The Vineyard Terraces of Lavaux / Les vignes du Lavaux, Vaud, Switzerland, Suisse, Schweiz - 25 HDR photos of the vineyard, with Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L & 16-35mm 2.8 L USM

Single RAW exposure HDR in Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, Switzerland (Suisse / Schweiz)

The vineyard of Lavaux are giving very nice results with HDR treatment, making it even more spectacular, especially in fall. I’m particularly fan of using single RAW, duplicating it in 3 exposures in Adobe Lightroom (-2.0 / 0 / +2.0 EV) and then treating it via Photomatix Pro, and finally back into Lightroom for final touchup. This process of single RAW HFR is pretty powerful now that cameras are having very detailed pixel resolution. At the same time, a single RAW exposure also enable you to make HDR of any photo you took, without need to have tripod.

The Lavaux Vineyard (Switzerland) in HDR, shot with Canon 5D MKII and Canon 16-35mm 2.8 L USM in single RAW exposure

Canon 5D MKII for HDR

The Canon EOS 5D MKII is actually a very powerful camera for making single RAW exposure of HDR, thanks to its 21Mpixels that enable you to make High Definition HDR while not getting too heavy on the highlights. However using a very good lens is a minimum, and going with L lenses would be a good advise. All the pictures below have been taken with Canon 5D MKII, Canon 16-35mm 2.8 L USM and Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L USM. Here is the original post of the Lavaux vineyard in original version.

25 HDR photos of the Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, Switzerland (Suisse / Schweiz) - HD

The Vineyard Terraces of Lavaux / Les vignes du Lavaux, Vaud, Switzerland, Suisse - A ballad in the UNESCO protected vineyard in Fall, with Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L & 16-35mm 2.8 L USM

The Lavaux Vineyard (Switzerland / Schweiz) Terraces are now protected by UNESCO - Les vignes du Lavaux, Vaud, Suisse

Last weekend was quite fantastic for a walking ballad in the beautiful landscape of Lavaux Vineyard (Les vignes du Lavaux). It was fall and the yellow and orange leafs were still on, shining like fire with the sun. Quite warm for fall, it was a real pleasure to walk in the Lavaux vineyard, with dramatic beautiful view on the Leman Lake (Geneva Lake). It’s actually a pleasure to make photo in the Lavaux, since any place give a very nice view on the vineyard. Definitely a recommended place to go if you pass by the Leman region, between Lausanne and Montreux. Most of the pictures below have been taken between St-Saphorin, Chexbres, Epesses, Dézaley and Rivaz, all small villages of Lavaux. The wine from the Lavaux is actually sold by local producer directly from their cave, and you can have “degustation” wine taste if you simply ask them! Wonderful place, and good white wine too! 

For Wallpapers version of the best shot, please visit this link to download high resolution up to 2560x1440.

View on the Lavaux Vineyard (Switzerland) close to Epesse and Riex

The Lavaux Vineyard Terraces are stretching for about 30 km along the south-facing northern shores of Lake Geneva from the Chateau de Chillon to the eastern outskirts of Lausanne in the Vaud region. There is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the present vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century. 

Lavaux Vineyard Terraces (Geneva Lake, Léman region) shot with Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L USM and Canon 16-35mm 2.8 L USM - perfect camera and combo for postcard landscape photo

All shot have been done with Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L USM and Canon 16-35mm 2.8 L USM. I’ve done a bit of correction with Adobe Lightroom 3.0 to ensure the sky highlights get corrected (I didn’t have any polarising filter on the 16-35mm, which doesn’t help with such sunny conditions). I’m pretty happy of the result, let me know what you think and enjoy the beautiful views over “les vignes du Lavaux”. 

Full set of picture of the Lavaux vineyard is available here

70 HD postcard photos of Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, Suisse, Switzerland, Schweiz, Léman (Geneva Lake)

For Wallpapers version of the best shot, please visit this link to download high resolution up to 2560x1440.

One day in Vevey, Suisse - Photo portrait session with Canon 5D MKII 16-35mm 2.8 L II USM, 24-70mm 2.8 L USM and Speedlite 580 EXII in Switzerland

One day in Vevey - a city living for photography

The city of Vevey carries a lot of Photo exhibition and also the famous Photo Museum with nice collections in it. Today was finishing the “Images” free exhibition, with pretty famous photographers showing their work from all over the world, including some top famous professional and many award winners, as well as few animations with artists. 

Portrait Session with Canon 5D MKII, Canon 16-35mm 2.8 L USM, Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L USM and Speedlite 580 EXII

The photo portrait session has been a real pleasure, with the camera being ultra responsive and the lenses rendering very sharp result and brilliant colors. The Speedlite 580 EXII strobe flash is actually performing exceptionally well, with very delicate light when needed, giving a very nice lightning condition in this overcast day. It actually re-sync pretty fast and doesn’t have issue when shooting in continuous mode. 

The lenses have been mainly used at f/stop 2.8 most of the time, and this is delivering perfect sharp render. No major distortion, even for the wide angle 16-35mm, which is still giving this amazing wide shot while keeping the color spectrum as close as possible to reality, something I was not able to get with the Sigma 10-20mm

Birds in Vevey, Lac Léman, Switzerland (Suisse)

I went to a Photo Bourse in Vevey, Switzerland, and I found one of the very few remaining Minolta 28-70mm f2.8 G, a real masterpiece. I was walking back to my car when I saw a few birds facing the lake. I needed to test my lens, and the occasion was perfect. The results is sharp, with a very good and warm balance of colors. Hope you like it! 

Sony A700 + Minolta 28-70mm f2.8 G - Vevey, Switzerland

Morges Fête de la Tulipe, Switzerland (Suisse) - 75 photos + 5 tips to take great flower pictures

Morges Fête de la Tulipe (Tulip Festival) - 40 years and 200’000 bulbs in Morges 2010 edition

The Fête de la Tulip in Morges is happening every year during March-April, for the last 40 years. Around 100’000 bulbs are seed in the Parc of Independance, where the Morges river is ending in the Geneva lake, next to the Castle. The organisators have seed 200’000 tulip bulbs this year, which is probably one of the largest tulip festival in the world, with dozens of multi color variants. Thousands of people come visiting it every day, and depending of the weather, the flowers can last up to 5 weeks! 

5 Tips to take great and spectacular flower pictures

Taking great pictures of flowers has always been one of the main reason to purchase a camera for many of us! Flower photos in the magazines and on websites always look full of colors, saturated and have a peaceful ambiance. However, when back at home, the results might not be always as expected. You don’t necessarily need an expensive macro lens, actually a zoom with fast aperture can really give dramatic effect (for info, most of the below photos have been taken with Minolta 80-200 HS G f/2.8). Here are a few tips and advises that might help you make the photos looking really gorgeous and spectacular as the 75 pictures of tulips you can see below:

1. Shoot horizontally your flowers: many people I see taking pictures of flowers do it with a vertical angle, standing right in front of it. This gives no perspective to the flowers, and you will have very flat render. You need to get yourself at the same level as the flowers, and shoot on a horizontal perspective your subject, like doing portrait. You might have to be on your knees most of the time, so be prepared and do not wear a white trouser!
2. Arrange the scene to be spectacular with a clean background: have a flower in focus and play around it (rule of third, diagonal…), especially if you have a clean and bright background this will help you a lot to emphasize the scene and glorify it.
3. Play with zoom, DOF and light: you need to masterize the aperture of your lens, which will blur the background and help you realize the tip #2. Macro lens or tele-zoom (starting at 70mm) might really help you here, and to get great perspective don’t hesitate to go up to the maximum of your lens (200-300mm). Make sure your subject (the flower!) is sufficiently lightened so the render will be even more spectacular. Be careful of too bright light, especially on white flowers, it will just burn the petals.
4. Look around you to compose the scene: flowers are beautiful, and most of the time deserve to be the only subject of the photo. However do not forget that what’s around you might also give fantastic scene, where the flower will just be an element that will sublimate the overall picture, being on the first or secondary plan.
5. Do not over saturate the final results: make sure when finalising the render on your computer that the flower colors are not over saturated (red and orange are typically the most sensitive), and that you still have enough details in the the white petals.

75 photos of the Fête de la Tulipe in Morges