Location: Cala d’Hort, Ibiza

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS EFS USM

Exposure details: 1/1000 sec @ f/5.0 ISO 100

Processing: PTGUI Software used to join the 3 exposures, processed via Adobe Lightroom then converted to B&W using Nik Silver Efex Pro

Es Vedrà is a Balearic island approximately 2 km off the western coast of Ibiza, in the area of Cala d’Hort. The island is a nature reserve and is uninhabited. As the main island Ibiza, Es Vedrà consists predominantly of mesozoic limestone without any larger (magnetic) metal accumulations. The esoteric claim of being a “special magnetic place” therefore is a mere urban legend without any scientific, i.e. geological base.

I made this photograph on the third or forth day of the trip to Ibiza, The sky was particularly cloudy and very hazy, possibly worsened by the raging forest fire at the other side of the Island. This was shortly after the first time I had seen Es Vedra, there is something really breathe taking about it when it suddenly comes into view just off the coast line. There is no denying the sheer size of it when seen with the naked I is quite intimidating. I took literally hundreds of frames of images of the Islands and this turned out to be one of my favourites. The strange low hanging cloud which hovered over the island isn’t something I had seen on other photos from around the interweb and the atmosphere just felt right. After sharpening and vibrance changes in Lightroom I decided to try for a Black & White view which I felt really emphasised those clouds so I opted for that one as my finished product.

Off on a complete tangent now, I’ve managed to get myself signed up for GooglePlus googles new social offering. I must say having played with it for about 24 hours now I am very impressed. As with google wave the social aspect cannot really be fully tested at this stage with it still being in closed public beta testing but I can say that I am really impressed with the simple UI and some of the core features. For me one of the key features are the Photograph sharing tools. I’m not sure if they will cap the amount that you can upload… (I’m hoping not) but for the moment its great the albums it produces are sleek are really how off the photographs well and with easy sharing options it will be a great way to show off my latest snaps. I love the whole circles group element and I already have a decent group set up for friends family photographers who I’m already having fun sharing things with. I’m always looking to build my circle of Photographers on there so if you have a google plus account or if you would like an invite leave me a message in the comments section below using your gmail address (dont worry no-one will see it except me from the admin back end).

As well as Google Plus I intend to stay reasonably active on 500px and I’ve recently discovered their banner creator which I’ve used to stick a badge at the bottom of the blog

I often wonder if people want to know what the colour version of the image looked like? well here it is anyway for those of you who are interested:

Associated posts:

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Location: Es Paradis San Antonio Bay, Ibiza

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS EFS USM

Exposure details: 15sec @ F/13 ISO 100

Processing: Adobe Lightroom Vibrance +66 Contrast -22 thats all folks

This shot was taken on my last night in Ibiza. I had a walk around the front on San Antonio Bay after scouting it out the night before. I had wanted to get a good capture of the Es Paradis club reflecting in the water since the first night I saw it, the bright glow of the pyramid and the colours of the sling shot beside it really stood out.

Associated posts:

Santa Maria d’Eivissa Cathedral – Eivissa, Ibiza

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Location: Santa Maria d’Eivissa Cathedral – Eivissa, Ibiza

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 10-20mm

Exposure details: 3 exposures merged into a single HDR 0.6 sec @ f/4.0 ISO 100 +/- 2 Stops

Processing: Merged 3 exposures via Photomatix Pro 4, there was alot of noise in the sky so removed this using Adobe Photoshop before making final clarity and contrast adjustments in Adobe Lightroom

First shot from my recent trip to Ibiza taken on the 3rd night of the holiday 27th May 2011. The Ibiza International Music event was thumping in full swing on a stage located at the top of the of the castle walls. I’m told it was something arranged by Pete Tong involving lots of popular DJ’s playing open air sets to a huge crowd of people. The music was resonating everywhere in the old town and could be heard from every side street and back alley as we made our way up the steep streets to Santa Maria Cathedral at the very top of the old town. After shooting a few long distance shots of the gig I turn to the cathedral itself for a few low wide angle long exposures and here is the result a merged HDR shot from 3 exposures. The image really struggled with noise in the dark sky and pixels brightly blown out. I’m not sure if this is common with night time HDR’s as this was one of my first, perhaps limitations of my photos or my processing skills in photomatix, if you’ve experienced the problem or know whats causing it I’d love to hear about it in the comments section below.

Lots more shots of the trip to follow over  the next few weeks, I hardly put the camera down and shot some great images so be sure to check back for more soon!

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

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Location: Arrecife, Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: 17-85mm IS EFS USM

Exposure details: 3 exposures merged with Photomatix 1/200 sec at f/10 ISO 100 +/- 2 stops

Processing: Merged with Photomatix mono conversion except for green in Adobe Lightroom

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

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A few photos from lanzarote taken on my phone and posted via wifi from the hotel! Think of it as a little teaser of what I’m going to upload when I get back!

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HDR No adjustments

Playing around with Lightroom Presets which does everyone prefer? Original shot is of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino Las Vegas Processed with Photomatix 3 images +/- 2 Stops.

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Trip kicked off from Liverpool Airport a 3 hour flight with easyjet over to Polska.

Once landed we jumped on the shuttle bus for about 10 minutes to a local train station and caught the train into the centre of Krakow. Upon arrival we had a quick walk through the main Market Square on the way to our Hotel scoping out some of the local bars , and restaurants for the night ahead. After we dropped off our bags we made out way to a little local restaurant, the menu was in Polish there were 3/4 tables only 1 person in there and it just felt brilliant, tiny little independent place just off the back roads. Following tips from a nice bloke we met on the plane we went for soup starters (man was his tip dead on the nail if you ever go to Poland try as many different soups as you can!) and I had stewed beef for main. Food was served within a few minutes, both the starter and main at the same time which was a little unusual, but it was beautiful! After trying the local cuisine we headed for a few drinks at a couple of bars including a stop at the Tower, what can I say about this place… walked down about 3 flights of stairs into an underground shelter like pub full of little rooms and banging disturbed over the PA system! settled in for a couple here and the jukebox kept throwing out all sorts for SOAD, NIN, Killswitch just to name a few. We went back a few night during our stay I must say saturday night was the busiest but I’d make it a definite stop on your list if you go!

First proper day in Poland took us over the river into the old town and over to Schindler Factory:

Although the site looks to become a good museum, the displays at this stage are temporary and very limited. I believe I read that the full Museum will open sometime in 2010 and work was well under way with further restoration of the building by the looks of it! Just because there isn’t much to see there I would still advise that you visit this place on your trip its not far into the ‘old town’ which itself has alot to see in respect of the famous history including things such at the last remaining section of the Ghetto Walls:

a few other photos from the old town:

That evening my dad and me went out with the camera to try and capture a couple of long exposures I settled on the castle shot from the bridge across the river, then a quick walk up to the Dragon status at the castle which spouts fire every 5 minutes or so then a quick 180 degree turn and a photograph of the river from in front of the castle which turned out some nice colours on the water:

2nd full day found us trekking by train to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, established in the 13th Century the Wieliczka Salt mines were one of the worlds oldest opperating salt mines until they recently ceased commercial mining, the site now continues to cater for masses of tourists opening various parts of the 300km worth of tunnels which lay beneath the ground. Known to be one of Poland’s must see sights I can confirm it wasn’t a let down, alot of guide books advise to allow a day to see the mines but we found an afternoon was ample time starting the tour at about 3pm here’s the photos:

The 3rd and final full day was spent at Aauschwitz, and unlike the Salt mines I would recommend spending a full day with this site. As you can probably imagine the visit is a sobering experience and no matter how much you know about this place, no matter how many times you’ve seen it in books or on TV, nothing can compare to seeing the real bricks and mortar. Some of the horrors that took place in this place are just inconceivable:

Couldn’t decide which I liked best the Black & White or the colour one!

Final shot from the trip was from the last day before we went to catch the train It had been snowing all morning and it was just starting to settle…

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