Out of all of my travels, Rome continues to not only be one of my favorite cities but also one of my favorite photographic destinations. With each visit, I try to concentrate a few days on certain key areas, in an attempt to catch the best lighting as well as cool cloud formations.
On this trip in August, I spent quite a bit of time concentrating on the bridges surrounding Ponte Sant’Angelo. Rome was experiencing very high temperatures and very little rain so the skies were crystal clear blue for most of my visit. Sometimes blue skies can be brilliant in photography but other times they can add too much negative space to the scene. Thankfully on my last night in Rome, the weather gods smiled down on me and provided some much needed sky drama. Well, either that or they liked my naked rain dance. I guess we’ll never know.
Technical Mumbo Jumbo
Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 24-70 f/2.8 (Shot at 28 mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100
3 Exposures at f/8: 2, 4, and 8 seconds.
Technique and Details: Digital Blending and Luminance Masking using 3 bracketed exposures -1, 0, and +1. I was able to get nearly everything I needed from the single 0 exposure and only used -1 and +1 to correct minor exposure issues. -1 was used to soften the lighting on Castel Sant’Angelo and +1 was used to increase the light ion the trees and plants.
Software: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK Software
Espresso: Illy Medium that I had left over from Italy. I’m in Cambodia so I made sure to pack a bunch of espresso.
