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Showing posts from May, 2014

Photo Analytics and Fisheye Reveiw

Analytics I finished editing and posting all the photos from my trip to Bavaria. You can see them here .  So now that all the editing is done I went and ran some analytics/metrics on the photos (included are some of my husband’s shots I edited) and noted a few things.  I mostly shot in manual or aperture priority mode using a shutter speed of 1/60s, an aperture of F11 and a 200 ISO mostly using a focal length of 18mm.  I also noticed I kept only 938 shots and of those only 28 were from the fisheye lens (which I review below).   I used a LightRoom Analytics plug in to get these results. The Fisheye Lens For the trip, I rented a Cannon 8 – 15mm fisheye lens for the trip from BorrowLens. I did this expecting to have beautiful panoramic mountain views and nice weather. Since the weather did not cooperate, I did not necessarily get the large vistas I was expecting, so I did not use the lens as much as expected. However the...

Photo Editing Halfway Complete

I am about halfway through editing the photos from my vacation in the Bavarian region of Germany.   The long weekend is helping, since I can devote most of my time to it.   I have found doing all the basic edits like adjusting for lens aberration, and doing auto white balance in a batch process speeds up the editing process. Then I just go through and tweak the photos as needed.  I’m also editing my husband’s photos as well as my own which slows the process a bit since he does not do any editing except to pull out bad photos before giving them to me.  However this means there will actually be photos of me in the vacation photos, which normally there aren't any since I’m behind the camera.  You can see the galleries of the photos that have been completed by clicking here . I hope to have all the photos completed by the end of the week. 

Back Home, Let the Photo Editing Begin

We arrived back home today in the good old U.S.A today after a long trek through Southern Germany or Bavaria. Overall it was a good trip; I will provide a better summary after I don’t feel so tired and have time to organize my thoughts. I must now go through and edit all the photos I took with my DSLR over the course of the trip.  I took a little over 1700 photos but expect to keep maybe 60%.  I will then edit the photos my husband took.  Now he will help me out by culling the bad ones before giving me the files to fully edit.  Both my husband and I shoot in manual in RAW to provide more flexibility under low light conditions. So I figure I have about two weeks of work ahead of me.  I will be posting the photos in batch galleries based on location so I’m hoping to post finals about every other day.  I hope you enjoy the photos when they go up.   Note earlier photos pertaining to the trip were done with a point and shoot so I could quickly post ...

The Rhine Valley and a Castle

Sadly today was our last full day in Germany; tomorrow we head home. While it may be our last day it was still packed with adventure. Ok maybe not but we are staying in a castle tonight.  We drove from Rothenberg through the Rhine Valley to through Rudesheim to Kaub stopping in Oberwesel.  The drive along the Rhine was picturesque with castles and vineyards dotting the hillside. We saw the little M ä useturm (Mouse Tower) were supposedly a greedy bishop was placed in 969 and was eaten by hoards of mice.  We stopped at the little beer garden across the river from it, and then continued our journey down the road to a ferry crossing stop.  We drove on to the ferry to cross the Rhine River to continue our journey up to Burg Rheinfels.  Burg Rheinfels is an old ruined castle. We explored the ruins and walked through narrow passageways. It was a wonderful castle ruin site to explore.  After our little archeological adventure we journeyed down a little back cou...

The City of Rothenberg

Today we made the one hour drive from Nuremburg to Rothenberg were we are staying at a quaint little hotel with a bed and breakfast feel. They have a lovely garden in back and in front is a church, from which I can hear the organ music.  View looking down from tower The city of Rothenberg is small because it is a walled city with its original wall.  We did walk along part of the wall and in the old castle gardens. The castle is no longer there but the castle gate is which has a frowning face of a man from which hot oil/tar was poured out onto invaders. The gardens were nice and provided excellent views of the valley and parts of the city.  In the center of town we saw the Town Hall and Medieval Crime Museum. We climbed to the top of the Town Hall tower.  The tower is 200 ft. high and the climb up started with a nice stone spiral staircase, then turned into a bit steeper wooden stair case with switch backs, then a narrower steeper View from garden wall ...

Nuremberg

Today we made the 3 hour drive out of the Bavarian Alps to Nuremberg. No the car GPS said it was going to take 3.5 hours because it decide we needed to the scenic route through town. So we used Google maps which took that extra half hour off the drive by using a more direct route to the autobahn. After we started the Google Maps route the car GPS placed us on that route as well. This insistence by the GPS to take scenic routes through town when set to quickest time to get to destination may be why it seems to take us longer then stated by the travel book.  Anyway, onto our adventures in the city of Nuremberg. View from castle garden Me in the castle garden I have been Nuremberg once before, but for about 3 hours as a lunch stop on a bus tour. During that stop we did not get to tour the castle or truly explore the city. This time I got to see the castle, which is up a hill and provides a lovely view of the city.  After we checked into the hotel then started on our ...

Lake Königssee and Sunshine

We thought today was going be like all the other days on our trip, rainy and dreary since it was raining when we go up this morning. However the weather turned in our favor and the sun actually broke through the clouds and chased the rain away. Believe it or not we actually had a sunny day today. Looking at second boat house of Lake Obersee We went to Lake Königssee which involved a 2 hour boat trip (round trip). Our first stop was Salet were I did the 45 minute hike (one way) over to the little boat house on Obersee and the rest of the group continued on for another 30 minutes (one way) past that point to see Röthbachfall (a waterfall). On the hike to Obersee there were Bavarian cows, wearing traditional cow bells, scattered along the mountain trail.  The cows didn’t seem to mind people and one of the cows came up to me and licked me.  I was licked by a cow.  The trail to Obersee was pretty flat to the first boat house on the lake however the trail leading...

Eagles Nest, Cows and Cake

Today we traveled from Oberammergau to Berchtesgaden. We arrived at the hotel a bit after 11, checked in then went for lunch before going on our tour of the Eagles Nest.  We at Restaurant Waldhauser, I had a potato, dumpling and ham dish that had a fried egg mixed in. It felt like a breakfast bowl but was lunch food.  Good thing the tour departure point was close to the restaurant because fast meals really don’t exist. The Eagles Nest in the distance  After eating we went to the tourist office to check in for our tour. Sadly we were informed that we could not travel all the way up to the Eagles Nest since it was snowing up there and it was closed to possible avalanches.  So we had to settle for only the tour of the documentation center (history museum) and the bunkers.  The tour guide was very informative and explained that the Eagle’s Nest is actually a tea house with three rooms and was not were Hitler lived. He actually lived a little ways down the m...

The Fairytale Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle from Mary's Bridge (it was very misty) Today we went to the most famous castle in Germany, Neuschwanstein Castle , better known as the fairytale castle. (Also the one Disney used as the model for the Disney World Castle). We had a private tour of the castle, before it was open to the public for the day. The castle was never completed, due to the king’s death.  However he did stay there for 127 days during the construction then returned to Linderhof Palace.  We saw the completed rooms which included the bedroom, the throne room, the study, a few ancillary rooms and the theater room.  Most of the castle is done in a Gothic style except the throne room which used Byzantine styling and architecture and done in bright royal blues and golds with a mosaic floor. The throne room resembled in my mind a church with the pictures of the Apostles, the Saints and Christ around the throne. The bedroom was definitely Gothic styling with dark wood paneling and o...

München (Munich)

Today we slept in, well the rest of the group might of slept in I woke up with the 6:00 AM church bells.  We had a late breakfast which included a sweet waffle but with the sour berry compote worked just fine. Afterwards we took the hour drive via the autobahn to Munich. View from the New Town Hall Munich was completely destroyed during WWII, however they chose to rebuild using the historic architecture, which is why the still have an old looking town center. We walked around St. Mary’s square and went up the new town hall tower (which looks older than the actual old town hall) and got nice views of the city. Mind you it was still cloudy and drizzling off and on.   Then went to the Viktualienmarkt (Victuals Market) and had sausage and beer in a traditional beer garden.   We then met our guide who gave us a walking tour of the city. We toured the Residenz (Royal Palace) which is now a museum.   The Residenz was mostly destroyed during WWII however they had ...

The Mountain, Snow, and a Palace

Today was cold, wet, and rainy with bouts of ice and snow. I really blame this on the curse I inherited from my mother, but I digress. Even though mother nature was being moody, we carried on like the postman or like determined tourist. At the top of Mount Zugspitze we look so European Our first stop was Lake Eibsee, which was pretty except for the fog and the rain. We might of walked around it was raining and slowly turning into slushy rain. It also did not help that our traveling companions did not pack rain gear. So we headed up the mountain. We took the cog railway up to the top of Mount Zugspitze , which is Germany’s highest mountain peak. There is a gondola that will take you to the top in 10 minutes compared with the trains 30 – 40 minutes, but the gondola was undergoing maintenance. The only down side of the train is you spend about 20minutes in a tunnel and pop out right before the peak. At that point you get out wander around a bit and look at the glacier then take a...

One Long Drive

Today we left Baden-Baden and traveled to Oberammergau via the Black Forest. The trip was only supposed to take five hours, but that didn't seem to happen.  When we left Baden-Baden it was slightly raining as we left the city and entered the Black Forest. Then it got very foggy and started pelting us with slushy rain drops. We attempted to see Lake Mummelsee , but all we saw was about 5 feet of it because it was so foggy and rainy. We might have walked around but it was also cold, so we just wandered around the little shop (tourist trap) and picked up a Smokey (like a SlimJim) and some liquor and a hat.  The Smokey is pretty good, but sadly I don’t think I could get them through customs or I would bring some home.  After eating in a little town along the way we rejoined the actual autobahn to travel to Oberammergau. View from our hotel room in Oberammergau The car’s GPS indicated it would take about four hours from our lunch location, but with traffic and ...

A Castle and a Naked Bath

Today we drove up to Heidelberg, to see Heidelberg Castle and to Konigstuhl (Kings Throne) which is 1,800 feet above Heidelberg. We rode the funicular, which is a cable up to the castle and then to Konigstuhl. Out first stop, was at the castle which dates back to the 15 th century and is part ruins and partly being resorted. We did not take the tour so did not get to see the inside of the area that has been resorted.  However, there were several photo opportunities around the outside of the castle, which was rather interesting. We walked most of the grounds and visited the apothecary museum inside the castle.  We also go to see the view from the top of the largest wine barrel in Germany, made of 130 oak trees and holds 58,500 gallons of wine. If you’re wondering why they needed a wine barrel that big it is because they used wine to pay taxes and had to hold it somehow. On an interesting side note we had a random person from Kent State talk to us while on the castle grounds b...

Viva La France!

Today we traveled into France to see the Maginot Line and visit Strasbourg (yes it is in France).  The Maginot Line bunker we visited was interesting we walked 3km (~2 miles) of tunnel to see everything in that particular bunker to include the living area, power plant, hospital area and of course the munitions and guns.  It is about a constant 15C or around 60F in the tunnels and bunker. To transport items they used electric powered mini trains which ran down track inside the bunker tunnels.  The living quarters were kind of tight especially if you were not an officer.  The power generators were huge and used multiple large inline 6 cylinder engines (the cylinder were close to a foot in diameter) to produce the power needed.  The counter weights to move the turrets up and down are impressive and still contain all the necessary the gears to move the turrets.  I also determined that medium caliber munitions racks would double nicely as a wine rack (I need to...

Germany - Very Tired

Unfortunately I did not sleep at all during the 8 hour flight over to Frankfurt, so I have been awake for over 24 hours and I’m tired.  The flight was smooth and arrived a little early, and we made it through customs without any problems.   We were met by the travel agent after clearing customs and baggage claim. It was nice to see someone holding a sign with our name on it and also nice to meet the person I have been coordinating with for the past few months. She went over the whole itinerary, any questions we had then got us to the train station and proper plat form. I think that is where our journey really began. We had first class tickets (a separate compartment) for the high-speed train to Baden-Baden. There we were met by the second travel agent who picked us up, gave us the rental car, an overview of German traffic signs, and a quick driving tour of Baden-Baden before taking us to the hotel.  We are staying at a nice four/five star hotel. The room is huge...

Packing

I love travel. Let me be a little more specific I like seeing new things and going to new places. I don’t like necessarily having to pack or the whole airport process.  I think it was possibly easier to pack when travel was supposed to be luxurious and people were treated like people not cattle being hulled around.  Now you have weight restrictions for your luggage as well as limits on the number of free bags (international) or you paying to take your stuff (national).  Then there is the process of checking in and getting to the gate which really makes you feel like you are being herded, moo.   But in the end I suppose it is all worth it, to see and explore new places.  So I will continue to mutter to myself as I pack, and trying to take the right stuff and fit it in small bags without going over weight. I’ll put my liquids into little zip lock baggies and smile at the people at the airport.  Because while I sometimes worry it is not worth the cost, a...