidore church - another HDR interpretation

Saint Isidore church

A little more fun than the previous one.

Done from 5 exposures, with Silkypix and Photomatix.

Saint Isidore church at night - HDR

Saint Isidore church

I often pass in front of this place by night, yesterday i had my camera with me and stopped.

HDR from 5 exposures, done with SilkyPix and Photomatix as usual.