Schöni Wienachte in Switzerland: Luzern 2014
“Fisheye” at Franziskanerplatz.
Christmas carols
Lights on Rathaussteg
Through the Kapellbrücke
Merry Christmas (Schöni Wienachte) from Switzerland!
Frohe weihnachten in Germany: Düsseldorf Christmas markets 2014
Pictures shot in Kö and surroundings …
Night pictures shot with hand-held Nikon D800 and 50 mm f/1.4 G – click to enlarge
38th Zürcher Silversterlauf 2014: pictures of Santas and friends on the run
What is better than running the traditional Silvester run in Zürich? Shooting pictures at it! Santas, bunnies, dancers, snow-women and more ran today through the old city.
 
Please appreciate the hand-held, no flash, 1000 ISO shots and the diffusion filter on the lens to improve lights and Christmas mood 🙂 Pictures shots with D800 and 50 mm f/1.4G – click on each picture to magnify!
Down by train on the Swiss Alps from 11,333 ft altitude
The Jungfraujoch underground station at 3454 m.s.l: welcome to the highest railway station in Europe!
Watching the rocky panorama from inside the train
The half-way, Kleine Scheidegg rail-station and the track through the snow fields.
The railway track gets even more spectacular at late afternoon, when dusk paints everything with blue
The highest railway in Europe is in Switzerland. It connects Interlaken (569 m.s.l) with Jungfraujoch at 3454 m.s.l.
5 steps to capture Christmas atmosphere in your pictures !
Once again, Zürich got awesome for Christmas: every street and alley of the old city shines warm lights and colors. How to capture them? A tripod, a reflex camera, a wide lens and a warm jacket should suffice, but the result might be not satisfying. Here in between the next pictures a couple of tricks:
1. Choose white balance option “Keep warm lighting colors” and be sure to save also RAW data (.NEF with Nikon).
2. You have a tripod: choose high f values, get that lovely star effect on lights and avoid vibrations due to longer exposure time
 
3. Keep ISO 100 if you like picture ghosts like me, go up if you prefer sharp silhouettes
4. Use a remote control or delayed shutter (2 secs are enough) to avoid vibrations
5. You need Adobe Light Room or similar for after-shooting retouch: higher exposure, higher clarity, lighter shadows, darker blacks
… et voilà , Merry Christmas pictures to everybody! How did it look without retouching? Here is the last not retouched picture. All pictures shot with Nikon D800 plus Nikon 16-35 mm f/4 – click each picture to enlarge.
