Rainbow over the sea

Rainbow over the Mediterranean sea

I wake up a long time before dawn to make some images of a mountain around Toulon.
While driving i saw that the sky was really not the one i was expecting.
So i decided to change my destination and to go the the sea.

After some hours of typical images of cloudy dawn i was about to leave and go back when the rainbow appeared. Sometimes, photographers are just lucky :)

Another HDR seascape at Bau Rouge beach

HDR seascape at Bau Rouge beach, Provence

Just a very short post to say that i have to move to the northest place of Provence during a few days and so i'll be offline until next week.

Big sky over the sea, other versions should come

Big sky over the Mediterranean sea

One image from monday evening.

The sky is an HDR work from 4 exposures, softly tonemapped and the ground and sea is from one of these four exposures.

I also have another one done with a HOYA ND 400 filter giving a really other look to the sky (and of course to the sea). I'll try to post it in the next days.

One more dusk at Bau Rouge beach

Mediterranean dusk at Bau Rouge beach

It was about one week ago. I was at home and in the end on afternoon i noticed the clouds in the sky and thought they could give some interesting lights at the sea.

I drove to the beach and arrived at dusk. I had the time to capture some other images before this one at the other end of the beach, you'll see them here in the next days i think.

I also have here a view of this scene at dawn.

Ghost forest - Another step on the abstract way

Ghost forest

Landscape photography is my main interest for a long time but sometimes i like to make some different images.
It's never bad to add a little diversity to a portfolio and more important, sometimes i just need a little change. It makes me think and see differently and that also helps me in my most usual work.
Neuro scientists start to say that when we always repeat the same things, we always use the same highways in our brain but when we change, it starts to open some new little paths. Asian philosophers are saying the same for thousand years ...

A high definition waterfall photo you can browse with zoomify

Done and posted here a little more than one year ago, this image became one of my most popular photo.

It was made by stitching 9 frames with PTGui. The resulting file was cropped to fit the desired aspect ratio and the final image weights around 25 megapixels.
I thought i could deserve a detailed view with zoomify. Once more, what you can see here with zoomify is from a compressed jpeg file and doesn't exactly reflects the real file quality but i can give an idea of what we can do with softwares like PTGui.

LINKS :
My waterfalls, rivers and streams photo gallery.
All my waterfall images.

Mushrooms with short DOF

Mushrooms on a chestnut tree trunk in Provence forest

Yesterday i read a post about Bokeh on the James Wei's blog and it reminds me this old picture.

In 2004 november i was shooting for some chestnuts producers needing some new images for their marketing. So one day i was making photos in a chestnut trees forest when i see an old trunk rotting (google translation) on the forest ground with many autumn ferns all around. That was not the kind of images i was intended to make but i took a few shots and coming closer i saw these little mushrooms on the trunk. I had no real macro lens with me this day but i took a 28-70 f2.8 zoom lens, put my tripod the most close i could on the sloping and slippy ground and took 3 or 4 photos in manual focusing mode with just changing the focusing distance between the different shots.
Why manual focusing and focusing bracketing ? Because i knew that autofocus wouldn't be perfectly reliable in this kind of shots and in 2004 APS DSLRs didn't had some stunning viewfinders :)

I'm not sure that the blur is strong enough on the front and back part of this image to make a real bokeh effect but i really like the short depth of field here.

The soft light of a peaceful morning

Argentière beach - La Londe les Maures - Provence

We spent the saturday afternoon here with my wife, my daughter and some friends. I came back at dawn on sunday and did a few shots before the crowd. I love the light on this one.

Clouds over Toulon - HDR seascape or HDR skyscape

Some clouds over Toulon - Provence

That's always the same story : Today was supposed to be a sunny day and i expected a beautiful pink daw on the buildings you can devine on the right of this image. So i jumped out of my bed at 5 am, prepared a big little coffee and drove to Toulon where i arrived at dawn. Light was really not as expected :) I decided to wait some hours walking on the beaches and at around 9 am (i guess) the sun said a little hello threw the clouds in my back. As this kind of sky can always be interesting for HDR works i rapidly shot 3 exposures and after that one more with a soft GND filter.

The one you can see above is the result of my HDR work and i have to say that it was a real pleasure to process. I'll show you the flitred one in the following days.

Next in the serie ...

Afternoon light in La Plaine des Maures

The rain is still falling and i'm still processing the file from the last sunny day ...

Evening contrasts

Two more images from my most recent trip in La Plaine des Maures.
The first one (above) was done using a soft grad nd filter, the second is a hdr work from 4 exposures.
As usual local contrasts are more impressive in the hdr version but today i prefer the most natural one ...

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.

Dreaming in the church

Notre Dame de Pitié

Today i had to go to the post office to send some prints to one client. Coming back i saw that this little chapel was opened and had the idea of this image. As it's less than 100 m from my house it just took a few minutes before i was there with my camera.

Tech : Nikon D200 + Sigma 10-20, hdr from 4 exposures, most of the work done with Photomatix.

Dont miss the large view :)

Dawn light on Bau Rouge beach

Dawn light on Bau Rouge beach - Carqueiranne - Provence

I've just done a 18x12 print and i love it. The sky is perfectly smooth and the rocks pop just how i like :)

Done with 4 exposures : 2 blended in Photomatix (average method) and used for the sky, a single one for the sea and the rocks are the result of a real hdr work with the 4 exp.

Bastide in provence vineyard

Bastide in Provence vineyard

This 2 years old photo is one of my most poular and best selling image. It should be because it looks very typical.

Following the stream

Waterfall in Provence forest

An other one of this little stream running threw the deep forest around the Chartreuse de la Verne.

A winter morning in Provence

Winter morning landscape in La Plaine des Maures

That's an old shot of a place i really love.
It will probably be my last post here this year. I will be offline from tomorrow until the first days of 2009.

Merry Christmas and Happy new year to all of you.

Just moved a little bit

Waterfall in the Vallon de Durand - Provence

Same stream, same waterfall, same day, just left the river bed, walked a little bit and climbed on some rocks overhanging over the fall.

Stuck in the waves

Waves on the Mediterranean coast in Provence

After the impressive rains of the 5 previous days i wasn't in the mood of showing a sunny landscape.

Autum dawn on the sea

Autumn dawn on the Mediterranean sea

Large view here