Photography related links
- Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011 – one of the biggest photo contests is open again. Submit your shots!
- creativeLIVE – a great way to learn photography online and its free.
- FotoTV – online video tutorials about photography techniques.
- Travel Photographer of the Year 2010 – ‘The’ international travel photography awards
- Top ten summer cities by Rough Guides – Ljubljana and Dubrovnik are among top ten cities for this summer. You can visit them both on our September tour!
If you haven’t decided yet where to go on your photographic holidays this year check out our September tour to Croatia and Slovenia! There are still two places left and we would love to see you coming with us!
And for the last, here is a time-lapse movie made by our photographer Dan Briski. Enjoy the dramatic clouds over the Julian Alps as the sun is setting.
Michelle’s photos & testimonial
Last month Michelle contacted me regarding a Ljubljana Photo Walk. We agreed to do it on a Sunday morning and we met at Presern square. We spent about four hours photographing around the old town. The time went by quickly and Michelle was a great student, highly motivated and passionate about photography, not afraid to ask questions and a quick learner. We both enjoyed the workshop and agreed to meet next weekend with her family to try some portraiture in Tivoli park. Below you can find her testimonial and some of her shots from both weekends.
I have limited experience in photography, and dabbled a bit in high school and college. I’m now in a place in my life where I can focus more on photography. Right from the first communication, Luka impressed me with his efficient, professional manner – an approach that not only showed me his enthusiasm and passion for photography, but resulted in instilling confidence in my work behind the lens. During the Ljubljana Photo Walk tour, Luka showed me functions of my camera I wasn’t confident in using, as well as taught me to be confident in my photo taking ability. He is a very patient teacher, who answered all my questions (even the ones I asked more than once). I was able to see a city I’ve lived in for almost 2 years, in a new way. Luka gave me a new, fresh perspective on photography. I can not wait for him to show me new tricks and trade secrets. -Michelle Michaud
Michelle, thanks for your kind words and see you next time!
Survey 2010 Winners
The survey that we run in February and March was a success – more than three hundred people helped us by answering the questions about their photography and travel preferences and as a reward we’ve drawn four attractive prizes!
The winners of the 2010 survey are:
Christopher Ward, United Kingdom – Ljubljana Photography Break: 300 EUR
Michelle Harvey, United Kingdom – 1-day trip in Slovenia (chosen by you): 250 EUR
Yvonne Menke, Germany – Ljubljana Photo Walk: 95 EUR
Tony Boyle, Japan – Ljubljana Photo Walk: 95 EUR
Congratulations to the winners and big THANK YOU to all the others who also participated in the survey!
Terms:
- prizes must be used in 2010 or 2011 at the latest
- dates must be confirmed at least 6 weeks in advance
- prizes are transferable by prior arrangement
- prizes cannot be paid in cash
- a different photo tour can be chosen at a surcharge
Survey facts
Which one of our destinations interests you the most?
| Slovenia | 55% |
| Croatia | 39% |
| BiH | 24% |
| Montenegro | 26% |
How many days would you consider traveling on a tour?
| less than 3 days | 5% |
| 3 – 5 days | 27% |
| 6 – 8 days | 27% |
| 9 – 12 days | 28% |
| more | 12% |
What is more important to you:
| diversity | 43% |
| enough time | 29% |
| location | 33% |
| quality of light | 29% |
Photography skill level:
| novice | 28% |
| intermediate | 35% |
| advanced | 27% |
| pro | 10% |
Interests:
| landscape | 83% |
| nature | 72% |
| travel | 50% |
| people | 68% |
| culture | 63% |
| architecture | 60% |
| macro | 36% |
| aerial | 17% |
Equipment :
| compact camera | 18% |
| hybrid camera | 3% |
| basic DSLR | 26% |
| advanced DSLR | 47% |
| other | 5% |
We have received survey from all over the world, most of them were from Canada, UK, Ireland, Slovenia, United States, Japan…
Mary’s testimonial
Last Autumn was very nice and we did a successful photographic tour in Slovenia. Although the Autumn colours were not at their best yet everybody enjoyed anyway. Our Australian guest from Brisbane Mary Louise just sent us a feedback and allowed us to post some of her photos. Here it is:
I stumble across the Adriatic2Alps Autumn Leaves Tour whilst looking for something completely different. As an independent solo traveller all I can say is that this was the best stumble of my all my travels to date. Even though mother nature didn’t play its part with the leaves, I got to see a very beautiful country in the best way possible under the expert guidance (both from a photographic and tourist perspective) of Luka Esenko. Although I felt more like a guest than a tourist. The combination of organise and free time was perfect. So many highlights in the twelve days, the light painting in the Krizna caves, the small plane flights over, Lakes Bled & Bohinj, Triglav National Park, and surrounds, the food, the wine and I could keep going. On a personal note I would sincerely like to thank Luka for all his help and guidance and professionalism and now his friendship. I would thoroughly recommend anyone including non photographers to use Adriatic2Alps and see “Luka’s Office”.
Mary thank you for your nice words!
And here are some beautiful photos Mary captured:
2010 flyer is printed!
In 2010 we plan to promote our photography tours and workshops on different markets and for this reason we prepared information fliers that will be distributed to potential clients. This Spring we have arranged meetings in Singapore, Ireland and UK and next Winter we plan to go to United States. Here you can download PDF version of the flyer and if you are a member of a camera club and would like to hand out the fliers to fellow members, give us your address and we will send you a pack to distribute.
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| Cover page (1,76 Mb) | Inside (2,11 Mb) |
Take a survey to win a trip!
The guest is the king! We would like to customize our services as optimally as possible. Help us by taking the following survey. As an award for your efforts attractive prizes will be drawn:
- Ljubljana Photography Break: 300 EUR
- 1-day trip in Slovenia (chosen by you): 250 EUR
- Ljubljana Photo Walk: 95 EUR
Closing date: 31st March 2010
Drawing date: 5th April 2010
The results will be posted on our website and the winners will be notified via email.
Terms:
- prizes must be used in 2010 or 2011 at the latest
- dates must be confirmed at least 6 weeks in advance
- prizes are transferable by prior arrangement
- prizes cannot be paid in cash
- a different photo tour can be chosen at a surcharge
Winter @ Velika Planina
Velika Planina plateau is a great place for photography, no matter which time of the year you visit it. My favourite time is winter, just after fresh snowfall. It is easy accessible by cable car that takes you directly to the ski resort and then it is possible to take another chair lift to the top. Personally I prefer walking up from the other side to Mala Planina and then to Velika planina. To take advantage of morning and evening light it is a good idea to overnight at one of the mountain huts at Mala Planina.
The weather conditions were fantastic – great visibility and no clouds or mists. The only problem was cold – the batteries were failing and it was not possible to do star trail time lapse movie. But anyway, I managed to capture some decent shots that I am posting here.
Zoom Effect
Everybody is familiar with the “zoom effect” photos, but not many photographers use this technique. Maybe because most of us do not think of it when shooting. This is a shame, because the technique is actually quite easy to master with modern digital cameras. What is Zoom effect anyway? It is a photograph where subject looks like either moving towards or away from you with motion lines.
This effect can be achieved in post-production with programs like Photoshop, but we are not gonna talk about it here. We want to spend more time photographing, not sitting in front of computer all the time. Note that this effect can be done only with the cameras that allow zooming during the exposure time! So here are a few tips how to achieve zoom effect that looks great.
First of all – have fun! You can never be sure what the result will be and you will need to do many shots to get a few “useful” ones. For these Tulip shots I made more than hundred shots to keep five or six of them.
Work on your zooming technique. Zooming is crucial to make great effect. Zoom evenly throughout the exposure time and hold your camera as still as possible. A tripod is useful, especially if you use longer exposure times. What I usually do is to continuously shoot and zoom at the same time. Good idea is to begin zooming before you actually push the trigger – the effect will be smoother. If you use zoom lens with wide focal length (like 18-200 or 28-200) do not zoom the entire length, it will be too much. Zooming fast or zooming slow also makes difference. You can zoom out or zoom in. It will give you similar effect, generally I find it easier to zoom out. Look at the two photos below – same camera settings but different effect. At the first shot I didn’t zoom throughout entire exposure time but only at the end.
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| Both photos: Nikon D300, 17-55 f2.8, f16. 1/8s, ISO200, Flash TTL | |
Right shutter speed. Zoom effect will require longer exposure than you would usually use. There is no perfect shutter speed for all situations so you should experiment a bit. I usually use shutter speeds between 1/15s and 1s, but it could easily be either shorter or longer. The general rule is when using shorter shutter speeds it is easier to handhold the camera but the effect is not that notable. With longer shutter speeds you will usually need a tripod to retain subject sharp and the motion lines straight.
Use your Flash unit. Firing your flash unit can make it a lot easier to make a great zoom effect and it can create interesting effects on its own. If you handhold your camera it will freeze the subject and it will be sharp, while the zoom effect will still be smooth. Set you flash unit to slow sync, which will allow you to use longer shutter speeds. If you are zooming in you should use “Rear curtain” flash setting, which will tell camera to fire the flash at the end of exposure. If you are zooming out you should use the “front curtain” – which is usually the default camera setting. And don’t worry if you have only on-board flash – it will do the job just fine!
Get creative! There are hundreds of ways how to do interesting zoom effects and thousands of subjects to photograph this way. Below there are two examples how can zoom effect be improved. The photo to the left was taken on a tripod. The exposure time was 10 seconds and when I pressed the shutter I waited five seconds and the I quickly zoomed out and left the camera for another five seconds still. The camera recorded two images that are blended into one exposure the “zoomed in” one and the “zoomed out” one. The photo on the right is also from the Tulip Spring exhibit like others above. To achieve the whirl effect I rotated AND zoomed the camera during the shot. Since I was zooming in I used Rear sync flash to freeze the subject. How to do it? With left hand hold your zooming ring on the lens tight and with the other hand hold the camera. Now turn both hands toward each other quickly and take the shot. It needs some practice, but the results are funny and rewarding.
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| D300, 10-20 f4-5.6, f16, 10s, no flash | D300, 17-55 f2.8, f16, 1/10s, ISO200. TTL Rear curtain |
What do you think of this technique? Do you like it? Do you have any shots you would like us to see? Post it here under the comments section or post it to our FaceBook page!
First Snowfall
Winter is finally here! It is snowing almost in entire Slovenia and the forecast expects two more days of snowfall. Yesss! After a dull late Autumn we have again new possibilities for photographing. Ljubljana is covered in snow and today I took a short walk through the old town. Lovely. Fresh air, festive atmosphere and pure white snow! And it gets even better – tomorrow we are going to the old town again – to have a cooked wine and to make some evening shots of beautifully decorated city!
Beauty of Vineyards
On our Autumn colours tour in October this year we visited Northeastern Slovenia. We spent there two wonderful days and we managed to catch some beautiful light – ideal for landscape photos. On the way there we also stopped at Ptuj – one of the oldest and best preserved medieval town of Slovenia. Our base was private wine cellar that has a few rooms available to rent. The host family surprised everyone with its friendliness, mother is an excellent cook and their own wine was a perfect supplement for her delicious meals.
The weather was totally unpredictable with rain followed by sunshine and rainbows and the sunsets were stunning. Mornings were ice cold, but it was worth every minute standing among colourful vineyards, waiting for the sun to rise. Here are some photos of these two days…
