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.

Zermatt & Matterhorn in Fall, Cervin Valais, Switzerland / Suisse - 70 postcard photos of the most famous Swiss landscape scenery with Canon 5D MKII and Canon 16-35mm 2.8 L & 24-70mm 2.8 L

Zermatt are Matterhon (Cervin) are the icons of Switzerland postcards scenery in the Swiss Alps

The Matterhon is not necessarily the tallest mountain in Switzerland but it’s definitely the most iconic thanks to its beautiful pyramidal shape. Its French name is “Le Cervin”, is situated in Southern Valais and it’s the logo of the world famous chocolate “Toblerone”. The mountain is actually one of the most difficult to hike in the Alps. Massive and with some eternal snow on the top (4’478m), it looks really beautiful, especially from Zermatt ressort, one of the most famous mountain village of Switzerland. When coming to Zermatt, you need to let your car in one of the parking of the village of Täsh, and then you need to take the train which takes you directly to Zermatt ressort. 

The town of zermatt is very beautiful, with lot of nice hotels and cafe, and even one Mc Donalds! There are 400kms of hiking tours all around the town and with impressive view on the Matterhorn. You can also shop through many luxury shops, and the fact that there are no cars is actually extremely nice, giving a very peaceful ambiance when you walk through the streets. Breath a fresh clean air!

Canon 5D MKII and Landscape scenery

I was very much impatient to test the 5D MKII within landscape situation, as the 21M pixels are for sure helping a lot in getting nice high resolution mountain postcards shots. I started with the Canon 16-35mm 2.8 L USM, and the lens performs very well but within Zermatt, the Matterhorn was quite far away and I had to switch rapidly to the Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L USM to be able to get the mountain correctly framed. I’m actually using the 24-70mm much more often than I’d thought, mainly due to the full frame resolution the 5D MKII is offering. It needs a bit of time to get used to. 

I shot all the below pictures with Automatic White Balance (AWB), and Landscape Picture Sytle Mode. No HDR in this serie! Some of the portraits have been done with the exceptional Canon Speedlite 580 EX II to move away some of the shadows.

Download 8 HD wallpapers of Zermatt and Matterhorn (Cervin) - HD resolution up to 1920x1200 and 2560x1440

 

More JHG Photo HD wallpapers of Switzerland / Suisse / Schweiz to download for free - resolution up to 1920x1200 and 2560x1440

Walk on the Thuner see, Thun, Bern, Switzerland (70 photos)

Thuner See: typical postcard landscape Swiss scenery

The lake of Thun is an Alpine lake in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. It took its name from the city of Thun, situated at 558m altitude. We had a very nice walk around the lake, on its northern shore, from Thun to Merligen, where we took a very nice old boat back to Thun. After walking an hour, we found a jump contest (bike and ski), which was quite fun to look at as you can see below. We continued with a little portrait session and then a nice castle facing the lake. The water was deep green, and with the mountains around, the place really looks like typical Swiss Postcard. A great place to go if you pass by Switzerland!

Free Download of 11 High Resolution Wallpapers of Thun in Switzerland / Suisse / Schweiz / Svizzera! 

Lac de Tanay, Swiss Alps, Valais, Switzerland

Lac de Tanay, Valais - a great place to make postcard photos of Switzerland

The lake of Tanay is a typical postcard place of the Swiss Alps not so far from Lausanne, which you can reach after a 1h walk in the mountain, with a strong slope. However, once arrived, you will have a very nice and peaceful view, with the mountains reflecting on the green water of the small lake. Its altitude is situated at 1’408m above the sea, or 1’100m above the Leman Lake (Geneva Lake). There are a few restaurants, bed and breakfast, chalet for rent (day or week) and a camping. An ideal place to spend a day or an afternoon!

Download free high-resolution HD (up to 2560x1440) Wallpapers of Lac de Tanay and other Swiss photo landscape

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Evolene, Val d'Herens, Valais, Switzerland (Suisse) - Winter landscape pictures of traditional Swiss Alps village

Evolene, Val d’Hérens, a traditional Swiss Alps village

We went to Evolène, in the Val d’Hérens a very touritic and traditional valley in the Swiss Alps, close to Sion (Valais capital). There are 2 peaks above 4’000m (Dent Blanche, 4’357m and Dent d’Hérens, 4’171m), as well as some glaciers. The valley is composed of few famous places: Evolène, Arolla, les Haudères, Hérémence, Vex, Nax and the Grande Dixence.

The villages have very typical and traditional chalets, and the Sunday morning life is a nice moment for the locals to gather and drink some hot wine while listening folkloric music. Evolène is actually the 4th largest town in Switzerland, not by its population (1’650 inhabitants only) but by its area. There are a few ski resorts and you can also practice nordic ski, while enjoying a great fondue on the evening!