27. Day 16: Early bird

After yesterday's morning fiasco, I wanted to redeem myself, so I woke up with my hubby at 6:20 am, yep! Quite early because I wanted to shoot the Church before sunrise. According to the weather forecast the time for sunrise here is 7:20 am, but I wanted to be at the place before that.

I drove to the location (is quite close to home, about 25 minutes walk) but at that time in the morning and with a temperature of 6ºC I didn't feel like walking.

When I arrived, it was already clear but the sun wasn't up yet, so I set up my tripod, the camera, connected the shutter release control and voila! Everything was ready to start my shooting.

I am happy to had woken up early otherwise I couldn't have got this shot! The stained glass windows of this Church is lighten during the night and it looks so beautiful against the dark church.

Nikon D90 (18-200mm f/3.5-5.6) - 120mm  2s  f/13

By the way, I couldn't have the silhouette of the church with sun behind it (forming like a halo) because the sun actually goes up just on the lower far corner of the church.  It's never lighten from the back :(

26. Day 15: Something you shouldn't do, ever!

During my usual morning walk I found a nice subject, I remember saying to my hubby "I found my subject for today's post".  I was happy!

After I leave him at work, I returned where my subject was and start taking shots.  I had the sun on the right side of my lens (out of the view of course) but I could see green lens flare on the viewfinder (you'll see what I'm talking about once you see the photo).  I tried to change my angle, my position to avoid the flare (while trying to keep the same composition), but none of that worked because the composition changed and I already had the final photo in my head.  I shoot a couple of photos and checked my viewfinder to see if I could see the flare, zoomed in and nothing...so I didn't pay much attention to the flare.

I thought, it's kind of back light situation, so, my subject has to be a silhouette, the flare won't be noticeable if the subject is black.  But, I must admit, I heard a little voice whispering at me "the flare will appear in your photos and you'll be very angry at yourself if you don't do something to avoid it", but of course I choose not to listen. That was the worst decision EVER!!! The bloody flare ruined all the shots!!

So, how to fix it? Well, easy, go out again when the reflection of the sun is not on your lens and try again (not even a lens hood could have helped me because the sun was almost in front of me).

The key message for today's issue is: If you see lens flare on your viewfinder while you are composing the photo and don't want to have it in your photo, don't shoot and find a way to avoid it! But first and foremost LISTEN TO YOUR INNER VOICE!

Nikon D90 (18-200mm f/3.5-5.6) - 105mm 1/320s  f/14

After the fiasco of this morning, I waited until evening and went out again. I knew I won't be able to take the photo I wanted because the sun has to be behind the Church and in the evening it's in front. I waited until dusk and then I start shooting with long exposure aperture. It was pretty amazing to see the cross of the Church so bright in the evening, almost like it wanted to capture the last rays of sun. 

Now, I'm happy with the results, but still want to shoot the photo that I have in my head, but in order to do that I'll need to take the shot almost at sunrise.

Nikon D90 (18-200mm f/3.5-5.6) - 120mm  8s  f/18 

18. Day 7: Hope

Happy Tuesday! Today's post is somewhat spiritual :)

What do you think you can find at the intersection of Hope St. and Church St.? A church of course!! It's the location of St. Joseph's Church. A very simple yet beautiful church.

Nikon D90 (50mm f/1.8) - 1/640s  f/2.8

Nikon D90 (50mm f/1.8) - 1/320s  f/11