The Champagne Knight

When several people that you should consider at least a little bit off like me and my friends get togheter to party (a birthday party in this case)... uhmm we have laerned to wait for something unusual...

Last year one of us decided we could have abirthday party al together with his family, a luscious dinner I'll not speak of here^_^.

The dinner was going on well till we got to the champagne and after the ritual drink some of us started play with the wire that hold the cap of the bottle in place...

After a while we got a Knight with lance and shield... while I was searching for the camera the shield was lost to another statue... so I found only a shieldless knigh posing for me and my 18-200!^_^

This photo was sent to Fotolia as a Stock photo bu rejected so I feel is fair to post it here!

Camera Model: NIKON D300
Date Taken: 2008:02:24 00:25:18
Exposure Time: 1/3 sec.
ISO Speed Rating: 200
Flash Fired: Flash did not fire.
Focal Length: 44.0 mm

A Monument in Bologna

From the same research trip I've taken the attempt to HDR I've shot some other monuments that where in places of Bologna I've not been before as I was searching for the Business Adminsitration Department of the Alma Mater Studiorum (the Latin Name o the University of Bologna IIRC).

It was a sunny ad the end of June and I had my Nikon AF-S 18-200 f3.5-5.6 on... a perfect travel lens if used on a DX camera as the D300.

That was the second day of a nigthmerish travel (Broken Car, Costly Train, Wrong Hotel and Lost some of the opening gigs to the JP concert...) and I needed to relax so traveling around as a tourist instead as a scholar was a good way to restore my energies^_^

In order to shoot this photograph I've put a CPL on the lens (above the UV Filter I had always on at the time) and,after searching for a composition I liked more, I come up with a shot that needed some more cropping later (so I had not chosen wisely!)

Te exif reads:
Date Taken: 2008:06:30 14:01:18
Exposure Time: 1/249 sec.
Aperture Value: 6.00 EV (f/8.0)
ISO Speed Rating: 200
Focal Length: 24.0 mm
Software: Bibble 4.10.1

After this little while... enjoy the image^_^

Night in Naples

I really like this shot... maybe because it is the first one I've sold, or as it was the result of "just being there at the right moment"!... honestly I can't tell the real reason.

I was driving back home after a game night in Castellammare (30 km to Naples) and while I was looking an Naples' Gulf I've seen this shot... just had to lug off the camera bag from the car and shoot this (ok ok I needed 3 or 4 shots to have it as I liked it^_^
The shot was really like I wanted it so I've not needed to crop it!


Date: 31st of May 2008
Camera = Nikon D300
Focal length = 18mm
Lens = NIKON AF-S 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 VR
Shutter Speed = 5 sec
Aperture = f/3.5
ISO = 200
Converted trough Raw-Therapee